Trade Me has helped to launch an exciting career for one young Summer of Tech intern who has gone on to become the company’s Android Technical Leader.Over the years, Trade Me has helped countless Summer of Tech interns progress successfully into permanent employment opportunities within the company and kickstart exciting careers.One of those interns is Jamie Sanson. Jamie was hired by Trade Me as part of the 2015/2016 Summer of Tech programme as an Intern Android Developer. He was put in a supportive team and given endless opportunities to learn new skills and apply what he had learnt at university. Four years later, he’s now a full time permanent Android Technical Lead.Recruiting outstanding intern talentTrade Me’s Chief Product and Technology Officer Simon Young says Summer of Tech provides an easy low-risk, low-cost way for the company to grow its talentpool by investing in exciting new talent like Jamie. Last summer alone, Trade Me took on 18 Summer of Tech interns with a variety of specialist skills in business and tech.“The quality and skills of interns available to choose from is amazing. Summer of Tech does a lot of the recruitment work for you: they train the students to ensure they have the right skills to join your team and have a really good understanding of what support organisations like us need.“If you’re sceptical about giving it a go - just do it! It’s easy to see the value in your organisation and it’s not expensive compared to traditional recruiting. You’ll be really surprised by the quality and eagerness of the students,” he says.Making the programme a successSimon says one of the key reasons that Summer of Tech is a success for Trade Me is because they treat it as a graduate recruitment scheme, rather than an internship programme.“The minute our interns walk in the door they’re treated just like regular staff – they’re not a special case, we don’t put them on easy/learning projects, we just get them working on the important stuff that needs to get done, along with everyone else. I think that’s what allows us to easily transition our interns into permanent employees,” he says.Passion, skills and big ideasLike Jamie, a majority of the interns Simon has hired over the years have a hunger and enthusiasm that you don’t always see in more seasoned employees.“That desire to change the world a little bit is really great. They bring knowledge of technologies we haven’t used before and lots of fresh ideas on how we can use our mobile apps.“It’s bitter-sweet when they move on to big exciting opportunities. One of our former interns was headhunted by Spotify. Good news story right? It’s just nice that we played some part in that,” he says.Future proofing the tech industrySimon is excited to continue working with Summer of Tech to futureproof the tech industry and says he looks forward to fresh talent rolling through the door at Trade Me each summer.“Summer of Tech is a great opportunity for us to get ourselves in front of a lot of talented people – we get to talk about the Trade Me story and why it’s a great place to work. It’s also a source of some of the most outstanding talent.”