Internship Hosting
Hosting an intern at your company
You can receive many benefits from hosting an Internex Intern, including receiving help to complete some projects, an injection of enthusiasm and youthful spirit, a valuable perspective from a local or international student as well as general support and assistance.
If you are interested in becoming an Internex internship host, please read through the tabs below and complete the registration form and we will be in touch to have a chat and welcome you into our program.
An internship is a period of supervised, practical training or experience for qualified students and professionals. It can take place remotely or onsite within an organisation and is for time-limited, non -permanent roles. An intern develops and refines skills related to his/her field of interest while serving in a real-world organisation.
An internship with your organisation should offer the intern the opportunity to gain and develop skills that contribute to their future career. You should provide interns the opportunity to work on projects that free up other workers’ time, that provide a challenge and do not replace the role of an employee.
Most Internex interns are are unpaid and considered volunteers. This means that you are not able to offer anything of value including wages, housing or meals. You are permitted to give the intern a small gift or koha, so long as it is not expected by the intern going into the arrangement. You are also able to reimburse any costs the intern incurs while undertaking internship tasks.
If you do want to pay the intern this is possible, however, you need to form an employment agreement meeting minimum wage and employment standards. This employment agreement would then replace the internship agreement.
Our interns are from all over New Zealand and around the world and are looking to gain valuable work experience that will help them stand out in an increasingly competitive global job market.
Our local interns are often attending one of our partner Universities, colleges or language schools and the internship often forms part of their program of study. Alternatively they may be graduates looking to advance their careers and get a foot in the door or students taking a break from their studies looking for new experiences.
Our international interns usually come via our partner network of Universities and agencies, stretching across over 30 countries with our primary markets being USA, UK, Europe (primarily Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway) and Asia (primarily Japan and China). These interns are usually taking the internship as part of their studies or their gap year abroad.
Internex is one of the world’s first dedicated internship companies and has been placing interns in organisations since 1999. Since opening our first office, we have placed over 20,000 participants from more than 50 countries in internships and other programs across Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
We have a strong history of success. Of the thousands of companies we’ve worked with, the vast majority have said our interns have been excellent additions to their teams. Interns have been able to assist with a wide variety of projects, freeing up time for other workers, and have brought new ideas and energy into established companies. Many have commented on how quickly our interns have picked up new skills and several of our host organisations have gone on to offer interns full- time or part-time employment at the end of their internships.
In New Zealand, we have placed students in nearly every industry, with outstanding results. We take a custom approach to placing interns, interviewing every candidate before they join our program to ensure they have the correct expectations for their placement and are suitably experienced. We then actively seek out suitable placements based on the candidates’ skills, interests, and any university requirements.
We offer all international interns and relocating domestic interns assistance with any required visas, flights, insurance, airport transfers, accommodation, social activities, travel advice, and emergency support. We ensure our interns are well supported with all the practical details so they can put all their energies into their placement with you.
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There are no costs to host an intern unless you choose to create an employment agreement. You do however need to ensure you have a safe and welcoming organisation for the intern to complete the internship. You should ensure there is a supervisor to oversee and assist the intern and you should have projects that the intern can become involved with during the internship. The responsibilities are further outlined in the internship host policies and procedures.
Yes, it is legal for New Zealand companies to host interns so long as you abide by all the terms set out by Employment New Zealand and have an agreement in place where both parties agree to the terms. If you host an intern through Internex then you can be rest assured that your intern will understand the expectation of your organisation and that they agree to the terms of the placement agreement and the Employment laws pertaining to internships.
Employers gain many benefits from hosting interns. They receive an injection on enthusiasm, assistance on projects that may not otherwise be moving ahead, freeing up time for other team members, new perspective on problem and systems and access to new technologies and methodologies that other companies may be incorporating and are being taught in college or University. Employers also get to assess an interns motivations and project outcomes before they enter the labour market.
Internships are a vital way to give back to those that have motivation to study and achieve and who believe volunteering their time will move their career forward. Within your organisation it offers the opportunity to have a fresh set of eyes from an alternative perspective and allows you to move some projects off the end of your desk and free up time for you and other team members. It can also be an excellent way to assess an individual’s skills and motivations before they enter the job market.
There are so many ways an intern can contribute to a company, from a youthful perspective on your organisation through to implementing new technologies and methodologies that are at the forefront of their education. Interns tend to be highly interested and motivated and can inspire change within teams. Our host organisations are constantly letting us know they are amazed at the talents and motivations and that the contributions far exceeded their expectations.
