“It’s a way that organisations can promote their brand, and for students it’s an opportunity for them to identify career paths and understand what the graduate programs are that are on offer.”
AAGE surveyed 1800 interns who participated in work placement with one of 105 organisations last year. The survey asks about the quality of their induction, training and supervision, how meaningful the work experience was, whether they were able to work in different parts of the organisation, its culture and values and whether there were any social interactions with other staff.
Swaetha Vasudevan, 22, completed a 12-week, full-time paid internship at Atlassian in February, but has been kept on in a part-time intern role until she enters the company’s official graduate program in early 2024. The company was named third on the AAGE list of the best internship programs.
Studying a bachelor of design computing at the University of Sydney, Ms Vasudevan said getting hands-on experience had given her a profound insight into how her future career might pan out. It also reaffirmed her decision to drop out of her initial degree in psychology at a different university and change tack.
Ms Vasudevan participated in the Atlassian internship and one with start-up dog food company Lyka a year earlier under her own steam. They were not integrated as part of her degree program.
“The internships made me realise that this is what I want to do in the future. A lot of people say you don’t use your degree in your work. But I was using my degree every day. That’s really cool,” Ms Vasudevan said.
Melanie Gretgrix, Atlassian’s global head of campus and early careers talent acquisition, said the internship program had grown exponentially over the past five years and was the major feeder into its graduate program.
“About 80 per cent of our graduates will have started in the intern program. We try to make sure that as many people as possible can have an internship at Atlassian,” Ms Gretgrix said.
“It’s definitely the main pathway to a graduate position in all of our locations.”
Ms Gretgrix said internship programs were a win-win for students and the company
“They get to try before they buy, understand what our culture is like and if they feel like they belong here. They get to understand our products and learn a little bit more about the business. And we get to see them in action,” she said.
The final list of 40 companies covers most sectors of the economy, including technology, law, insurance, finance, superannuation and consulting.
At least two Australian universities – Newcastle and Swinburne – have mandated that all undergraduates, no matter whether they are studying philosophy or engineering, have work experience integrated into their degree.
A survey for the Australian Collaborative Education Network last year found that 80 per cent of students who participated in some form of work-integrated learning said it improved their job prospects, while 72 per cent said it broadened their ideas about the types of companies they could work for when they graduated.
