Program Reviews

I am currently in my 3rd week of a 10 week internship with this organization. So far I am having a great time! There is a lot of independence with this organization, which is good if you like to form your own experiences abroad and difficult if you are used to structured group programs. I love the nonprofit I am interning with, and I was lucky to be placed in the same housing unit as another intern. One downside is that the organization is not clear on the housing before you arrive, so I was very surprised to find that I was in a dormitory with 50 people, instead of a small, private intern house which is what I had understood it to be. There's a lot of support before you get to New Zealand, but they pretty much leave you alone after that, with a few checkins and social activities about twice a month.

This year was the second time I used the services of Intern NZ, after using their service last year. After great satisfaction last year regarding my internship, was I determent to return to New Zealand again, which was made possible because of the services of Intern NZ. Their service is really good, especially in case of issues. There were issues with my first internship and Intern NZ reacted fast and found me another internship company. I only use their internship and activities service, since I prefer to arrange my housing, but it is great that they offer a service like that. It was great that their service made it possible for me to visit New Zealand and I will definitely return to New Zealand. When you go to New Zealand, be prepared, especially in terms of finance, since New Zealand might me more expensive than your own country of origin. And after you have arrived, or travel with a group or join their trips around New Zealand. Don't forget to inform them regarding your internship time, since my internship time was different than what was registered in their system, so I missed out on some events.

As part of my study International Logistics Management, an internship abroad was personally highly preferred. As my initial contact with a company in America did not work out, I had to find an alternative which worked out brilliantly!
Melbourne is a very nice city, that has lots to offer. Numerous restaurants, the public transport works fine, and the prices are not all that high. Very recommendable to go to!

InternOZ has selected a great internship. During the process they were very friendly and always prepared to help. upon arrival they gave a quick guide on what to do in australia but nothing more though. I would have liked a bit more activities with other interns. However, they have selected a hostel with very nice people living in it who take me out from time to time which is nice. The room however is not the best for how much money I paid. Overall, I had a good experience with them.

I really get the benefit from this program.
During the time I talked to person who help me finding the place foe my internship program, I was really appreciate and I felt the dedication of the support staff of this program.
I have been practicing in a company in accordance with my requirements. First, I am doing the internship in Hamilton near my house. Second, I am doing the internship with the title and responsible where I wanted to be.
Thank you so much!
Tommy.

InternNZ and Intern OZ gave me the perfect internship I could ask for. They organize events and weekend trips, so you meet other interns from all over the world. That is how I found my travel mate for after my internship. They make sure you have a great time during your internship. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an internship! New Zealand is famous for the travel possibilities, so you will definitely know that you will not be stuck at work. I choose to start my internship three weeks earlier, so I could travel more afterward. After my internship, I did a road trip around the South Island and it was the best holiday I had so far. When I went back to my university, I noticed that my English improved a lot compared to the students who stayed home, which was a nice surprise.

My intent in posting this review is to share my experience, and keep this from happening to others.

I’ve been apart of a few study abroad programs (including a different internship abroad), and have worked with international education programs in my home country, and I am saddened by the lack of care that Intern NZ shows in their business practices.

From the start, InternNZ wasn’t great to work with, it took them weeks to respond to me, they were never clear in answering my questions (I always had to send several follow ups), and I decided to chalk all this up to differences in work culture, but learned later that this isn’t common.

InternNZ hosts their Auckland interns in Unistay, a hostel. I did not find this out until 3 days before my flight to NZ. Beforehand, when I had agreed to pay for housing through InternNZ I was under the impression that I would be flatting with people, as InternNZ never stated that I’d be staying in a hostel – this is a misunderstanding that you can find in many of the reviews of InternNZ, and they still haven’t clarified this for interns, which speaks volumes.

The cleanliness of the hostel isn’t great. The bathrooms are mixed gender, with one bathroom (located far from most rooms) being for women only. Sharing such an intimate space is something that I could have warmed up to, if Intern NZ had been honest about this. I told an employee of Intern NZ that I didn’t feel safe, but they didn’t offer any real solution. On multiple occasions there was no soap or toilet paper in the bathrooms.

The kitchen is community based, which itself is a fun thing, but the kitchen equipment you’re provided is lacking in quality. A lot of the “amenities” at Unistay are broken (broken toilets, showers, stove burners, etc.) You have to pay for internet, and laundry (this is on top of the extremely high rent).

The room you stay in, if it’s like mine, is very small. This didn’t bother me, but the rent I was paying was almost 100 dollars more a week than the rest of the tenants, who didn’t go through InternNZ. This is in addition to a 400 dollar administration fee paid at the booking. When I tried to contact InternNZ about this, they dodged my questions, but eventually clarified saying that the fee was necessary because they lease the rooms from Unistay. I asked how the fees for housing broke down before arriving, and this was never mentioned.

After much thought, I decided to leave early, and attempted to get a housing refund. In total, they would continue to neglect my calls for almost 3 weeks, I was told on 5 separate occasions that they would call me back at a specific time, but didn’t. They finally called me back and told me that I couldn’t be refunded because I had decided to leave my internship. This goes against InternNZ’s terms and conditions, which I then read to the employee I spoke to. She told me that she’d have to speak to her boss. It took almost a month, but when she contacted me, she told me that Unistay wasn’t accepting cancelations, so I couldn’t be refunded.

After my final decision to leave, I informed InternNZ of my decision, and they didn’t ask why I wanted to leave, or if I was okay. They just wanted to make it clear that I wasn’t getting any money back.

I have been doing my internship abroad for 2 months now and I have loved it so far. InternNZ was very helpful with finding an internship for me, I first wanted to go to Australia and InternNZ found an internship from me even though they are based in New-Zealand. I later decided to not go to Australia anymore but to go to New Zealand. I would recommend everyone to come to Wellington, it is a safe, fun and relaxed city. The intern InternNZ found for me is very nice and fun. They really chose something that I would like as a girl in engineering world.
For future participants: If you want to go abroad plan at least 4 months in advance. I chose to only get an internship 2 months before I got to go and that is a very short time to get everything like visa etc. InternNZ helped me a lot with housing and visa and always answered emails in a day.
The only thing I wouldn't really recommend which isn't InternNZ's fault is the housing that they gave me. I heard that they won't let interns stay there anymore so no future interns have to worry about that.

I made a lot of tasks which where important for event management and helped me to get a feeling how event management works.
You get a lot of help and support from your co worker and boss. With that experience I can decide what job I will do in the future and if that is the right thing for me to do. My favourite thing was when you see the event and how other people react to what you have organized. What you have worked for. And at that time you also know why you did certain things. Also if the people involved in that event have fun you know why you put a lot of work into that.

I really loved being in New Zealand. It was an amazing experience in a very unique country with a unique culture. I loved traveling throughout NZ and experiencing all it has to offer. Although there were definitely some things the program could have improved on, I did enjoy my time here very much. It was amazing to see and do all the wonderful things in New Zealand, and I look forward to when I am able to come back.