Internships and work experience

We have students specialising in Accounting, Business Analytics, Commercial Law, Economics, Finance, Information Systems, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, International Business,  Management, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Property, and Taxation.

Internship programmes offer you the opportunity to hire students to undertake a specific project work for your company or work part-time on an ongoing basis.

Employing an intern means you can:

• Free up key staff so they can spend more time focussing on your most valuable projects and clients
• “Freshen things up” - interns bring enthusiasm, initiative, new skills and the latest thinking into your business
• Increase capacity without making a long-term staffing commitment
  
• Engage with the Business School at New Zealand’s world-ranked university while helping to support the development of students

From marketing to IT, students have brought skills, expertise and enthusiasm to businesses across Auckland. In recent roles interns have:

• Completed market validation and competitor analysis for a company seeking to grow its business and product offering
• Developed a marketing campaign to help a business engage with new and existing customers
• Provided ongoing office administration, communications and social media support to an investment group
• Written a series of research reports for a Government agency
  

• Part-time: Any time throughout the year
  
• Full-time: During the summer break from mid-November to late February

Internships typically fall into two categories:

Ongoing: In this type of internship, the intern is employed on a part-time basis to undertake a variety of duties, for example working as an accounts administrator.

Project-based: This type of internship is usually for a set period with the intern given a specific project to undertake, for example, developing your company’s website. These internships have no academic component so there are no detailed reports or paperwork to be completed.

The primary role of the Business School is to connect the business community with our pool of talented students. You will receive targeted access to students matched to the skills you require. Hiring an intern is simple:

• You provide details of the work that needs to be undertaken and the skills required
• The Business School team helps you to draft the job advert and then promotes it with the relevant students
• You interview the candidates who are of interest and make a selection

Interns should receive proper induction at the beginning of their internship. This should, at a minimum, include:

• A description of the organisation; structure, objectives and values
• Introduction to other interns and staff relevant to the intern’s role
• Introduction to their mentor and/or buddy
• An office tour
• Briefing on health, safety, wellbeing and equity policies and procedures
• A clear, documented process for raising issues related to their personal and professional health, safety and wellbeing

Students should be treated with the same degree of professionalism and duty of care as your employees, and it is important to make them feel as though they are a part of your organisation.

Interns should know who to approach to get support if they are concerned about work or how they are being treated at work. They should have the same access to disciplinary and grievance procedures as your employees.

To obtain the best from your internships, regular supervision and mentoring is important. Ensure there is a dedicated person who has the time to act as their supervisor/mentor. They should be able to provide ongoing feedback and support and give regular performance reviews (ideally based on the intern’s learning objectives).

The above guidelines have been prepared with reference to the AGCAS Common Best Practice Code for High-Quality Internships.

It is important that student interns are safely and legally employed and paid an appropriate rate. As a guide, while interns should be paid at least the minimum wage, the closer they are to graduating the higher the wage should be. The rate also depends on whether they are undergraduate or postgraduate, the skills required and the nature of the project. Pay rates and contracts are negotiated directly between your business and the intern.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your internship requirements, please contact: 

bizcareers@auckland.ac.nz