This study aims to analyse the contributions and shortcomings of the supervised internship programme for the training of professional archivists. It used a questionnaire containing open and closed questions to survey students enrolled on the Bachelor of Archivology course at a Federal Higher Education Institution in the state of Rio de Janeiro who had completed 80% or more of the minimum workload required to complete the course in the second half of 2017. It concludes that the supervised internship programme is the graduate's gateway to the job market and cannot be seen as an activity carried out just to fulfil a curricular requirement.