Employment New Zealand states: Work experience, short-term work trials and longer unpaid internships are increasingly common in some industries. If an employer does not want to pay somebody to do these roles they must make sure that the person is a volunteer. If an employer is thinking of having somebody do an unpaid work trial or internship, or work experience, they should: Make absolutely clear that the position is a volunteer position and that the person does not expect payment or other reward. This should be done in writing. Make sure that the volunteer does not receive any payment. Avoid getting an economic benefit from the work done by the volunteer. Avoid having the volunteer do work which is integral to the business, such as work that an employee would ordinarily do. Limit the duration of work and the hours worked by the volunteer. The longer a person volunteers and the more hours they work, the more likely they are to be an employee.
For somebody to be a volunteer they must not expect payment and they must not receive payment. A volunteer is not an employee, so employment law does not apply to them (with the exception of Health and Safety law). If the parties want a volunteer relationship, it’s important they make it clear that the worker does not expect payment and does not receive payment. Otherwise, the worker may be judged to be an employee. Payment does not include; reimbursing the volunteer for the expenses they incurred when performing the volunteer work, a koha or honoraria, any personal satisfaction a volunteer may get from the work.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment states: An unpaid intern or volunteer can help you with; Freeing up your time, Doing one-off jobs Charity work or anything that might give them new experience or skills. In return, the intern should get from you; any training that is required to do the task, a record of when he/she worked for you, a written agreement that explains this is an unpaid internship/volunteer position only, what the nature of the intern work is, and what the duration of the internship. any necessary Health and Safety training or equipment
Immigration New Zealand states: On a visitor visa you can do volunteer work while in New Zealand, provided you receive no gain or reward. You must not expect or receive gain or reward for the volunteer work you do. Gain or reward is any payment or benefit that can be valued in terms of money. Examples include: accommodation, such as board or lodging, goods, such as food or clothing, services, such as transport and training. If your intention is to receive gain or reward, you are not considered to be a volunteer and should consider applying for a work visa.
For information on Health and Safety laws for volunteers visit WorkSafe New Zealand
The interns we send to your organisation meet all the terms outlined above and we ensure that both you and the intern sign an agreement that agrees to these terms.
All interns go through a detailed application process to ascertain that they have a suitable attitude, motivation, expectations, and level of English to be successful in our program. Every intern is assigned an Internex Placement Supervisor who interviews them and, with the support of a team, seeks out a suitable placement in accordance with their skills, interests, and university requirements.
When a suitable placement is found, we ensure that the project meets the terms of an internship in New Zealand. We then create an offer/placement agreement which both your company and the intern sign. When you host an Internex intern, a placement agreement must also be signed by both parties, making clear in writing that this is a volunteer relationship and that the intern does not expect any wages or rewards.
Interns must strictly adhere to the policies, procedures, and practices of your organisation, and behave as responsible professionals at all times. Interns are expected to fulfil their duties with your organisation on either a part-time or full-time basis. The exact hours of daily activity are negotiated between you and the intern and are open to change with agreement by both parties.
Your organisation may need to provide tools, data, equipment, or other resources as required for the intern to perform his/her duties. Remote interns will have their own equipment but may need you to pay for security software.
Finding a good intern can be like finding a needle in a hay stack. You can advertise on local student job sites, or with recruitment tools or directly with local and international colleges, however you may end up with hundreds of applicants with mis-managed expectations that may not be taking the internship for the correct reasons. If you want Internex to find you an intern you can complete the application and afterwards we will contact you to learn more about your organisational culture and projects and then look for an intern that is suitable through our local and international partner network
We put every effort into ensuring the interns we prepare for your company are suitable, and we are confident you’ll find them appropriate. However, should issues arise, we can help.
We ask that your organisation makes a good-faith attempt to resolve minor difficulties directly with the intern. If things remain unresolved after you have made this attempt and you would like to release the intern, we will move to a premature termination of placement after a consultation with both parties and one week’s notice.
For any more serious transgression by the intern against your organisation’s policies, procedures, or practices (including unwarranted absences without a doctor’s note), please advise Internex immediately. The intern may be released without further notice.
If an intern wants to depart prematurely without valid reasons, they must give a minimum of two weeks’ notice and obtain your organisation’s written agreement.
In most cases, issues can be resolved internally. When they cannot, we will usually find a new internship for the intern, unless the issues are related to major transgressions.
Ready to host an intern?
If you would like to host an intern please continue to the registration form. This is a chance to let us know more about your organisation and the type of intern you would like to host and outlines the internship host policies and procedures. When we receive your completed application form we will then make contact with you to go over the application and advise you if we have anyone available, or when we might have someone available.
We look forward to working with you.
Benefits of hosting an intern
An injection of youthful enthusiasm
Free up time for staff to work on other projects
A new perspective on your operations
A chance to help in the education and learning of local and international students
The opportunity to assist a student transition from student to employee
Internex Partner