Intern Opportunities at Finders International

Finders International is offering intern opportunities.

We are looking for one or two talented people for an initial six-month contract, with a view to offering full employment – one of our previous interns, Amy Cox, now works for us as a senior assistant case manager – although employment is not guaranteed.

Finders International has enjoyed a lot of business success over the last few years. We’ve opened up new offices in Dublin and Edinburgh, increased our number of case managers and the services we are able to offer and we have joined professional associations such as the Confederation of British Industry and the Professional Association of Legal Services.

We want to continue that success by expanding the team here at Finders. We are often asked what probate genealogists do (and a lot of people don’t even know that the job exists). Probate genealogists trace the missing heirs from estates where someone has died without leaving a valid will and that person does not appear to have any apparent heirs.

Probate genealogists find out who the heirs are, but it can be a competitive industry as firms will often compete to discover the heirs first. We work with people all over the country who can follow up on research that can’t be done from the office or to sign up heirs when they have been traced.

As you might imagine, there is no such thing as a typical day for Finders International but we usually start the day by checking the Bona Vacantia list for any new estates. This list is updated on a daily basis (and we also publish unclaimed estates on our free website resource – bonavacantialist.com) and if we find a new estate, we make a decision whether to pursue the case or not.

We also get contacted by a lot of legal firms who are looking to trace missing heirs or wills.

We conduct family tree research, which can involve tracing and ordering copies of births, marriage and death certificates, and then plotting out the tree on paper. It’s very precise work and needs accuracy and attention. We arrange visits – by our reps to missing heirs that we have found so that they can be signed up to our services.

So what do we look for in interns? Many probate genealogists have degrees in history or law as both are useful qualifications for the industry (although they are not necessary). We do look for people who are good at paying attention to detail and we also ask for excellent communication skills. We have to speak to people all the time – and we often have to deliver bad news as well as good, that someone might be in line to inherit money, but that their relative has died.

If you would like to be considered for the role, email your CV to [email protected]. Please do not telephone or call in person.