Goverment joins hunt for graduates

Each year, hundreds of university graduates become public servants.

But like all employers, the Government sector these days has to market itself to attract good staff as the war for talent intensifies.

A pilot programme organised by the State Services Commission is giving university students a taste of the life working for the Government in an attempt to spread the word about public service careers.

Russell Bates was finishing off a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce and Administration double degree at Victoria University in Wellington last summer when he heard about the public service internship through word of mouth.

"I thought it sounded like a bit of all right," Bates said.

"What really attracted me to it was that they said there would be a buddy system. I felt reasonably secure and safe that somebody senior above you would watch you over the three months of the internship and somebody on your same level as well, or just above you," said the 22-year-old.

"I thought it was a fantastic opportunity because I studied public policy and politics and management and it was exactly what I wanted to get into."

The buddy system wasn't formal, but Bates certainly felt that his line manager and another adviser of a similar age and experience were guiding him and looking out for him during his summer at the Ministry of Transport.

He liked the experience so much that he extended his contract for four months and then successfully applied for a permanent position.

He is now an adviser in the Ministry of Transport's environment team.

Thirteen students were on the pilot internship programme in Wellington last summer and this summer the pilot extends to Auckland.

The initiative is part of promoting the public service as an employer of choice, State Service Commission deputy commissioner Suze Wilson said.

"This is a tight labour market and we want to make sure people understand the types of opportunities that exist in the public service," she said.

Four universities - Auckland, Waikato, Victoria and Otago - were targeted for 35 student positions this year and over 300 applications were received for the paid internship positions.

"Most of the placements are in Wellington, but there are also eight opportunities in Auckland," Wilson said.

There are 13 Government agencies offering places from November to February, up from seven last year. These include archives, civil aviation, corrections, Housing New Zealand, Inland Revenue, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Social Development, the police, the State Services Commission, statistics, and the Ministry of Transport.

Students studying humanities, business studies, science, arts and information technology were among the applicants.

"The key sorts of skills that we expect students to have a chance to develop while they are on the programme include research and analysis, report writing, project management, building their understanding of Government processes, and depending on the position, developing their technical knowledge such as in human resources or information technology," Wilson said.

As well as working in a Government department, the interns get together for a half-day induction, giving an idea of how Government works and the core expectations of public servants.

The group also meets once a month to share their experiences and learning.

"The underlying reason for the programme is that the Government needs to employ good people to do the work of the country.

"This is an opportunity to expose people to the sorts of opportunities that do exist in the Government sector," she said.

And then it is hoped they will tell their friends about their experience, which in turn will stimulate student interest in Government work at the end of their degree.

During his internship, Bates compiled a summary of public submissions on vehicle emissions, "so that the minister and our team would know what the general public were thinking".

"I collated all the submissions for that and prepared a report for the minister, which went onto the website. That was quite cool."

Now he looks after all the letters from the public to ministers and Official Information Act requests about vehicle emissions and biofuels.

"There was no photocopying or typing for hours and hours and no filing. There was a little bit of that, but nothing like what you would expect. It was really, really good."

"I am probably doing more filing now than when I was an intern because I have to take care of all my own work," Bates said.