Master of Finance
Alicia recently completed a Master of Finance with commendation. Throughout her studies, she actively participated in student clubs including the Financial Management Association of Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Alicia also completed the McGill International Portfolio Challenge and was involved in voluntary activities with Vinnies and the ANU Tax Clinic. She engaged in CBE career initiatives Momentum and CBE Internships, and was offered her current role after completing an internship with Significant Early Venture Capital.
9 August 2022
How has your ANU CBE experience prepared you for your career?
I learned many lessons from my CBE experience. The most valuable lesson I took away is being mentally prepared before starting job applications. This often includes:
- understanding your passion – seeking a career is a long journey and passion helps set directions and targets
- finding your niche – differentiate yourself and give employers a reason to hire you
- being resilient and never doubting your abilities – treat failure and rejection as practice and redirection. Reflect on those applications to reassess strategies and improvements.
How did your CBE internship lead to a job?
It’s important for interns to demonstrate that they’re indispensable to the company if they’d like to secure a job. With that in mind, here are some techniques I used to increase my chances of getting hired:
- Bring a great attitude to work – take the initiative to seek out opportunities to assist, support colleagues if they need help, and propose solutions to any challenges encountered along the way.
- Look for opportunities to add value as an intern – Employers want problem solvers and junior team members with fresh ideas. Observe what’s going on in the office and think if you can identify any challenges that could be solved by tackling them in a different way.
- Ask for feedback regularly – Feedback from supervisors provides valuable insights into your skills and strengths. It also helps with reflections on performance and identifies areas to improve on.
What are the biggest factors that lead into making a great first impression, while being yourself?
Confidence and preparation really helped me in all of my interviews. Preparation is a good way to avoid the build-up of stress and anxiety. It’s also a process that helps me get a clearer picture of what I’m doing and why. With preparation, I feel more confident in dealing with unexpected situations in interviews and being myself. Dressing properly and using calm body language and tone of voice also helps.