Written by Yekti Crow

Giving back

Volunteering is a great way for industry professionals to give back to the community and to nurture the next generation of tech in the country. The Spark HR team have done over 40 hours of volunteering with Summer of Tech by providing a one on one coaching session for students virtually. The beauty of these virtual sessions was that we were able to provide opportunities for students who live outside of major cities like Auckland and Wellington! The sessions were spread over 2x4-hour time slots involving 6 Spark HR coaches and 63 students from all over the country. It was conducted via a video call where students could share their digital CV and chat with their coaches.

What did the sessions consist of? 

Students had the opportunities to get insightful advice on how to land their first jobs by seasoned HR professionals. During the coaching session, students were given 25 minutes to chat with Spark coaches to talk about how to navigate the job search process. Most of them used the opportunity to seek feedback for their CV, to ask the do’s and don’ts during job interviews and to grow their connections. The Spark team enjoyed meeting the students and appreciated their openness to feedback.  “The students really impressed us with their level of commitment to their studies and other interests, in particular the other areas of participation in community and networking events.   They shared lots of insights and have a wide knowledge of their industry.  We learnt a lot too from them, so it wasn’t all one-sided!” says Paula Henriques, HR Lead at Spark.  Volunteering in a virtual way allowed us to reach more students through breakout sessions and we would encourage other organisations to reach out and find a different way to help and share knowledge.

Grateful students

The students were also very grateful for the coaching sessions! One of them even mentioned that after talking to his coach, he felt more motivated and confident to move forward actively with their job search.

"Thank you, Paula for your useful tips and things that I should change in my CV! That was really helpful and I hope it will help me to find my first job. You also motivated and relaxed me. I felt more powerful after the meeting."

Volunteer with SoT

Giving back to the tech industry through volunteering at events like this is a great way to stay connected with the next generation of tech talent. At Summer of Tech, we welcome industry leaders like the Spark HR team to run bootcamps in any skill. We’ve hosted over 30 bootcamps this year, ranging from Cloud101 to career coaching bootcamps like this one. If you’re interested in running a bootcamp, or getting involved with our programme in another way, email info@summeroftech.co.nz.