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Employment: Directly from internship

Samantha Rauhihi wanted to upskill herself so she came to UCOL | Te Pūkenga and chose to complete a Certificate in Business (Administration and Technology). “I had three really good lecturers and, when finishing the certificate, they encouraged me to do the Diploma in Business (Accounting strand) because I loved the accounting so much. It made a real difference to have the lecturers believe in me.”  Sam found the Mind Your Own Business (MYOB) training really gave her drive to go further. She talked about the lecturers “putting a fire in my belly.” Sam really enjoyed being challenged and finding new areas to explore.

Through her study, Sam found she was pregnant and managed to continue to study through the pregnancy with the support of her class mates and everyone. “I had my baby during the two weeks break then finished the semester!” In talking to staff, they said Sam just had the drive to get things done and she was determined to make things work.

Sam’s research paper was on financial software XERO and MYOB – exploring the pros and cons of each, comparing and contrasting the efficiencies. This research led her to the Feilding firm Wheeler Campbell for her internship. She did very well and was employed by the company upon completion of her last exam.

“The internship made a huge difference. What we learnt in class was definitely able to be applied in the accounting environment.” 

She found the company great and very helpful, taking her through GST and financial statements.

“The comparison between programs and hands-on books were great.”

Going through good practices made it easy for Sam to learn.

“It was more hands on and I got to explore the financial software in action while working in Feilding.”