Trialling an Intern is a low risk way to grow your business

Small business owners don’t have to do it all on their own. That’s the message from a sole trader, Liz Jarvis, who recently took a leap of faith and trialled an Intern to help her get on top of her workload in her growing business – CSI Business Solutions.

“I was initially hesitant to employ someone but I did some research online and came across the Australian Government’s Youth Jobs PaTH internship program,” Ms Jarvis said.

“I had heard of interns but wasn’t sure if any would be available in my regional area.

“I wanted to trial having an extra staff member here to help me become more organised and have more structure around the office – so I approached local employment service provider ETC.”

ETC provided Ms Jarvis with three candidates to interview which resulted in local youth Tashana Motteram being selected.

“The four week internship was a great opportunity to see how she would relate to all the different areas of the business. Our cash flow was pretty tight at the time, so it was a great help to be financially supported through the process,” Ms Jarvis said.

“Tashana turned out to be a perfect fit for what we need right now.”

At the completion of the internship, Tashana was offered a part-time position undertaking a Traineeship in Business Administration.

“She can get the hands on skills working with us and also the education through the course,” Ms Jarvis said.

Ms Jarvis highly recommend Youth Jobs PaTH to other businesses.

“I know a lot of businesses hang back for quite a while before they put someone on. But I believe it’s really important to delegate your tasks so you can focus on the important things in your business. I think PaTH is a great opportunity to not only trial a person, but trial what you would have someone do in your business,” she said.

Tashana said this was also a great experience for her to try out a different industry.

“I’ve had a background in Retail and Hairdressing but that wasn’t for me. Thanks to Youth Jobs PaTH I discovered I really enjoyed Business Administration – it’s been a nice change. Liz has taught me a lot and I’ve even been able to show her some things she didn’t know about. We’ve bonded really well,” said Tashana.

Ms Jarvis thanked ETC for helping her business through the process.

“Tracey at ETC has been awesome from the get-go. She was very clear about what everything involved, very fast with the paperwork and very attentive. She arranged all the pre-screening, interviews and regularly checked in to make sure everything was working out for the both of us,” she said.

Youth Jobs PaTH is an Australian Government initiative to support young people to gain the skills and work experience they need to get and keep a job.

Employers benefit because you get to see firsthand how a potential new recruit is going to fit in your workplace, during a 4-12 week internship placement. You may also receive up to $10,000 in financial assistance when you hire an eligible young person.

For more information about Youth Jobs PaTH contact ETC on 1800 007 400.

ETC is proud to be one of the jobactive providers that has helped place one million job seekers into work since July 2015.