DWP looking for "young geniuses" in IT

Chief technology officer on the lookout for five technology interns

DWP is looking for fresh talent to boost its technology department

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is looking to recruit five interns into its IT team.

Three interns are required for the innovation department, while two will be involved in the IT strategy of the government agency.

“I can promise you an amazing journey. Our plans are very, very big,” DWP’s chief technology officer James Gardner said in his blog.

The internships are paid and based in Warrington, North of England, lasting until March 2010.

Requirements for the innovation development roles include experience of communicating and marketing technical concepts, as well as the ability to analyse complex technical and business issues, while the IT strategists would need an interest in how technology engenders organisational and social change.

While an IT qualification would be an advantage to the prospective intern innovators and IT strategists, it is not a necessary requirement.

"We feel we can teach what IT is needed but the softer skills we're after here are much harder to find. Also much of our delivery is outsourced so for us the critical need is to get bright people who can give us a fresh new view on things," Gardner told Computing.

"New graduates have a way of forcing you to think about things differently and that fresh view is incredibly valuable," he said.