UTS Bachelor of Technology and Innovation student Hayley Tulich started off with no idea about what she wanted to get out of her internship - but ended up with a passion for startups and industry connections to boot.
“I just wanted to experience the startup world,” says Hayley. “My internship has guided me through that process and sparked different interests in future career paths."
With its new Startup Internships program, UTS is giving students the chance to work with early-stage startups in credit-bearing internships.
Connecting students with startups for work experience is having far-reaching benefits for both students and their entrepreneur hosts.
Working with early-stage investment firm Investible, Hayley and fellow intern Nick Hurrell (Bachelor of Communication / Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation), helped coordinate Investible’s Impact Games, a competition where startups compete over three days in a variety of challenges, being judged across different areas.
Demand for management and data competency is expected to increase rapidly with the changing economy, and Hayley’s work on the project required a grasping of these core future-proofing skills.
“I was involved in the whole event: from the planning at the beginning to the execution of the event at the end. To start with, it was a lot of data collection, sorting the startups, but it quickly evolved into project management and testing all the challenges and seeing what needed to be improved on.”
For Nick, working on the Impact Games project allowed him to gain greater insight into what working with a startup involves on a day-to-day basis.
“We had a hands-on role participating in, and overseeing the process,” says Nick. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all role. Everyday you’re going to get a new task, a new responsibility. Because you’re in a group of two, five or ten people, you’re an integral cog in that business.”
Hayley says the internship allowed her to tackle challenges in a new environment, pushing her to quickly master new skills.
“This experience has been invaluable and I’d recommend everyone do it. The experience you gain from being put into the deep end; you grow so much and it’s nothing compared to what you would learn in a classroom.”
Easing the squeeze for short-staffed startups
The program comes after UTS signed a deal with the Fishburners startups community, opening up internship opportunities for students with startups like Investible, who reside in one of Australia’s leading co-working spaces.
Elisa-Marie Dumas, Head of Global Partnerships and Programs for Investible, says working with a startup can require having to develop proficiencies in many areas, and the UTS interns proved they were able to learn quickly and get involved in the daily business of Investible.
“Hayley and Nick were such a great fit for our program. Ideal interns are people who are naturally curious about entrepreneurship, but also, in how they think and move, are willing to learn, be agile and take on board 50 different things that we might throw on them.”
The arrangement between UTS and Fishburners has also made it easier for startups looking to grow their team to cut through the screening process, with Fishburners matching each UTS student with a suitable startup.
“Startups are poor on time, money and resources and these programs are here to help,” says Elisa. “The matching component is going to be really important in helping startups get the right interns.”
“We have just loved working with Hayley and Nick and the broader team of UTS interns. For us, it helps us scale our resources. We’re pretty lean as a team and we’re already spread pretty thin.”
With startups now being cited as a leading force behind future jobs growth, Hayley says her experience as an intern, and being able to network with fellow Fisburners regulars has ultimately pushed her towards exploring a broader career path in the startup ecosystem.
“This internship has sparked a massive interest for me in startups,” says Hayley. “I’ve met so many people who I would never have met before and, from the Impact Games, a couple of companies I’m interested in have been offering me the opportunity to come and work with them.”
Interested in pursuing an internship opportunity with a startup?
Apply now to Startup Internships, applications close on 23 November.
For more information, click here.