ICE Tech 360 initiative prepares emerging talent for tech jobs

New Zealand’s leading technology association and an emerging talent placement consultancy have teamed up to better prepare recent graduates for careers in the tech sector.

The New Zealand Technology Industry Association (NZTech) and ICE Professionals have collaborated to set up ICE Tech 360 an initiative that will give high quality graduates a full year’s work experience across a range of organisations, as they transition into a tech career.

ICE Professionals is an emerging talent placement and consultancy company based in New Zealand, with offices in Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the UK. ICE specialises in identifying good graduate talent and connecting them with organisations from the private and public sector.

ICE Professionals CEO, Nuwanthie Samarakone says one of the biggest challenges for new graduates is access to a transitional environment that adequately prepares them for the fast-paced and demanding expectations in the rapidly growing tech sector.

She says ICE Tech 360 provides the graduates with work readiness and job coaching and there’s also coaching for the employers. She says the real drawcard of the programme is that it is an easy on-boarding mechanism for technology organisations to responsibly support our emerging talent. “There will then be an opportunity to select and employ a number of work-ready grads at the end of the programme for participating organisations,” she says.

Samarakone says organisations in the tech industry struggle to seek out, develop and hire recent graduates effectively. “This is largely due to a lack of time to train the grads and a lack of assistance in coaching them on an ongoing basis.”

NZTech CEO, Candace Kinser says that the programme has received the support and backing of the NZTech Board and members. “It’s an ideal fit for high-growth companies in particular who need great talent, and want to employ graduates but just don’t have the time or resources to find them and coach them early on.”

ICE Professionals and NZTech recognize that graduates need support to make them the best performing candidates for industry roles, and organisations need some help in managing a successful graduate program and Samarakone says that’s why they’ve teamed up with NZTech. This will involve some of New Zealand’s most innovative organisations ranging from Corporate and High Growth organisations such as HP and Southern Cross Hospitals to Government Agencies and Start-ups.

Organisations wanting to be part of the initiative can contact Nuwanthie Samarakone on:nuwanthie@theicebase.com and for further information visit – www.ice-360.com