Travel firm turns to internships
A high-flying Taranaki-based volunteering travel company hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis is forging a new approach it hopes will return it to its glory days.
Even before the alert level 4 lockdown the New Plymouthbased International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ) cut a significant number of staff when demand for their tours dropped drastically almost overnight.
Until then the company was the world leader in volunteer travel and in 2014 its founder, Daniel Radcliffe, was named New Zealand EY Entrepreneur of the Year for his work at the company.
Now, the company has pulled back from physically sending people abroad to volunteer and is focusing on offering international internships remotely through a separate arm of the business called Intern Abroad HQ.
‘‘Basically taking the idea of people work- ing from home, which we’re all very used to right now, but offering that to graduates and students looking to do internships,’’ IVHQ chief executive Simon Birkenhead said.
‘‘So when the job market does start to open up they’ve got some practical experience and international references on their resume they can show off.’’
He said because it was unknown when international travel would be back, they had to find alternative ways to bring in cash and using an existing business meant little reengineering.
‘‘It was a relatively easy pivot for the business but one that aligns very well with the realities of the world today.’’
The company is now confident it can rebuild the business back to its former glory that employed dozens of people across the world and saw it valued at tens of millions of dollars.
Birkenhead said the business was excited about the new remote internship offering.
Previously the business offered about 300 programmes in about a dozen countries but the remote internships have a more limited selection.
‘‘But we’re still offering most internships in topics like accounting, environmental sciences, marketing and communication, psychology and social work, architecture.
‘‘We’ve got about nine career fields across about seven countries in Europe, Asia, and in Africa.’’
Birkenhead said they were feeling optimistic about the future.
IVHQ had made some big staffing cuts, particularly in March and April, but they hoped to re-employ staff when travel opened up again.
When that will be is anyone’s guess. Flights across the globe have been slashed – where there were once between 175,000 and 200,000 a day there are now only between 75,000 and 90,000.
However, Birkenhead said once people felt safe travelling and borders reopened, he felt sure volunteering would be popular again.
‘‘We just need to keep the business going until that recovery starts.’’