Top spots for hot shots

Monica Lewinsky may have given interns a bad name, but if the experiences of Aucklander Menisha Patel are any indication, internship programmes are like boot-camp for future corporate leaders. She's one of a handful of graduates to land a place on the coveted graduate internship programme that Microsoft NZ recruits for every spring to improve its talent pool.

Despite their latent abilities, recent graduates like Patel are (relative) newbies to full-time work with little insight into organisational culture or appropriate corporate behaviour. That's why she equates being chosen as an intern to "lucking out" at Monopoly.

But instead of "advancing to Mayfair", internship or graduate employment programmes such as those offered by professional service firms are designed to fast-track career development. They do this, adds Patel, by moulding the best raw talent universities turn out annually. She found herself rubbing shoulders with Microsoft NZ's boss Ross Peat shortly after joining the global software giant's 12-month internship programme last year.

In hindsight, she says being charged with planning and deploying Microsoft's "technology makeover" promotion - that awards $350,000 to the (mid-sized) firm with the most innovative IT strategy - as a baptism of fire.

"But far from being prescriptive, internship programmes like this provide some essential life-skills for new graduates," says Patel, associate product manager and recent Bachelor of Business graduate from AUT. "It's all about encouraging you to take ownership of projects and absorbing all you can from those around you."

Throwing interns like Patel into meaty projects from day one, says Peat, is an ideal way to boot-strap their tentative steps into corporate life. But, he warns, that only works successfully if the employer provides support and sufficient margin for the inevitable mistakes recent graduates will make.

"Having run internship programmes now for five years we recognise that recent graduates need a lot of nurturing, and support, even with things like how to behave in a workplace environment," says Peat.

There's no guarantee of a permanent job offer after the internship finishes. That's why Peat says it's critical for interns to grasp as many opportunities during the programme to show what they can do. But assuming there are suitable roles available, the company will do its best to retain this talent. Not surprisingly, all four graduates who completed their internship over the last 18 months are still working for Microsoft somewhere in the world.

So how hard is it to get into Microsoft's internship programme? Fewer than one in 10 applicants win one of five places, so intern manager Brent Colbert says competition is pretty fierce. Interns are typically straight-A students from a variety of tertiary disciplines, including marketing, economics, computer science, engineering, and business. But he says there's a lot more to final selection than academic record or a long CV of former business experience.

Over a series of five-plus interviews Microsoft will assess everything from IQ to genuine passion, and curiosity about technology. Final selection, advises Colbert, is less about hiring for a 12-month programme, and more to do with identifying tomorrow's smart achievers.

"We're looking for people who display the right values, aptitude, attitude, and cultural fit to make it within this fast-changing industry," says Colbert. "They must have a strong sense of what they can do for the business rather than [just] the other way around."

Every year around this time accounting and law firms run national roadshows to find the brightest university graduates. Chartered accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers adopts equally rigorous recruitment processes to Microsoft, says Janine Campbell, GM human capital, when hiring for its graduate employment programme.

There's a big staff network of facilitators and instructors involved in delivering this programme, and Campbell says it's critical the right graduates are selected for permanent employment. And as these graduates represent the company's next generation of partners, it's important they're tested for various skills, including writing and numeracy.

Only 10 per cent of the 900 graduates who apply are offered jobs under PricewaterhouseCoopers' graduate (permanent) employment programme. And around a third, advises Campbell, are interns from the company's future graduates summer programme. Irrespective of which business stream they've been hired to work in - tax, auditing, corporate finance, private client, and business recovery - all graduates start their careers at PricewaterhouseCoopers on a 10-day induction programme.

It's important, says Campbell, that all graduates receive a common introduction on things like cultural values, risk/independence, and codes of conduct before going into their various teams. For example, the first session is on what it means to be a professional and graduates get to work on how they present themselves to a client.

"We work pretty hard on developing a professional-services mentality within these graduates," she says.

"There's plenty of time for graduates to network with their peer group, and this is continued throughout the year."

When they're split off into their various teams, graduates are assigned to a mentor but once they're out of the starting blocks, real-time coaching includes technical training and people development, Campbell says.

Graduates undergo a formal post-commencement interview after an initial three months, and their first performance review six months after joining.

"The biggest challenge is keeping the learning as fresh, interactive, and relevant as possible," says Campbell.

So how can graduates make themselves attractive to professional service firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers?

As well as looking at your degree structure carefully, it's important to have an open and encouraging mind, Campbell says.

"While work experience is a real bonus, graduates should also start to get a feel for this type of business and the dynamics on which it operates."

Raising your odds 

* Maintain an A average.
* Gain relevant work experience.
* Identify the firms you want to work for.
* Display a can-do attitude.
* Align organisational culture with values.
* Be prepared to make mistakes.
* Identify where your passions really lie.
* Be a well-rounded individual.
* Have strong written and numeric skills.
* Plan your degree structure carefully.