The Victorian Chamber recommends members apply for the program and gain access to this new talent pool of interns, facilitated by the program.

Digital Jobs takes mid-career workers looking for a change and helps them become web developers, data analysts, digital marketers and more, through training courses that are industry backed and delivered by leading digital skills course providers.

Each job-ready candidate is freshly trained in a digital skillset that’s in high demand.

Through the program, Victorian employers have access to:

• A full-time intern for 12 weeks who has up-to-date digital skills and is ready to undertake a digital-related role or project
• A subsidy of $5,000 per internship to support employment of the intern(s)
• Access to a talent pool of productive, motivated potential interns who could be candidates for ongoing employment.

RACV’s Experience

Melbourne Chamber member RACV is a leading Australian insurance company with more than 3,000 employees - and is a mutual organisation with more than two million members, offering products and services such as insurance, emergency and home assistance and leisure and travel services. Five years ago, less than 10 per cent of customer transactions were digital. Now, 33 per cent of customer transactions are digital, with this number growing daily. In Round One RACV took on five interns.

According to RACV, digital customer transactions have grown from 10 per cent to 33 per cent, and this number is increasing daily.

The organisation kicked off a digital transformation project 18 months ago, looking at ways to source new talent from non-traditional avenues, with digital skills shortages exacerbated by COVID-19.

Digital Jobs provides diverse talent in critical areas of need for RACV including cyber security, web development, program management, user experience and data analytics.

RACV took on five interns during round one. It had successful placements and plans to continue sourcing talent from Digital Jobs.

“The interns have started off well and are very capable. We hope to be able to find an ongoing role for each intern at the completion of their internships as we know they are worth it,” RACV Executive GM, Membership Mark Geraghty said.

“The better the diversity in the room, the better the experience design will be. The interns bring all perspectives from previous roles to the craft they are doing now. They aren’t starting again, they are just tweaking their focus, skillsets and bringing all their life experience.

“The matching process was smooth and Digital Jobs was able to match RACV with the exact skills requested.

“Businesses looking to sign up for Digital Jobs should absolutely go for it! Organisational barriers can get in the way, but every business needs to be digitally strong no matter what sector they’re in.

“It’s a great opportunity for RACV and other businesses to get involved and support the community impacted by COVID-19.”

One of the RACV interns is Bonnie, a 34-year-old Digital Jobs program participant who studied the online JavaScript Development Course at General Assembly.

Bonnie originally studied Interior Design, specialising in architectural model making.

In 2020, when struggling to find work, Bonnie watched some online videos about front-end development but thought it would be difficult to break into a completely new industry.

By signing up to the Digital Jobs program, Bonnie was provided with up-to-date training along with the opportunity to get on the job training with RACV.

“I had so much fun throughout the entire course, but a highlight for me was pair programming with other students. Pair programming helped me realise that in coding there might be several different ways to solve one problem. Coding is actually quite creative,” Bonnie said.

“The first week of the internship at RACV was overwhelming at times. Fortunately, my team at RACV has been supportive and there is always someone available to help whenever I need it. Now that I’m a couple of weeks in, I feel like I am finding my feet at RACV.”

How to get involved

Businesses can find out more information and apply for the program online at au.hudson.com/digitaljobs

You’ll be asked to provide some basic information, including contact details, information about your business, and the types of skills you’re looking for.

When registering, simply add Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the referrer.

If your application is successful, you’ll be listed on the Digital Jobs employer register and be eligible to be matched with candidates.