Taking on students & graduates
Workplace pathways connects Wellington businesses with the best and brightest coming out of our education institutes.
Wellington is full of smart and talented people. With the most highly educated workforce in New Zealand, and thousands more potential smart employees graduating from tertiary institutes around the country each year, there are plenty of opportunities for your business to find fresh talent.
Taking on a student or graduate offers a multitude of benefits, including:
- builds your reputation as a graduate-friendly employer, which will bring talent to you
- is a way for you to offer work experience when you may not be able to make a permanent hire
- provides an opportunity for your current staff to mentor, train and develop new talent
- gives you access to fresh perspectives, news ideas and modern academic theory
- improves connections with tertiary organisations
- is a great way to invest in the next generation.
There are a number of programmes and tertiary connections available to help you create workforce pathways and talent pipelines into your company.
Internship programme
The Summer of Tech internship programme makes it easy for employers to access new talent coming through for summer internships and other roles. It is employer led, and the organisation is non-profit.
Summer of Tech
This programme connects employers to top students and graduates from tertiaries across New Zealand for summer internships for all tech related roles.
Tertiary projects
Some tertiary students are required to complete industry work or research as part of their course. This is a good way for an employer to connect with a local tertiary, get to know students and have a project or some research completed.
The students may work individually or in groups and hours spent on the project varies. Industry projects should not be mission critical but rather 'nice to have'. As the students are completing an academic requirement, payment is not usually expected.
Funding
There are some instances where funding to take on students is available, if specific criteria is met.
Victoria University Summer Research scholarships
A limited number of scholarships are available annually for students. Businesses may apply to Victoria University with a research-based project to be taken up by a current student. The scholarships are jointly funded by the business and the university.
Callaghan Innovation R&D internships
These grants are designed to support both students and New Zealand businesses carrying out Research & Development.
How we can help
The WellingtonNZ Talent Team can work with you to show you how to connect your business with talented students and graduates.
We can help by:
- identifying areas and projects where students or graduates may be a great addition
- connecting you to appropriate programmes
- discussing with you what to do to get the best from your student or graduate experience
- sharing opportunities to get students to assist on your projects as part of their coursework.
Get in touch
Contact Cath Randall, Skills Development Manager, for more information on these programmes or work pathways, internships, funding and work integrated learning opportunities.
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