Key points
- Generation STEM Links provides end-to-end recruitment support, along with a $2,500 grant per student on completion of placement.
- 85 per cent of placements are with small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
- Over 70 per cent of students are offered ongoing employment.
The challenge
The ability for small and medium‑sized businesses to bring in new talent has become increasingly difficult in a competitive market where time, money and resources are limited.
Many SMEs want to engage emerging professionals but struggle to find tertiary interns they can be sure will fit their needs and who offer a sense of safety in the quality of candidates.
For businesses facing these challenges, CSIRO's Generation STEM Links program could provide the solution businesses in New South Wales have been searching for.
The opportunity
Cameron Owen is the Director of SAPHI, an award-winning Newcastle-based company specialising in AI systems that make mining and heavy industries safer and more efficient.
Cameron needed some local talent to help grow SAPHI’s AI imaging and manufacturing capabilities. So he turned to Generation STEM Links to find him a match. As a result SAPHI did not need to advertise the role, shortlist candidates, or conduct initial interviews as this was handled by the Generation STEM Links program team.
We asked Cameron about his experience first-hand.
Why Generation STEM Links?
When asked about what piqued his interest, Cameron said he was drawn to the program due to the streamlined process and ability to identify suitable candidates for his businesses needs.
“The main value proposition for me was the fact that we were handed high quality students suited to the task without any recruiting effort on our own behalf,” Cameron shared.
“The process including understanding our company, shortlisting and interviewing candidates and then hiring was very smooth.
“Having a portion of their wages subsidised was also useful as we could then re-purpose that capital towards the growth of the business,” said Cameron.
What was achieved?
While SAPHI originally requested and advertised for two engineering positions, due to the experience and high-calibre of the interns shortlisted by CSIRO, SAPHI decided to employ 4 interns to assist with meaningful work which was both useful for businesses progression and for the students learning opportunities.
“The students were tasked with supporting the production line for a large deployment of our flagship product (Shellshock AI). They executed this flawlessly and played a great role in the delivery of a project that is underpinning the companies transition to becoming a leader in the machine vision market for vehicle safety,” said Cameron.
The impact
Cameron praised the interns work and ability to progress an important project.
“By quickly vetting and introducing us to capable students, our recruitment time was drastically reduced. This allowed us to expand capabilities much faster than anticipated which played a role in the success of this critical project.
“Generation STEM Links allowed us to accelerate timelines and deliver faster than we had previously anticipated,” shared Cameron.
As a result of the successful internship placements, all interns were offered and accepted ongoing employment, delivering immediate value to the business through fresh, skilled talent while also strengthening the pipeline of STEM‑ready graduates for NSW’s future workforce.
Like most businesses in Generation STEM Links, SAPHI is a small‑to‑medium enterprise, which account for the majority of placements. Whether you are metro or regional, big or small, the Generation STEM Links program is free for eligible businesses and could save you time, money and resources.
Generation STEM Links is delivered through Generation STEM, a 10-year initiative to build a strong and more diverse STEM pipeline in NSW. Managed by CSIRO, the program is made possible by the NSW Government's $25 million endowment to the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF).