Eight, students and industry partners at the University of Newcastle

17 August 2023

The STEM Career Connector.

The story starts with companies engaging Eight Recruitment to recruit graduates because they couldn’t find them, then when we attended a University of Newcastle Careers Expo and students were asking us to help with finding them a job, we knew there was something missing.

Having attended a career expo earlier in the year, we walked away thinking there was one thing missing. Genuine connections. The kind where the student can walk away from the event and know exactly who to send their resume to, and who they call about that job or internship opportunity.

And because we love a challenge and when we see the chance to make a difference, we’ll jump all paws in.

Then we heard:

46% of STEM graduates are finding their way into non-STEM jobs
41% of employers have difficulty recruiting STEM qualified technicians and trade workers
Jobs in STEM-related fields are growing almost 2x faster than other jobs

And ...

A 1% increase in people choosing STEM careers will add $57.4 billion to Australia’s economy over the next 20 years (wild). This is from the Office of Chief Scientist 2020 Australia’s STEM Workforce report.

If you’ve been a student recently or know of one, you’ll know that most University students undergo an internship where they aren’t paid and have to travel long distances. Although this has been regular for some time now, attitudes are changing, and we jumped on board. Afterall, why not be a part of the shift so all individuals can have equal access to the same opportunities? Well, it makes sense to us.

What we were then left with was:

Clients looking for interns/graduates + students looking for internships/grad roles and a massive gap between the two.

Luckily Eight was then introduced to CSIRO and the Generation STEM Links program. Phew.

Backed by a $25 million endowment from the NSW Government, CSRIO’s Generation STEM Links Program (👇) works to help bridge the gap between industry and STEM Students that we mentioned before.

https://www.csiro.au/en/education/Programs/Generation-STEM/Links-program/Industry-partner-information

This led us to the creation of our STEM Career. Held at The University of Newcastle, Eight Recruitment, with special guest CSIRO, hosted the event to create an environment where students (think Civil Engineers, Software Engineers, Mathematicians, Scientists and more) and industry partners could sit down and have a conversation that you couldn’t find at a careers expo. Don’t worry, the gift bags were still there.

Flash forward to the event, it was amazing to see so many major industry partners in one room chatting away with the students, truly blowing us out of the water. Not only were they future proofing the STEM workforce, but they were motivating and shining light on the many different pathways you can take as a student and graduate.

Panel 1 included a massive line up of:

Adrian Howard (Chief Executive @ Westrac)
Bruce Rummins (Engineering Manager @ Zenviron)
Marc Henty (General Manager @ HunterCivilab)
Stacey Sleeman (Finance Director & CFO @ Ampcontrol)
Chad Dillinger (Executive Director @ Cougar Mining Group)
Belinda Grealy (Global Head of Excellence @ ORICA)

The above chatted through everything from a lesson they learned the hard way in the early days of their careers, to what their company's internship program looks like and key skills to look for in interns or graduates.

The takeaways for everyone in the room were high at this time. It was great for other companies to hear how others are supporting their graduates and what their programs look like, but it was also valuable for current students to hear what individuals in senior positions are looking for when they take on new graduates.

Take the advice from Stacey Sleeman who said

“Yes, we want technical capability, but we’ll also teach that; what we can’t teach is the right attitude, so we’re looking for responsiveness and communication skills”.

And we couldn’t agree more.

Moving on from this, we had a second panel that included Newcastle University’s Alumni which was made up of:

Jessica Haugh (Renewables Engineer @ Zenviron)
Anna Donoghoe (Director @ PwC)
Nic Rogers (Senior Control Systems Engineer @ SAFEgroup Automation)
Kristen McMahon (Environmental Consultant @ IEMA)
Matt Reggers (Graduate Mechanical Engineer @ Cougar Mining Group)
Jake KinKade (Quality Assurance Officer @ Anditi)

Similar to the first panel, this one started off with each panellist telling a story of something they may have done or caused that they now look back on and laugh about. The highlight here was Nic Rodgers explaining how in his internship he cut a towns water supply off … luckily, he could now tell this with a smile on his face while having a laugh.

Over the session each person got to tell their story of getting to where they are now, what path they took and any hurdles they had to overcome. For the other students in the room but also the industry partners, it was beneficial to hear the perspectives of individuals who have experienced intern and graduate programs and how to make the most of them.

Being enthusiastic about taking all opportunities by the reins and jumping the deep end was a common theme across this panel, and relates to when Kristen McMahon emphasised that 👇

“Say yes to everyone and everything. Keep an eye on events and opportunities that come through your uni emails. It was only through first-hand experience that I figured out what I wanted to do.”

Given the turnout for the event and the quality of students that attended the STEM industry sure is looking bright.

If you’re a client and would like to be involved in something similar in the future, reach out to Nadene Barretto on 0432 124 418 or email nadene@eightrecruitment.com.au.

If you’re interested in CSIRO’s Generation STEM Links Program, you can sign up via the below links:

For students: click here

For industry: click here