New York opportunity pays off

Courtney Sutherland was the first recipient of the Kea New Zealand Winter Internship Award. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Courtney Sutherland, a 22-year-old Auckland University graduate, is just back from New York as the first recipient of the Kea winter internship award.

The heavy snow dumps there hardly fazed her.

"I heard it was going to be cold so when all the streets were shut, I thought that was just normal. But going outside was like walking into a fridge," said the former Rangitoto College student.

She has a conjoint arts and business degree majoring in economics, accounting and French. Sutherland had been working at Vodafone before winning the internship, being sent to New York from November 1 to January 14 and working at Royal Bank of Scotland in markets on the sales foreign exchange desk.

Now, she is shifting to Sydney to work at global business L.E.K. Consultants.

Susan Cresswell of Kea, the Kiwi Expat Association, said Sutherland had a big job at Royal Bank of Scotland.

"Her role entailed supporting senior sales people. She would enter orders for trades and compile daily reports for senior team members in the US and British offices. She had some incredible experiences," Cresswell said.

She described the internship as a new move by Kea to place New Zealand students in top business schools into multinational organisations based in the United States.