Inbox: Interns add value

From creating new recruitment website for national logistics company, to identifying cost over-runs at local IT firm, Waikato Management School (WMS) students are making real impacts in the business community thanks to an exclusive internship programme.
The internship paper, known as “496”, is available only to the very best management students in their final year of study. Students must apply for position and are matched to an organisation seeking an intern to work on specialised project.
WMS student Rebecca Foote recently completed project with logistics giant Mainfreight. She was initially brought on board to research how to improve its recruitment communication. The company valued her input and kept her on to help create its new graduate recruitment website.
When Hamilton-based IT firm NetValue enlisted the help of 496 intern and accounting student Jamie Powell to look into job costing, he also found ways to save the firm considerable costs in over-runs on some jobs. “It was an eye opener for us,” says NetValue CEO Graham Gaylard. “Having an intern do some of the things that we just didn’t have the capacity to do was of great help. In the end it turned out to be very profitable experience.”
The programme’s convenor Glyndwr Jones says the course is unapologetically competitive. “Students are essentially competing for places at the companies that sign up. The business only wants the best, and we only want to give them the best.
“In the past two years we have seen real value creation for companies, which has led to job offers for our students, and shows the business community what our graduates are capable of. It’s win-win-win situation.” M