What we mean by
Six words that do not mean the same thing everywhere else, in the order the ideas build rather than alphabetically.
Micro-internship
The whole engagement.
A short, paid, project-based placement: a defined deliverable, a fixed budget, and a one-to-four-week timeline. Up to three interns take on the same brief in a managed workspace, with a Project Manager on the plans that include one, so one dropout does not sink the work.
It is not shadowing, and it is not a rolling internship you have to manage. You compare the deliverables, keep what works, and the engagement ends on the date you agreed.
Brief
The unit of work inside it.
One scoped project, written as the thing you end up holding: the deliverable, the timeline, and what counts as done. You describe the outcome you want, and we turn it into something a student can actually deliver against.
Sending one is not an order. It starts a scoping conversation, and you see the number before anything is agreed.
The pre-scoped briefs on the project menu are shapes of work rather than live projects. Picking one gets you the form already filled in; the brief itself is still scoped with you before anything goes live.
Parallel brief
Three attempts at the same thing.
A brief worked by up to three matched students at once rather than one after another. 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.
Students are paid for the work whether or not the startup picks their version to build on, and every completed project still becomes a MicroSkill Passport entry.
Project Manager
Who runs it, so you do not have to.
The person who runs the work on the managed plans: matching, check-ins, chasing and handover. Interns work in a workspace with a Project Manager keeping things on track rather than in your inbox. Not every plan includes one, and the pricing document says which do.
Your side of it is one short check-in a week. You are never left managing a struggling intern on your own.
MicroSkill Passport
What the student keeps.
A verified record of every project a student completes: what they did, the skills they used, and the startup's sign-off. On a CV, experience is something you assert. The Passport is a record.
It grows with every finished project, and it is free to keep and share.
Micro-Pathways to Employment
A separate, funded programme.
A free 12-week programme in Aberdeen for adults who are not currently in work, education or training, funded by Aberdeen City Council and delivered by MicroInterns. It builds confidence, then digital skills, then a real piece of project work.
The work is the same idea as a micro-internship, so someone finishes with something to point at rather than only a certificate. It is not the same thing: a micro-internship is paid by the startup that posted the brief, and Micro-Pathways is funded and free to join.
Money words live on the pricing page, where a whole project starts at £349 and students are never charged anything.