Poland

Internship as a form of professional activation of persons registered as unemployed and an instrument which enables those persons to acquire vocational skills

Arranging for an internship for a person registered as unemployed at a District Employment Office (Powiatowy Urząd Pracy) is regulated under the provisions of the Act on the rules of activation of the umeployed and job seekers. An internship should be adapted to the intern’s abilities, education and current experience, and it should also be structured around a specific programme.

Internships for the unemployed are arranged by District Employment Offices which receive internship adverts from employers (who can also indicate the unemployed whom they wish to accept as an intern).

An unemployed person is issued with a referral to participate in an internship by the Head of District (Starosta) (the District Employment Office on his/her behalf), which signs a contract for arranging the internship with the employer. The employer must appoint a supervisor for the intern and put in place the internship programme agreed with the District Employment Office. Upon completion of the internship, the unemployed person receives the employer’s assessment of the tasks performed and skills acquired, and with a document issued by the District Employment Office to confirm participation in this form of professional activation.

Although the initiative to take an intern is most often taken by employers, unemployed persons themselves can also seek for a place where they can complete an internship.

Internship programmes for the unemployed are addressed to people registered at District Employment Offices, but the participants are not deemed as employed persons.
Information about internships for unemployed persons registered at District Employment Offices is published in the Central Job Offers Database (oferty.praca.gov.pl) and is available directly at District Employment Offices.

For more information visit the Traineeships section of the EURES Portal.