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Project skills helped international student graduates work-ready

Immigration NZ, Education NZ and ATEED together created a programme to help IT international students to kick-start their career in New Zealand.

New Zealand plays a big part in the international education market. The international students who graduate with Information Technology degree represent a vital pool of talent for New Zealand employers, many of the employers are struggling to find enough local skilled applicants.

However, sometimes the graduates and the employers fail to connect. On the one hand, international students lack New Zealand job market experience, while on the other, many New Zealand employers know little about recruiting or working with international student graduates. The pilot programme was jointly created and run by ATEED, Education New Zealand (ENZ) and Immigration New Zealand.

Project Skills included study-to-work seminars, an Industry-Connect Boot Camp for international graduates in software development and testing, and an employer-graduate networking evening.

One of the main component of Project Skills was a six-week Industry Connect Boot Camp for international students who had graduated with a computer or IT related degree. Twenty graduates took part in the programme, which set out to equip them with the technical skills popular in software industry and soft skills that would make them job-ready.

As one of the organisers, Jason Chand of MBIE, says the programme has succeeded on quite a lot of measures, one of them being jobs. “I know a number of the boot camp graduates have been interviewed by software development companies, and some of them have taken up job offers and are now out there developing apps for the finance sector and software testing for the transport sector. It’s great to see skilled international graduates contributing to the New Zealand economy.”

All negative responses didn’t stop her dream

I’m here with Preity who has just secured a job as a junior developer. So firstly, congratulations.

Thank you.

You're welcome. So hey, tell us before you came to Industry Connect, what kind of experience did you have in the New Zealand job market?

So I came here in June, 2014 at that time, I had only a visitor visa but after getting a work visa, I started applying for jobs and I don't know why, but I didn't get any response. All negative responses, no positive responses. then I knew that to secure a job in New Zealand, it’s very important to have a New Zealand experience which I didn’t have so I joined Industry Connect and after joined Industry Connect, I joined Central station as an intern and then I started getting calls, and now I’m here.

Awesome.

Yeah

So, while you were here at Industry Connect, what kind of technical experience did you pick up?

So, here at Industry Connect, I learned ASP.net, C#, AngularJS, not
exactly AngularJS but they taught us that as well. And here, we are working with Kendo UI. I also learned here SSRS, so yeah.

Cool. And in terms of soft skills and communication along that line, what kind of skills?

Yeah. After starting working here, I think because of here, I improved my communication skills so much and I think now, I’m more confident and I can please anything actually.

Awesome. That’s good, yeah.

And for anyone who is considering probably doing Industry Connect, what would your recommendation to them be?

So yeah. If you want a job in the IT industry in New Zealand, it’s good to join Industry Connect. At Industry Connect, you are not only getting skills but you are also getting experience which is mandatory in New Zealand to get an IT job.

Awesome. Well, congratulations, Preity.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

A hearing impaired young man kicked off his career as software developer

The story is truly inspiring, a hard-working young man finally proves the world that he can no worse than the others. Listen to his story of becoming a software developer.

I'm here today with Joe who just secured a job as a dot.net developer. So firstly, congratulations on your new job.

Thank you.

You’re welcome. So Joe, before coming to Industry Connect, what experience did you have in the marketplace or in the industry and what struggles you have getting into jobs?

Ok. Before I got a job, I graduated from university with information systems and [inaudible] and I was looking for a job after I graduated but there was no response at all. Even if there were some responses, they were all negative. So I decided to join this program at Industry Connect. And they put me into an internship.
So, after working at [inaudible], I finally got one interview, and I managed to secure the job.

Awesome.

And while you did your Industry Connect course and also your internship, what kind of practical skills did you pick up along the way and skills that helped you in securing your job?

I learned about dot.net, C Sharp, SQL, language integrated, Javascript, bootstrap, Kendo UI, Angular JS…

Awesome, and what was it like working on live projects?

On the project, we had a meeting but sometimes the meeting was all about communication skills and talking about interviews or we get to practice interviews, a lot of other projects. We always help each other with the project. We were given a task to do the project.

Great. And you mentioned communication skills. would you say that being here has definitely helped you with the communication skills?

Yes. Being here has helped me a lot with the communication skills. It helped make me feel more confident during the interview.

Awesome. Well congratulations. Any tips or advice for anyone who’s considering doing Industry Connect?

If you want an IT job, stop looking and come and join Industry Connect. you will gain a lot of practical experience that you will need for an IT job.

Awesome. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Industry Connect attends the developer week in San Francisco

Industry Connect attends the developer week in San Francisco along with Xero, Vista Entertainment and Immigration NZ and ATEED

Andrew McPherson, co-founder at IndustryConnect.org, invited everyone to explore NZ job market at the job fair hosted by the DevWeek.

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