Just over eight weeks ago we brought on board our first ever interns into the Method Recruitment family. We had identified that we could improve our current marketing strategy and decided that we should look for ambitious students who would have up to date knowledge of marketing analysis, especially in the field of social media. The process of finding and placing our interns was simplified through the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce provides a $3,000 grant to member organisations for placement of an intern for 120 hours. We were required to outline a proposal detailing the roles our interns would undertake, what skills they would need and what would be the outcomes of our project. The Victorian Chamber was responsible for sourcing talent through their partner universities, and we were provided with a short-list of interns to interview.

Consequently, we landed two candidates from the University of Melbourne, James Gallus a Master of International Business Student who was in his final year of study and Jessica Frizziero who was in her last semester of a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Creative Writing.

“For me, the most enticing part of an internship is to taste-test a job role”, says James.

“An internship compliments your studies and gives you the practical industry experience that theory based studies often just can’t offer” says Jessica. 

 

Our interns were able to question the status-quo, asking why we did certain things in a certain way. Quickly they began rebranding our social media channels, creating images for posts, templates for job positions, writing blogs to direct traffic to our website and performing a SWOT analysis of our marketing strategy.

“While at University you learn different marketing concepts and analyse how to implement such strategies, but you have limited exposure to undertaking the tasks, through an internship we can put our theory into practice,” says James. 

While the eight weeks of the program has concluded, the journey does not end there. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) contacted us, requiring a Marketing Co-ordinator who could start ASAP. Fortunately for AHPRA, we had two outstanding candidates working for us! As Jess submits her final assignments for her Bachelor’s Degree, she will begin her career at AHPRA. “Interning with Method Recruitment gave me the opportunity and skills needed to propel my career in the right direction, landing me a job straight out of university.”

And we’ve kept James on the team, where he will continue providing us with marketing assistance as he commences his final semester of studies.

James and Jess had some thoughts as to how employees can make an internship highly worthwhile for students:

• Have a plan of what you’d like them to achieve, but, give them scope to also direct the business plan.

• Set goals or objectives that are achievable, it provides the students with a tangible experience which can help them with their job prospects.

• Make time to sit down and discuss their progress. Provide feedback on what they’ve done well and what areas they can improve on.

• While they may be there for a short period, treat them like regular employees – it makes them feel at home quickly.

   

We’d strongly encourage any organisation to take on interns; it gives you the opportunity to have access to the top university talent, have someone on board who has an up-to-date academic knowledge and can bring fresh ideas to the team.

For us, it has been highly rewarding being a mentor through sharing our business and practical experience with these students.

As a small business, interns can have a significant impact on the operation of our business and can provide you with a skill set that may be hard justifying employing until you’ve gone through a phase of growth. If you’d like to find out more about the Industry grant visit https://www.victorianchamber.com.au/internships-0