“While my career has since taken a different angle, I learnt a lot and was able to get my hands dirty because it was a small-town opportunity. Living and working in beautiful Gisborne was my first time away from home as a student, so it was a real time of growth and independence for me as a person.
“Looking back, I’d like to thank the team at Eastland and especially my manager Murray Carman who was an awesome mentor to me, encouraging me to follow my interests.”
Gruv MusicMs Shekar is the co-founder of intuitive music-learning app Gruv Music, which has just been accepted into the StartX business accelerator — a launching pad for US-based Stanford University’s top entrepreneurs.
Injecting fresh, new and locally-grown talent into the workforce has also become the inspiration for recruitment and career options at Gisborne District Council.
Former intern Shayne Glassford now works on the council’s IT service desk.
“I was taken on as an unpaid intern in the IT department during my studies and after graduating was offered a job.”
Acting as an intern provided a great chance to put his studies into practice.
Council chief executive Judy Campbell said the council had run its summer recruitment programme for the past two years with great success.
“We have more applications than available positions. Students studying at polytechnics or universities can apply to work alongside our staff to gain relevant experience in their area of interest.”
Mrs Campbell said Gisborne expats studying as far away as Otago and Auckland had applied for placements, as well as a good number from EIT Tairawhiti.
“In previous years we had an internship programme with students from around New Zealand and overseas.
“The programme was changed to provide a paid work experience opportunity that was valuable to young people and was made available to Gisborne locals.”
The council has around 15 students currently working or starting soon for the coming summer period. Some have returned for their second year.
“They’re valued members of our team because they’re motivated to learn and do well.
“Students make an important contribution. Our departments benefit from not only an extra set of hands at a busy time of the year — but fresh ideas and skill-sets that young people bring.”
Students in council departmentsA range of council departments take on students, including finance, shared science services, community and recreation, information management, communications, regulatory services, water utilities, human resources and the library.
Civil engineering student Max Pepper returned to the GDC cadet programme this summer for a second year — and not just for a summer pay-packet.
“They’ve been getting me lots of experience in actual professional engineering platforms, showing me each step of doing a project and taken me to meetings to show me what a professional meeting is like.”
That practical experience was vital for future job prospects.
“We don’t want to be looking for work with nothing but a degree.”
Former Gisborne Boys’ High School pupil Louis Simson is in his third year at Waikato University and said working with the council’s finance team had helped him to put his learning into practice.
“There is lots of practical experience as well.”
Wairoa District Council chief executive Fergus Power said while local applicants were given priority in its intern and student schemes, this year the council was hosting interns from Germany, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, China and the Netherlands.
Mr Power said he had been forging relationships with universities in New Zealand and overseas as part of a strategy of turning Wairoa into a “mecca” for bright young minds.
“They’re going to bring huge benefits to the district in terms of energy, problem-solving, economic development, tourism development and systems improvement within the council.”
Wairoa District Council’s internship programme has been described by the University of Canterbury’s Dean of Law as the “strongest and most exciting programme of its kind” in New Zealand.
