Two internships big help for Grace Davies

Grace Davies is definitely a fan of internships, having done two while studying at AUT. She gained heaps from both and believes internships area a great way to prepare for the workplace and test your career options.

“Gaining insight into what a workplace is actually the most valuable thing I gained from my internships. It also helped me decide I want to do digital marketing after graduating - partly because it involves both user experience and marketing. I have also realised I want to be a part of a culture that is open to new ideas,” says Grace.

Grace, who is doing a double degree in design (communication design) and business (marketing), completed a design internship at NZ Transport Agency, followed by a marketing internship at Fisher and Paykel.

First days as an intern

“Navigating the workplace and knowing how to conduct yourself - especially in tricky situations - was a major learning curve for me as an office is a completely new environment,” declares Grace.

She was lucky both organisations had inductions programmes for their interns although she says it was still nerve wracking in the first days.

“At NZTA there was a two day internship induction and a lot of care was taken to make us feel comfortable. At Fisher & Paykel we went through a standard induction that all new employees go through.”

She was one of 12 interns at NZTA so was surprised to find she was one of 100 at Fisher & Paykel, of which most were engineering students.

What she gained

Mixing with people from other departments and disciplines was a bonus to Grace.

“I really enjoyed meeting new people especially other interns around the same age as me from different departments and disciplines that I wouldn’t normally come into contact with.

"Because my degree has been arts focused it has been super interesting talking with students from more science/engineering backgrounds!”

At NZ Transport Authority, Grace says she really improved her design skills and learned new software programmes. She also got better at presenting and communicating the rationale behind her decisions.

“For NZTA getting up to speed technically took a while because of the type of design I was doing there. Seeing my work look a lot better was really encouraging. I also was mentored by an individual who had a lot of experience in their field so I learned a lot.”

With Fisher & Paykel she helped a team organise and work towards a new product launch which she found really interesting from a marketing point of view.

"At Fisher & Paykel it was more about gaining soft skills as I had to liaise with different departments such as legal and quality to ensure compliance of different pieces of marketing collateral. This is quite complex because of the systems and processes,” explains Grace.

She also found it interesting trying to meet deadlines when reliant on getting work back from other people who are also very busy on other deadlines.
“This can be a bit tricky and push out a task longer than what was expected.”

How Grace found her internships

Grace began looking for an internship after a friend, who'd already done one, suggested internships as a good way to prepare for the workplace after university.

She started attending employer speaker events organised by the Employability and Careers service to find out what employers were looking for with internships and get an insight into their companies.

She also kept an eye on the Nxt Step website where many corporations, government agencies etc. list their internships and graduate programmes. Nxt Step was where she found her Fisher & Paykel internship, while the NZTA opportunity was pointed out to her by a design lecturer.

“Different companies advertise in different parts of the year so it is worth checking in regularly and applying to the ones that are relevant to your course and interest you. LinkedIn and SEEK are also websites where employers advertise entry level positions," says Grace.

Preparing for internships

Sign up for Employability and Careers workshops through Elabonline if you wish to update your CV/cover letter and LinkedIn profile and get some interview practice and tips on job/internship search.

To find out more, read our blog What internships are?

Learn more about How to find an internship here.

Written by AUT Employability and Careers writer Angela McCarthy