80% of New Zealand graduates have little or no confidence in their job prospects, according to a recent survey by Talent Solutions.

We shared our Summer of Tech perspective on the 2024 employment landscape back in April, and the challenges have compounded since then.

So many businesses and people are doing it hard right now, and our hearts go out to everyone who’s been through multiple rounds of redundancies, with ongoing budget shrinkages and the corresponding hardship, anxiety and distress this causes.

In the midst of all this, new hires (especially junior hires) are one of the first things to cut back on. If you’re not growing, or if you don’t have confidence that the economy is growing… you’re unlikely to be growing new talent.

Why does early talent matter so much?

Quite simply, it’s our future. To borrow from Bill English’s input/output model for social investment, the NZ education system has invested many thousands of dollars in bringing new talent through. “Digital Skills” has been on the agenda for our country for decades, and a huge amount of research, refinement and support has gone in to present “new” talent to the job market.

[A recent Listener article explained the social investment model well, sorry it’s behind a paywall, but here’s a link or your local library will have a hard copy of the 26 August 2024 edition!]

We are in a global talent market, and our skilled grads will take their qualifications and go overseas to where the jobs are, if they are able to do so. If they’re not willing or able to leave Aotearoa, they still need to pay the bills, so they will drop out of the tech sector before they’ve even started.

What a waste of investment. Sure, we might lure them back in a few years, as intermediates or seniors.

A couple of years of under-investing in interns and grads will have ripple effects for decades to come.

Recently, Tui Te Hau, CEO of Te Matarau a Māui, shared an analogy from high performance sport:

invest now, and in 6 years time the All Blacks will win

How’s this for a Summer of Tech version?

Invest in interns now, and in 3 years time you’ll have a high performing intermediate on your team, who has grown with your business, and knows there’s a meaningful tech career for them in Aotearoa

Not quite as snappy as the All Blacks analogy, but you get the drift!

Growing great grads

If you are in a position to move your “return on investment” horizons beyond this quarter, beyond this year, the decision to hire interns or graduates makes complete sense. We’ve seen hundreds of cases where hiring an intern, supporting and training them, results in an accelerated development path (and a HIGHER return on investment!)

The returns go beyond a loyal, well-performing team member, you’ll also grow your existing team through management/mentoring experience, a sense of individual and team satisfaction and pride in putting the ladder down for the next generation. A collective industry-led approach spreads the investment across multiple employers, it’s not just good for YOUR business, it’s good for our sector, and for Aotearoa as a whole.

Although we started out serving the startup community, we have also seen huge savings and economies of scale with corporates and medium sized businesses working with us to convert interns into their grad programme. If they’re willing to jump in on an industry-led approach to early talent, they can see many MANY hours and dollars saved by a collective approach to talent building.

And it’s completely achievable to get 80-90% of their grad cohort from interns!

What if we don’t?

Heard of the “leaky talent pipeline”? Here’s an image from the August 2023 Digital Skills report:

The biggest leaks in the pipeline are occurring because industry is hesitant to hire and develop people. The biggest shortage is “senior specialists” but we aren’t growing seniors effectively right now.

If we don’t invest, retain and grow our talent, the leaks become a fire hose and our tech sector as a whole doesn’t grow. If we’re not growing local, we are reliant on immigration (which is an important and valid part of our talent strategy! But we need more!!) The other option is poaching skilled people who are already working for other businesses. If we don’t invest in early talent, skills shortages become even more intense, and we do the opposite of thriving and surviving.

What if we do?

If you’re a NZ employer of technology skills, please consider if you have space for just one intern this summer. Creating an opportunity could change a life. It could give someone on-the-job experience and hope that they have a meaningful career in Aotearoa. They’ll learn. They’ll bring fresh ideas. They’ll contribute to your team. They’ll challenge you and help your existing staff grow their teaching skills. They might even be your next permanent superstar!

It’s not too late to hire a summer intern for 2024/25! Our recruitment events are September 17th-23rd, but after that, it’s STILL not too late! We have plenty of keen, capable candidates available to start before the end of the year.

Green Shoots

For all the students, graduates and whanau of students and graduates reading this, let me finish on a more positive note…. we ARE seeing green shoots of growth! We DO have loyal employers who are hiring this year, even though times are tough for many. It looks like budgets and investment will open up in 2025, so hang in there, the investment you’ve made in your digital skills and tech qualifications is worthwhile. Aotearoa’s tech industry needs you… greener pastures await in 2025.