From classroom to career: Kinetic and Western Chances mark third year of internship partnership

(Image L-R: Western Chances' Rosanna Spanio and intern Turin Sayed)

This year’s interns from our flagship partner Western Chances have officially completed their 12-week placement at Kinetic, marking the third year of Kinetic's partnership with the organisation.

Western Chances provide scholarships to high-achieving students in Melbourne’s west and Geelong, removing barriers that may otherwise prevent them from reaching their full potential.

An internship at Kinetic allows scholarship recipients to build professional experience and networks in their chosen field through a placement across its Victorian business.

Turin Sayed, one of this year’s interns, completed her placement with SkyBus as an IT intern, which she said gave her invaluable experience to take into her professional career.

“It taught me to take ownership and learn fast, and I now have more confidence to work independently. I loved the challenge of solving problems by myself,” she said.

Turin, currently in her final year of an Information Technology degree, said she was surprised by how important interpersonal skills were to IT, which she had not experienced in the classroom.

“I thought I’d be working alone, but I learned how to communicate as part of a team. I was able to make personal connections with every member of my team, which was not something I was expecting.”

Turin will now begin a part-time role in the service delivery team at SkyBus, becoming one of several interns who have remained part of the Kinetic team.

Western Chances support high-achieving students such as Turin from secondary school all the way through to university and have helped more than 4000 young people since they started in 2004.

Rosanna Spanio, Program Manager for Internships at Western Chances, said, "We have had some great internships at Kinetic over the last three years, and we really appreciate the support and opportunities that they have offered our interns."

The internship program was developed as the organisation identified that recipients needed additional support in making the transition from university into the professional workforce, and Rosanna said the results were immediate.

“I’ve followed the students from the beginning of the 12-week placement to the end, and it is really rewarding to see them grow professionally and personally,” she said.

Despite only being in the first year of a commerce degree, Western Chances intern Annie Nguyen was keen to undertake her first professional experience through placement at Kinetic and spent her 12-week internship as an intern with the Melbourne operations team. 

“I was able to spend valuable time with the customer experience and Operations Control Centre teams in North Melbourne, and get hands-on experience of facilities, contracts and operations in North Fitzroy," she said.

“It was very insightful to understand how the bus network operates, and the amount of dedication, perseverance and communication required to run the transport that people rely on every day.”

Find out more about Western Chances here.