Internships for innovation

Avia Collinder, Business Writer

With operations in more than 30 markets worldwide, Mark Rowe considered his selection for Digicel's internship programme nothing less than a coup.

The graduate in computing and information technology from the University of Technology, Jamaica, ended up being hired by the company three months into his internship. That was back in 2010.

"There was no question about it being the right choice, it was the only choice. There is never a dull moment," Rowe told Wednesday Business.

With both jobs and internships few on the ground in a contracting economy, graduates appear to count themselves lucky to be placed with the corporation, which itself introduced the internship programme to support internal innovation.

There are signs that companies are stepping up to offer opportunities to university students - GraceKennedy Limited kicked off an alliance with the UWI's business school this year; Musson Jamaica also signed with the business school in February — but Digicel has been in the game since 2008.

LOCAL RECRUITS

Digicel Group operates a Graduate Recruitment Programme (GRP) in various markets where it operates, and recruits locally from Northern Caribbean University, University College of the Caribbean, UTech and University of the West Indies, Mona.

Its targets are students in their penultimate and final year of both business and IT-related majors including finance, operations, human resources, marketing and computer science/telecoms.

The programme offers scholarships as well as internships where top students compete for positions within Digicel during the summer holidays. The Jamaican programme accommodates eight interns on average annually — 35 in total over the last three years.

To qualify for consideration for GRP, a student must be a Caribbean national, hold a GPA of 3.3 or above, and be a final-year student in a business or IT-related programme.

Digicel also runs a Graduate Acceleration Programme (GAP) which targets students in the top 15 per cent of their graduating class, and with a knowledge base in disciplines relevant to company needs.

This programme is 12 months long and includes rotations, project work and personal-development training.

DYNAMIC EXPERIENCE

Rowe who joined the staff at Digicel in October 2010 and now works in the Technical Department, said his experience has been extraordinary.

"Dynamic best describes it," he told Wednesday Business. "The learning and technology is cutting edge. I am working with some of the most brilliant minds in the field."

Rachel Shadwell, head of culture, learning and recruitment for Digicel Group, noted that interns are selected based not only on the kind of degrees they have, but also on personal qualities.

"We always want to find someone who can work very well as a part of a team, can show initiative, has good communication skills, and who is adaptable because of the fast pace of the environment here. Competency-based interview helps with determining some of these qualities."

FRESH TALENT

For the company, the benefits include fresh talent who are often enthusiastic about work and who demonstrate a proclivity for thinking outside the box.

"When I started in Digicel two and half years ago, I felt there was a lot of our talents going off to the (United) States. I thought we needed a way to bring in fresh talent and new ideas," said Shadwell.

"The interns are young, they are like sponges. They want to learn. It really was a way to keep things very fresh and keep new ideas coming in. They are using all of their experience and knowledge to bring solutions to the board."

Twenty-three-year-old Roshelle Lewis, who completed a degree in marketing at UWI in June 2011, was vacuumed into the internship programme just months after leaving school.

"I could not predict that these were the things that would happen to me. I expected the same thing every day because it is just an internship. But, you are thrown into the ring just like everyone. You are thrown into the job, you have no time to sit and prepare," said Lewis.

ON-THE-JOB GROWTH

"I was rotated in the different units, starting with advertising. Encountering different persons from many departments helped me to break out of my shell."

Lewis said there is no comparison between the working world at Digicel and the academic world.

"At school you develop campaigns and plan to roll them out. In this internship, you are actually doing it," she said.

Martin Thame, GRP coordinator at Digicel, said interns who exhibit flexibility and the ability to adapt to change are those the company tends to hold on to. Those, he said, are considered as keepers.

"They are not coming in to fill one particular job, but will fill different roles. They also need to be individuals who will challenge the status quo, and who are not willing to leave things as they are. They must ask themselves, how can I make things bigger and better?" said Thame, who is also recruitment manager for Digicel Jamaica.

"The third key element is persons who are dedicated, who will you see your project to the end and ensure its success. These characteristics are needed to best serve our customers," he said.

Those customers across Jamaica top two million, and 12 million regionwide.

business@gleanerjm.com