At The Student Hand, we connect New Zealand’s future professionals with growing businesses. Our platform enables businesses to easily find talented students and graduates ready to make an impact. Students and graduates gain access to real job opportunities they might not otherwise discover. Additionally, businesses can tap into our nationwide database to find their next great hire. By streamlining the recruitment process, we help students launch their careers and support businesses in building stronger teams for the future.
99% of graduate jobs and internships are sourced from tertiary institutions. Therefore, we couldn’t understand why businesses would follow the same process when hiring for graduate jobs as they do for lateral hires. We decided to create a nationwide database of students seeking graduate jobs and internships. Hence, we are able to streamline the recruitment process, whilst sourcing top talent for graduate jobs and internships.
We begin by aligning with your organisation’s recruitment needs to connect you with the best students and graduates. This process typically starts with a free consultation and supporting documents, such as a position description. To learn more, visit our “For Businesses” page.
Students and graduates can sign up through the “For Students” page to access job opportunities. For any questions or additional information, students are encouraged to contact The Student Hand through the “Contact” page.
Following your criteria, we use advanced filtering to curate an initial talent pool from our nationwide database. This is followed by an in-depth screening process, including phone or video interviews, to evaluate candidates for both technical and soft skills aligned with the role.
Students are then notified of the request and their necessary information and documents are provided to your businesses.
After following our recruitment process, we present a final talent pool, complete with CVs, transcripts, and additional candidate information. This talent pool is the equivalent of what you would typically receive after a 30-day job advert, hundreds of CV screenings, and initial interviews — all delivered within just a few days.
Our goal is to provide a risk-free solution for businesses across Aotearoa, so we complete this part of the process at no cost. You only pay, if you successfully employ a candidate provided.
Lewis founded The Student Hand as a 20-year-old student at the University of Otago. Initially, the business began as a labour hire service. It connected Dunedin residents with university students for odd jobs. However, after realising this wasn’t the right path, Lewis pivoted. Over 18 months and 33 business models, The Student Hand was relaunched as an early careers recruitment platform.
During this period, Lewis meticulously studied the early careers space. He identified opportunities to add value for both students and businesses. In Aotearoa, businesses typically take between 2 to 6 weeks to recruit graduates. To address this, Lewis created a model that helps businesses reach their final talent pool of candidates within just 48 hours. He wanted to make the process risk-free. Therefore, he decided that a success fee would be the only charge businesses incur upon the successful hire of a candidate.
With the ambition of building a world-leading recruitment platform, Lewis remains committed to helping students. He provides resources, advice, and opportunities across Aotearoa.
As the sole founder and operator of The Student Hand, Lewis can offer a personalised approach to both businesses and students.
