On Thursday, 12 February, we had our farewell ceremony to say goodbye to our 11 Government Health and Safety Interns. Our interns are finishing up their three-month placements in seven different public sector agencies located across Auckland, Hawkes Bay and Wellington.
Before joining our internship, our interns had no real exposure or understanding of HSW or the work that it involves. However, they showed they were the best of the best and were able to hit the ground running, fitted seamlessly in their HSW teams and have produced some outstanding work which included psychosocial harm frameworks, driving policies, emergency management and reviewing and updating policies and guides.
The main themes that came through at the farewell ceremony (where interns get to showcase the work they have completed to other agencies), is that the internship has opened their eyes to a career opportunities available in the HSW field and can the value and importance HSW has in the workplace. It's not just a tick box exercise. We were pleased to hear that three of our interns have landed HSW roles after their internships, while the rest have gone back to university to complete their final year of study.
We would like to say a big thank you to our ten agencies who hosted our interns this year which out their support we would not be able to run this programme which enables us to continue attracting new talented young professionals into the HSW workforce.
Lastly a big thank you to the NZISM for sponsoring this programme for this year.
