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Overview
Communications play a crucial role in everyone's lives. As the regulator in this sector, Ofcom wants to make these markets work for everyone, and economics and data analysis are central to this.
Ofcom has one of the largest competition and regulatory economics, data analytics and finance teams in the UK working on issues related to the BBC, TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, broadband, landlines, mobiles, online and postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.
In terms of the way we work, Ofcom’s culture is shaped by five important corporate values: excellence, agility, collaboration, empowerment and respect.
Our eight week summer internship programme is aimed at economics and data analytics students who are interested in gaining experience of applying their economics and/or data analytics skills to help solve real world problems.
The Roles
We have two separate roles available on our summer internship programme:
- Economist:
- As an economist intern, you will contribute important economic analysis to help inform real decision making on live projects. Previous interns have contributed to the economic thinking and analysis in market reviews which are central to regulating the core UK internet infrastructure, assisted in the auction design of the UK 4G and 5G spectrum auctions, and worked on a competition assessment in the Broadcasting sector.
- Data analytics economist:
- As an intern data analytics economist, you will be involved in analysing data using tools such as econometrics and machine learning, to help explore the evidence and inform real decision making on live projects. Past interns have conducted econometric analysis to investigate the potential impact of mobile mergers on quality outcomes, used frontier data analytics techniques to study topics such as online disinformation (fake news) and media plurality on Twitter (analysing data related to the availability, consumption and impact of news), and helped to translate a suite of economic models into Python.
Prior to joining the scheme, we give interns the opportunity to express preferences on project areas, however the final project allocation is based on business need. Projects are allocated to interns based on these interests and skill sets so that they get the most out of the programme.
During your time with us, interns are invited to attend internal seminars and training, run by the Economics Group, which give insight into the economic work conducted across Ofcom, and the wider organisation. Interns will also get the chance to meet with Economic Group colleagues, from graduates who will your buddy during the scheme to Directors sharing their experiences of Ofcom and roles they held beforehand.
In the past, successful interns have been fast tracked to Ofcom’s economist or data analyst graduate scheme assessment centres following their time on the internship. We look for strong economic or data skills and a passion for competition and regulatory economics as well as an ability to display the Ofcom values.
How the scheme works
Successful applicants will be aligned to either our London or Edinburgh offices for eight weeks, likely from the last week of June 2023. We ask that candidates identify their office preference, in addition to whether they prefer to work remotely (remote working is not guaranteed but will be considered on an individual basis).
All interns will be paid a salary equivalent to the level of the London Living Wage.
Candidate Requirements
At a minimum, applicants should be in their penultimate year of undergraduate studies. We also welcome applications from students taking part in masters studies, or equivalent.
This internship is intended for undergraduate and masters students, if you are a PhD candidate please contact us here for more information on our PhD internships.
For our each of our streams:
- Economist stream: At least 50% of the course content should be sat in economics.
- Data analytics economist stream: You should have a basic understanding of quantitative tools in the fields of econometrics, artificial intelligence or machine learning and relevant analytical software (for example, Stata, Python or R) and some of your course content should be sat in economics.
Please only apply if you have right to work in the UK. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this internship.
Application
The application process consists of four stages:
- Initial application
- Blended assessment & video interview
- Final interview with Ofcom
Diversity & Inclusion at Ofcom
Ofcom is a forward-thinking, inclusive employer and recognises the value of diversity to truly “make communications work for everyone”. Here at Ofcom, our vision is to ensure people are part of an environment when they can truly strive and be themselves, therefore we aim to recruit from the widest pool of candidates possible – irrespective of social background, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or disability. We are an organisation that strives to be truly representative of the whole of the UK and our aim is to be an employer of choice for everyone.
We champion flexible working and so wherever possible we support flexible working patterns including job shares.
As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee to interview disabled applicants who meets the minimum selection criteria of the role as outlined in the job specification, if applicants would like to be considered under this scheme. We pride ourselves on ensuring all candidates are treated fairly throughout the application and selection process including making our process as accessible as possible. You can find more information on the scheme here. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/jobs/disability-confident-scheme
Should you require any adjustments to be made, please do contact us directly at ofcomresourcing@omnirms.com
For more information and guidance please visit: https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/ask-for-adjustments-at-interview
