Five new students have been selected to join indigenous ICT player Datapac, bringing to 75 the number of students who have joined the company on work placement. The latest crop will focus on virtualisation, the cloud and unified comms.
Datapac, which recently created 10 new jobs, has launched its new technical graduate recruitment programme with the Institute of Technology, Tallaght.
“Datapac’s continued support of student development and training is vital, as our students face the most difficult employment market in recent Irish history,” Dr Thomas O’Toole, head of School of Business, Waterford Institute of Technology, said.
The Datapac student programme was established to give students six months of “hands-on” work experience as part of their undergraduate qualifications.
This is co-ordinated in conjunction with universities and institutes of technology throughout Ireland, including Dublin City University, National University of Galway, University College Cork, National University of Maynooth and Waterford Institute of Technology.
About Datapac
Datapac, which employs 150 people in Dublin, Wexford and Belfast, has been providing information technologies, business solutions and IT consumables to the Irish market for 28 years.
Since its inception, it has institutionalised a policy of creating links with the Irish higher education sector. It officially launched the student work placement programme in 2004. This includes an annual intake of undergraduate students across degree courses to work in Datapac for a six-month period.
The students gain experience in a wide range of commercial activities within Datapac. This includes day-to-day activities, such as sales, marketing and importantly, customer service.
In addition, students will gain exposure to next-generation technology solutions in areas such as virtualisation, cloud computing and unified communications.
New technical graduate recruitment programme
In a new development in 2010, Datapac launched the new technical graduate recruitment programme.
The purpose of this new programme is to bring the undergraduate student work placement programme to the next level by creating an IT career development initiative for students that have recently graduated.
“The student work placement is an essential part of Datapac’s personnel and employee development strategy,” said Karen O’Connor, HR manager, Datapac.
“We’re always looking to introduce fresh talent into the organisation to bring new insights, perspectives and capabilities. The calibre of Irish students never fails to amaze us and many of our student placements have found full-time positions in Datapac after they graduate college,” O’Connor said.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Datapac’s new technical graduate recruitment programme aims to create an IT career development initiative for students that have recently graduated
