For graduates, it can often be a disheartening experience seeing “five years’ experience required” on a job description for an entry level job, putting them in a difficult position on where to start their careers.

Internships can be beneficial for all involved, providing graduates and students with valuable professional experience and giving workplaces the opportunity to discover fresh talent and new ideas.

Creating Communities has a long history of providing opportunities for young people starting their careers in community engagement.

Hannah Lee is the latest intern to join our community engagement team, after meeting our Director of Engagement and Education, Andrew Watt, at a workshop he was presenting.

Hannah is currently studying Urban Planning at Curtin University and joins us with fresh ideas and a passion for community development.

“It has been interesting learning all the different aspects of community engagement and doing it on a big scale and seeing all the thought that goes into it,” she said.

“ “Just seeing the passion everyone has at Creating Communities for community engagement, it has been really inspiring.” ”

While Hannah has been learning the ropes from Andrew, the team has benefited from having Hannah on board and hearing her ideas.

In an article by the employment platform Seek, evidence suggests that bringing in interns not only benefits the individual, but the organisation as a whole.

Interns can bring new ideas, they often come with the most up-to-date knowledge of best practice and hiring interns allows organisations to uncover new and upcoming talent in a competitive job market.

Hannah truly is an upcoming talent, having won two urban planning competitions through her university this year.

Hannah was recognised for her work on a community safety audit for the City of Vincent, where she conducted a safety analysis and audit focussing on the Leederville Activity Precinct.

Her work was selected as the top three of her class, meaning she will present her findings to the City of Vincent later this month.

She has also volunteered in a project for the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder, where students were challenged to come up with a vision for Burke Street in Boulder, of what it could look like in 2050.

Hannah and her group’s vision was chosen as the best of the projects, winning a work experience trip to Kalgoorlie Boulder.

“It will be a really great networking opportunity,” she said.

“It is really nice to be recognised, I’m in a group with a lot of planning hotshots, they’re all really good to work with.

“I’m not a glory chaser, but this has validated that I am on the right career path and this is what I am meant to be doing.”

Hannah brings a can-do attitude, innovative thinking and fresh perspectives to Creating Communities, proving the idea that while it is great to learn from experiences, it is even better to learn from the experiences of others.

Everyone you meet, will know something about the world that you don’t.