Education & Training StartUp of the Year — Scotland
Recognised as Scotland's leading new enterprise driving innovation in the education sector.
UK StartUp Awards · 2026
Empowering Students,
Supporting Startups
Paid 1–4 week micro-internships with UK startups. Students get experience they can prove; startups get the backlog task done, without a hiring commitment.
Free to join · Aberdeen-born, UK-wide
Backed across Scotland’s startup ecosystem
Micro-Pathways to Employment
A free 12-week programme in Aberdeen for adults who are not in work, education or training. One hour online each week, with resources and one-to-one support in between.
- Places this cohort
- 30
- Cost
- Free
Micro-Pathways is funded by
We match startups and SMEs with students ready to prove it
Everyone asks for experience. Nobody hands it out first.
And now that anyone can generate a convincing CV in seconds, nobody can tell which claims are true. Evidence is what is left.
CV and covering letterUnverified
- Skills, self-described
- A covering letter
- A reference nobody rings
Anyone can produce this. What an application claims. Skills, a covering letter, a reference. All of it is assertion, and now it takes seconds to generate.
MicroSkill PassportVerified
- Deliverable received
- Skills logged
- Signed off by you
Only doing the work produces this. What a finished project shows. The deliverable your business received, the skills it took, and your own sign-off on the result.
Three things people assume we are
Each one is a fair guess from the outside, and each one changes what you would expect to pay and what you would get back.
Not an unpaid internship
A startup that has never run a micro-internship can trial first, and that trial is capped at four weeks and 20 hours. Past that the work is paid, with no exception. Students are never charged to join, to apply, or to keep their record afterwards. Work that pays nothing selects for whoever can afford to do it, and that is the filter MicroInterns was built to remove.
Trials capped at 4 weeks and 20 hours
Not a recruiter
We are not filling a permanent role and we take no percentage of anyone's salary. Nobody joins your payroll, because the agreements and the payment handling are ours. If you keep a student on afterwards there is no conversion fee and no placement fee.
From £349, not £4,350+ for a graduate hire
Not a freelance marketplace
There is nothing to advertise, no bids to read and no stranger to gamble on. We scope the brief with you, shortlist from the student side, and put up to three students on it in parallel in a managed workspace. On the managed plans a Project Manager runs it. You compare what comes back and keep what works.
Up to three students a brief, one managed workspace
Why MicroInterns exists
Priyanka came to Aberdeen for an MBA and watched capable people get filtered out before anyone had seen their work.
MicroInterns is built out of that. A CV cannot show what someone can actually do, and a job advert is far too big a commitment for two weeks of work. So the unit is smaller: a real, paid project with a deadline, and a sign-off from the startup at the end of it.
Priyanka RaoFounder, MicroInterns · Aberdeen
From a task you keep putting off to work you can use
Four steps, and the founder’s part of it is the first one.
Step 1 of 4
Post the brief
One structured form: the deliverable, the timeline, the budget band. About an hour of your time, and no advert to write.
We match
Shortlisting happens on the student side. Up to three students take the same brief in parallel, so one person going quiet does not stop the work.
The work runs
One to four weeks in a managed workspace, with a Project Manager on the plans that include one. Your side of it is one short check-in a week.
Compare, and keep what works
You sign the work off and it becomes the student's MicroSkill Passport entry. Hire none, one or more of them afterwards, with no hire fee either way.
Built around the one resource a startup cannot buy: the founder’s time
Briefs that finish
Up to three interns work each brief in a managed workspace, with a Project Manager on the plans that include one, so one person going quiet does not stop the work.
Scoped in an hour
One structured form turns your backlog task into a matchable project, without advertising it or sifting through CVs.
Paid work, always
Some roles open with a short trial, capped at four weeks and 20 hours. Past that every student is paid, and the terms are on the listing before anyone applies.
Verified proof
Finished work becomes a MicroSkill Passport entry that the startup signs off.
- 150+
- students matched
- 20
- startup partners
- 90%
- brief completion rate
Student and startup figures reported by the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, 21 July 2026.
Awards
Entrepreneur of the Year, finalist
Shortlisted nationally for exceptional leadership, business vision and entrepreneurial drive.
Great British Entrepreneur Awards · 2026
Social Innovation Award, runner-up
Commended for developing creative and sustainable solutions that drive positive social impact.
Heriot-Watt University · 2025
Highest Potential Idea Award
Awarded for an early-stage concept demonstrating outstanding scalability and market growth potential.
Heriot-Watt University
Projects, not job adverts
Browse all projectsThese are example listings. Real projects go live with the founder’s sign-off, and every listing shows duration, pay and skills before you apply.
MicroInterns
Business Systems & Operations Intern
Understand how MicroInterns actually runs, find the parts that are repetitive or unclear, and make them repeatable. Real processes, not a case study.
- Duration
- 4 weeks
- Pay
- Paid after trial
- Where
- Remote (UK)
- Process mapping
- Workflow automation
- No-code tools
- AI-assisted workflows
MicroInterns
Growth & Content Associate
Help tell the story of our 12-week Micro-Pathways programme in Aberdeen. Content, video, speaker features and participant stories, from someone who brings their own ideas.
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Pay
- Paid after trial
- Where
- Aberdeen
- Content creation
- Short-form video
Don’t take our word for it
From the startups who posted the work and the students who did it.
We got a well-scoped piece of work delivered in weeks, without the overhead of a hire. The student was switched on and the process took very little of my time.
Colin RawlinsonCrewdogMy micro-internship gave me real work to point to in interviews — a finished project for a real company, not another classroom exercise.
Lotachi EzechukwuStudentIt was short enough to fit around my course and paid, which most 'experience' opportunities are not.
Flexible, affordable help exactly when we needed it. We would use MicroInterns again.
Simon BroadleyAberdeenLove this approach. Creating opportunities based on skills and real-world experience, rather than just CVs, benefits everyone involved. 👏
Start My BusinessProfessional services, LondonHuge achievement. MicroInterns is redefining how learners access real-world experience, and it’s great to see that impact being recognised at this level.
Rafee AhamedEcosystem and venture growthInnovative talent bridge.
Maaz KhanWeb MorphixThe things people ask first
How much of my time does this take?
About an hour to scope the project, then one short check-in each week. MicroInterns handles matching, onboarding paperwork and payment, so the work happens without you managing another employee.
Why up to three interns on one brief?
Two reasons. If one student drops out, your project does not go with them. And you get more than one take on the deliverable to compare. They work in a managed workspace with a Project Manager, and you choose what to keep: hire none, one, or more, with no hire fee.
Do micro-internships pay?
Yes. Every MicroInterns project is paid, and you will see the pay band on the listing before you apply. We never charge students anything, to join or to apply.
Will it fit around my lectures?
Yes. Projects run one to four weeks with flexible hours agreed up front, and most are remote-friendly. You agree the schedule with the startup before you start, so it works around your timetable.
