Interns

Interns bring immense benefit to your organisation.

Internships drive better outcomes for all stakeholders. They give students and recent graduates real-world experience and a chance to develop their skills. Employers get early access to an innovative, productive and valued talent pool.

Many Victorian organisations perceive engineering interns as a lengthy commitment and fail to reap the benefits that interns can provide.

Benefits of hiring engineering interns to your organisation include:

	Bringing new ways of thinking or doing things. Interns bring new perspective to the joband challenge “the way we’ve always done it”. They may make suggestions you’ve never thought of, can drive motivation from your other employees, and act as the catalyst for enhanced productivity.
	Engineering interns can demonstrate value for money outcomes. Organisations that engage engineering interns cite high output, low overhead, and a valuable process to fast-track skilled interns through the graduate processes and to add value to the organisation sooner.
	Addressing challenging projects. Interns can jump start difficult projects to better utilise experienced employees to focus on more important aspects of your practice. Even with minimal experience, an extra set of hands can reduce the stress of your full-time workforce.
	Good interns can turn out to be some of the best full-time employees. Surveys conducted by Office of Projects Victoria found that over 80% of all hired interns go on to full-time employment within <xx timeframe>. The intern process is a great opportunity for organisations to observe first-hand the work readiness of interns and extend a job offer to them down the line. Particularly as employers and employees place more emphasis on “cultural fit” these days, shaping interns for future employment can also help reduce turnover.
	The intern recruitment process also presents a good opportunity to build your organisation’s relationships and brand identity with universities while reducing the cost of recruiting. Many students and new graduates are on the lookout for work experience and if your interns have a good experience, they can be a valuable recruiting tool. You’ll see the cost of recruiting reduced as other students and new graduates become familiar with your organisation.
	Internships are also an opportunity to give back. Every time you hire an intern, you’re helping prepare the next wave of the workforce.

Office of Projects Victoria Engineering Internship Program

Office of Projects Victoria (OPV) is embracing future talent in engineering and related fields.

The program has been running since 2017, with an average of 10 engineering interns per year. OPV interns have been instrumental and at the forefront of developing policies and guidelines surrounding the evolving complexities in major projects.

Sustainability and digital assets are two examples of initiatives that interns are gaining experience in, whilst receiving mentoring from professionals with over 20 years industry experience.

OPV has seen immense benefit from the use of interns: innovative approaches to problem solving, promotion of more productive ways of working, agility and fresh perspectives.

Engineering interns that have completed the OPV program have cited many benefits: rapid skills development program, ability to contextualise the latter years of their program, ability to join (and add value) to the workforce sooner, and industry connections.

“As an engineering intern working at the Office of Projects Victoria, I have had the opportunity to not only take the next step in developing my career, but also to provide new perspectives and insights into the organisation."

Onboarding engineering interns is not onerous and often as easy as a phone call.

Universities and engineering students alike are eager to create meaningful industry connections.

This table provides contacts at Victorian Universities that can engage in further conversations to meet your organisation’s needs.

University	Area	Contact Details	Engineering areas and disciplines
Victoria University	Industry and Community Engagement	Lovelesh Ramsahye Coordinator - Industry and Community Engagement lovelesh.ramsahye@vu.edu.au 03 9919 2175	Architectural Engineering Civil Engineering Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Electronic Engineering
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)	Industry Engagement School of Engineering	Jennifer Paynter Senior Advisor, Industry Engagement School of Engineering RMIT 03 9925 3295 engineering.industry@rmit.edu.au www.rmit.edu.au/about/schools-colleges/engineering/industry	Advanced manufacturing and mechatronics Aerospace engineering and aviation Biomedical engineering Chemical engineering Civil engineering Computer and network engineering Electrical and electronic engineering Engineering management Environmental and sustainable engineering Mechanical and automotive engineering Surveying and geospatial science Telecommunications engineering
Monash University	Student and Industry Engagement	Joanne Matthews Senior Coordinator, Student and Industry Engagement Faculty of Engineering 03 9905 5904	Aerospace Engineering Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering Environmental Engineering Materials Engineering Mechanical Engineering Mechatronics Engineering Resources Engineering Software Engineering
Deakin University	Deakin Engineering Placements	WIL Engagement Coordinator (Acting) School of Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering & Built Environment 03 5247 9656 sebe-eng-wil@deakin.edu.au	Mechanical Civil Electrical & Renewable Energy Electronics Mechatronics, Engineering Management
The University of Melbourne	Industry Engagement team Melbourne School of Engineering	Louisa Tobin, Jane Black, Elise Miller, Tracey Skordos Student Enrichment Melbourne School of Engineering 03 8344 2691 eng-placements@unimelb.edu.au Website: https://eng.unimelb.edu.au/industry/internships	Biomedical Civil Electrical Environmental Materials Mechanical Mechanical with Aerospace Mechatronics Software Spatial Structural
Swinburne University	Professional Placements Industry Engagement	Michael McKenzie Manager, Professional Placements Industry Engagement mmckenzie@swin.edu.au 03 9214 8701 https://www.swinburne.edu.au/business-partnerships/working-with-our-students/	Architectural Engineering Aviation Management Biomedical engineering Civil engineering Construction engineering Computer Systems Technology Electrical and electronic engineering Mechanical engineering Product Design Engineering Robotics and Mechanical engineering Software engineering Telecommunications engineering
Latrobe University	Internships and Work Integrated Learning	Marnie Long Senior Experiential Learning Advisor (WIL) College of Science, Health & Engineering 03 9479 6237 SHEWorkIntegratedLearning@latrobe.edu.au	Civil engineering Electrical and Electronic Engineering Industrial engineering