We have been cautiously excited for in-person recruitment events, with our September hiring season representing our first opportunity for meeting and greeting since 2019! In these “unprecedented times” we knew in-person events would be different, but we weren’t expecting such a regional variation.

Something is different in Wellington this year, and we’re doing our best to figure out what’s changed. More analysis below, but first, the headline:

In-person Meet & Greet student registrations in Wellington are only 50% of 2019 registrations.

We anticipated 600 student attendees (based on the number of candidates, their engagement with our programme and the number of roles available), however it looks like we’re going to have closer to 300 student attendees.

Auckland is looking like business as usual with around 450 students expected (we had 400 in 2019).

We’re expecting our online option to be busy too: definitely 500, likely more.

What does this mean for Wellington Meet & Greet?

• Wellington Meet & Greet is on! We’re ready to roll and doing everything we can to increase student registrations.

• If you’re attending as an employer, be ready for some quiet patches

• Consider bringing fewer people; our recommendation is a maximum of 2 people per role

• Consider doubling up on queues or swapping your people over every ½ hour

• Attend our Online Meet & Greet too!

• Be proactive and engage outside Meet & Greet; read our 4 top tips here.

Remember: we have over 1,500 students and graduates NZ-wide who are not attending Wellington Meet & Greet but are available for summer recruitment. You can search for top talent and invite candidates to a speed interview (or a quick chat), even if they don’t attend Meet & Greet!

What is up with Wellington Summer of Tech candidates this year?

Last week we wrote about low tertiary enrolments and engagement here, and it could be that low enrolments, low attendance, and/or low engagement is more extreme in Wellington than other regions.

In 2021 we noticed that the extended lockdowns in Auckland caused higher stress for students, and less engagement in Summer of Tech activities. But by the end of the year things had settled down, and although we saw a slight drop in candidates, applications and placements, our Auckland numbers finishing the year similar to what we saw in 2020.

We’re wondering if in 2022, the protests in Parliament grounds had a similar effect suppressing Wellington student engagement this year, and it hasn’t recovered?

But all of that is speculation…

What does the data say?

Until we get statistics on enrolments and deeper research on our tertiary pipeline, we won’t know for sure. We have, however, undertaken more analysis with our Summer of Tech data, asking questions like: 

• Are there fewer students available in Wellington? Yes, we are hearing about a significant drop in enrolments at Wellington-based tertiaries, and dramatically lower on-campus attendance. 

• HOWEVER, we still have our usual number of people available to work in Wellington jobs, just not located in Wellington right now. We also have 600+ candidates ready to work fully remotely, if that’s an option.

• Is the drop in international students a factor? No, we have similar numbers compared to last year, and the number of domestic students registered for Summer of Tech is the same.

• Are registrations in Summer of Tech overall lower than usual? Yes, but only by around 10% compared to our 2021 candidate numbers.

• Are registrations in Summer of Tech different by tertiary institution this year? Yes, lower than last year from Massey University, Whitireia WelTec and Te Herenga Waka Victoria University. Also significantly higher than last year from Dev Academy Aotearoa and Waikato University.

University of Auckland

97% (of 2021 candidate numbers)

Te Herenga Waka
Victoria University of Wellington

76%

University of Canterbury

82%

AUT

97%

Whitireia Weltec

62%

Massey University

54%

University of Otago

88%

University of Waikato

166%

Dev Academy Aotearoa

239%

Unitec

72%

• Is engagement in Summer of Tech overall lower than usual? Yes, and no! Some things are down (like in-person Wellington Meet & Greet registrations, the average number of applications per role). On the other hand, some things are up, like engagement in our web platform which is at its highest point ever, and in-person Auckland Meet & Greet registrations… oh, and event no-shows are between 5%-25% at the moment (average is usually 10%). Note: calculations above for Meet & Greet attendance are adjusted for expected no-shows.

• Why aren’t Summer of Tech candidates attending the in-person Wellington Meet & Greet this year? A variety of reasons, and of course some may be uncomfortable attending in-person events, and coming to our online one instead. The main one they’ve reported to us is busy-ness (with study, family and work commitments). This has impacted their availability to participate in any extra-curricular activities or events. Some hadn’t seen roles they were interested in listed on our platform (though that has changed in the past 2 weeks). Some had a poor experience with past recruitment engagements. Some thought they had no chance of getting hired due to lack of experience or being an international student.

What does all of this mean?

Recruitment is hard right now, and intern and graduate recruitment is no exception. There are fewer candidates and more jobs available, especially in Wellington. Students and graduates are under a lot of pressure with cost of living and getting through their studies with hybrid/online course delivery.

Here at Summer of Tech we are heading into our busy summer intern recruitment season with 1,800+ motivated and engaged candidates, some of whom aren’t keen to attend large in-person events.

The next few years will continue to be challenging for organisations hiring, growing and retaining talented tech employees in Aotearoa, especially so for Wellington organisations, if the early signs we’re seeing are anything to go by.

If the early signs we’re seeing are anything to go by, the next few years will continue to be challenging for organisations hiring, growing and retaining talented tech employees in Aotearoa, perhaps especially hard for Wellington organisations.