MAN (Australian): As you are entering the last term of your third
year of university, I know you are all starting to think about your future
careers. Your fourth and final year before graduation will be an important one
for setting a, uh, a trajectory, if you will, for your professional path.
That’s why many students choose to do an internship as part of their fourth
year programme. To support that, our professional development department offers
a number of very interesting and opportunity-creating internships with local businesses
and organisations for students like yourselves who are trying to bridge the gap
between university and employment.
The internships last either three or six months. The duration really
depends on your schedule and the needs of the, the sponsoring organisation. Um,
these internships are all unpaid. That’s part of our university’s policy. But
some sponsors do offer travel reimbursement. Just make sure to sort out these
details before agreeing to anything. Okay. Now, as an intern, you are expected to put in about 10 hours per week. I
encourage you to really think about whether you can handle this much of a time
commitment on top of your studies.
But if you can, and you are sure an internship is for you, then come and
talk to us at the student centre. The application process starts with you
filling out a form. You’ll need to write a short essay, about three paragraphs,
about what you hope to get from the experience. Then we’ll review your
application and call you in for an interview. In the interview we will ask
questions to assess what kind of experience you’re looking for. That will help
us to match you with the right opportunity.
Speaking of these opportunities, I want to tell you about just a few of
the many wonderful programmes we’ve developed with local partners. Actually,
I’d say these are three of our most popular internships. The first is a
marketing internship with a major electronics producer. I can’t say the name,
as that’s, uh, that’s confidential. But I can tell you that you get to work at
the company’s downtown headquarters with some of the best in the industry. The
primary responsibility of this internship is helping the marketing team to
develop campaigns for new products.
If you’re more oriented to the non-profit sector, we also have a
wonderful internship with a local environmental organisation. For people who
care about environmental issues, this is about as good as it gets. You work
one-to-one with the
organisation’s executive director, getting to know the ins and outs of running
a non-profit. You act as an assistant, but the internship’s really designed to
give you exposure to how a non-profit works.
Uh, there’s another very popular programme that we only recently started
with the Government of Australia. Those students interested in pursuing a
career in international relations, international development, or related fields
can do an internship with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Learn about
intergovernmental communications, Australia’s foreign policies, and the
politics of international trade. This is such a brilliant opportunity to see if
a career in the public service is something you’d want to pursue. And even if
not, the experience will give you a perspective on the inner workings of
government that will serve you well in whatever path you choose.
Let’s stop here for a bit. Are there any questions I can answer so far?