How a Student can Get a Job in an IT company

It can be challenging for IT companies to hire students in Belarus, as they are not sure it is possible. This article discusses how a student can get a job at an IT company and what features an IT company should consider when hiring a student.

Educational practice

Students are required to complete an internship according to the program determined by the educational institution. For a student, an internship in an IT company gives a number of opportunities: to get acquainted with the practical tasks of specialists in the IT field, to understand what it means to interact with a supervisor and colleagues, to perform technical tasks, and to determine the direction of their development in the IT field if it has not yet been chosen. The practice should prepare the student for future independent work in the chosen speciality.

Does the IT company pay for the student’s internship

Usually, the IT company does not pay for the internship that the student is sent to by his educational institution since it does not conclude an employment contract with the student. However, suppose a student is assigned certain tasks during a pre-graduate or other internship. In that case, the IT company may conclude a contract or an employment contract for the duration of a certain job and pay for the work performed.

There are also options for hiring a student on a part-time basis under an employment contract. This is when he does not work full-time but part of the working day, with payment in proportion to the time worked.

How a Student can Get a Job in an IT company

How IT companies get students to practice

An IT company enters into an agreement with an educational institution to accept students for practice. This applies to all types of practices except pre-graduate. Students can be accepted for pre-graduate practice without signing a contract with an educational institution.

An IT organization can be a personnel customer, which means that it applies to the training of a specialist. Such a specialist intern at the company that sent the application to the educational institution.

The contracts concluded with educational institutions are standard. Their forms are available in academic institutions.

How an IT company arrange for the admission of students to practice

A student who has come to practice should be asked for:

A passport.
Student’s ticket or student ID.
The curriculum of the educational institution for practice.
Diary.

The director of an IT company signs an order to enroll a student in an internship based on an agreement with an educational institution to organize an internship.

What are the features of admission of students to practice

After enrolling in the internship, the student is introduced to the Rules of the internal labour regulations.
The student must be instructed on labour protection.
If the intern is not hired, they do not conclude an employment contract with him and do not start a workbook (they do not fill it out if the student already has it).
The duration of the practice is 36 hours per week. Based on this time, they determine how much time a student should be in practice every day.
If the intern is under 18 years old, the duration of his practice is 35 hours per week.
When a student is admitted to a pre-graduate internship, an employment contract can be concluded with him. This does not mean that it is impossible to hire a student before the pre-graduate internship, but the legislation gives the possibility of hiring during the pre-graduate internship separately.

What is an internship?

One way for a student to gain practical experience in the IT field is to get an internship at an IT company. During the internship, the student can show their abilities, gain experience working in a team, understand how to interact with the team and develop their soft skills. The internship may end with an offer or not. However, in any case, the intern can determine what employers require and how to behave at an interview and in a team.

As such, there is no internship without employment under an employment contract.

Duration of the internship

An internship is sometimes referred to as a student internship. Usually, the IT company itself determines the rules and procedures for student internships in its local documents. For example, the Internship Regulations are approved.

If we consider an internship as a student’s admission to work with a probation period, then this is possible for up to 3 months.

An internship without hiring, without concluding an employment contract or a contract and without payment is not recommended, as questions may arise from state labour protection authorities.

What should an IT company pay attention to when hiring a student

First, it is necessary to accept students interested in the activity. How to determine the interest? We propose the following algorithm:

Step 1. Collecting applications with Motivation letters

You can receive student applications:

Through cooperation with an educational institution.
During “career days” in educational institutions,
Post a form on your website to collect applications and motivation letters. Ask for links to the portfolio, if there is one.

Step 2. Application processing and tests

When processing applications, the student’s age and area of specialization, completed courses and topics of completed coursework, additional training and existing experience, motivation and self-representation in the profession are evaluated.

Students whose applications have been selected are sent a test: a technical task with a deadline and a method of transmitting the result.

Step 3. Processing completed assignments and interviewing

Students whose assignments meet the company’s requirements are invited to an interview. During the interviews, students are usually interviewed about technical and other issues.

Step 4. Hiring successful candidates

After the selection stages are completed, successful student candidates are offered a job with a probation period of up to 3 months. Please note that students under 18 cannot be employed on probation.

What should an IT company that employs students pay attention to?

We recommend that you develop an internal document: the Internship Regulations. It usually provides for the duration and procedure of the internship, the appointment and duties of the mentor (head of the intern), his encouragement, what is expressed in the successful and unsuccessful completion of the internship, and the consequences of completing the internship.
The mentor should be ready to assign tasks to the intern and answer his questions. To do this, he must consider the order of communication with the intern, such as what time, through what channels, how to contact the mentor, and with what questions. It makes sense to send this order to the intern.
If this is the student’s first job, you will need to purchase and issue a work record form.
A student who has been hired needs to be instructed on labour protection, even if he will work remotely, and familiarized with the IT company’s internal documents: the regulation on trade secrets, the Rules of internal labour regulations, the Regulation on Remuneration, and others.

It is necessary to inform the intern about the company’s communication order, corporate culture, possible bonuses over time, career prospects, and growth conditions.

How to apply for a student’s job

There are no peculiarities in hiring students compared to hiring other employees. There are peculiarities of hiring minors, but we still recommend that students who have already completed several courses and have reached the age of 18 be accepted into an IT company.

When applying for a job, the student must ask for:

A passport.
Military ID for military service.
A work record, if there is one.

Proof that a student is mastering a particular speciality is not mandatory, but you can ask. This may be a certificate from an educational institution or a copy of a student ID card.

Usually, no other documents are needed for admission to an IT company. You can ask for a health certificate if your company requires medical examinations.

The student is writing a job application. Based on the application, an employment contract is concluded with him, and an employment order is issued.

What kind of employment contract is concluded with a student

The head of an IT company can conclude an employment contract with a student for a certain period or an indefinite period. You can not only conclude an employment contract for part-time work when the student does not work elsewhere.

With a student from 18, the employment contract usually provides for a preliminary test of up to 3 months.

The full working hours in Belarus are 40 hours per week. It is possible to accept a student on a part-time basis, in this case he will work fewer hours, respectively, with lower wages. It can be 20 hours a week – 4 hours a day or with a different time distribution during the week. In particular, you can set flexible working hours and night work.

During the probation period, a student can resign after giving 3 days’ notice to the head of the company. In the same way, you can dismiss a student by giving him three days’ notice. It is also possible to dismiss a student during the probation period by agreement of the parties.

After completing the probation period, a new employment contract does not need to be concluded with the student.