What does it take to chase your dream career?

Rebecca:

Even before I started studying at university, I was already working full-time with the Federal Government’s Department of Finance. CBE had a big impact on guiding me towards my career in Technology Advisory. Having completed the first year of my Commerce degree, the question everyone was asking was “will you major in accounting or finance?” As someone who doesn’t love maths, I thought I had made a terrible mistake choosing my degree path. However, I found that CBE offers a broad range of practical majors, including Business Information Systems. For these reasons, I signed myself up to these courses, and aligned myself to the technological aspects of the workplace – it felt like everything fell together. After completing my degree, including the University’s flagship Australian National Internships Program, I made the jump from the public service into private sector management consulting.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Adam:

During my early years at CBE, I was primarily interested in traditional finance-based roles, such as investment banking and trading, as they were closely related to my degree. At the end of my first year, I participated in an international consulting competition with some friends. Shortly after, we started our own consulting competition at the ANU and founded the ANU Consulting Society. As President of the society, I had the opportunity to engage with consultants across various firms. Seeing the complexity of the problems that they addressed, especially in government, led me to apply to the Big Four firms. Subsequently, PwC offered me an internship and later a graduate position.                                                                                            

Rebecca:

I am really excited about the opportunity to share my stories and experience. I will cover my successes, but also my failures, which will hopefully help attendees to learn from my mistakes before potentially making them themselves. Some of the key topics I will cover include:

•    My career journey, and how my idea of a ‘dream career’ has changed over time.
•    Some insights into the differences between the public and private sectors.  
•    Practical career planning tips, passed down to me by my mentors.
•    The benefits of a ‘global’ career and how you might prepare for one.
•    Work beyond work, and what it is like to own a business on top of a day job.                                                                                                                   

Adam:

I’m looking forward to the event, as it’s a great initiative connecting CBE alumni with the College’s current students. 

Some of the questions that I hope to address include:

•    How has my idea of a “dream career” changed over the years?
•    How have I maintained my ‘authentic self’ while chasing it? 
•    How did I find out what I’m passionate about and design a career around it? 
•    What did I do to stand out from the rest of my cohort at University?                                                                                                                                  

Rebecca:

I was able to clearly see the benefits and reap the rewards of my CBE degree before I even finished it. Working full time while studying meant that I was able to apply what I was learning as I was learning it, enabling me to draw on my workplace experience while participating in tutorials or responding to assessment materials. 

I have also come to realise that my degree covered so much more than the technical content, and more than anything it has provided me with skills that serve me in any role. Skills like critical analysis, persuasive writing and the ability to comprehend complex problems and communicate them in a digestible way.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Adam:

A lot of the knowledge I gained during my degree, particularly in first year undertaking finance, accounting and statistics courses, I still use every single day.

CBE prepared me for my career by providing me with a world-class education and many opportunities to build on my collaborative skills. I think that at least 50 per cent of my subjects incorporated assignments that required teamwork. Although everyone dislikes these assignments at the time – especially when you have a group with a different working style - they do help prepare you for the real world.

Overall, the biggest career benefit to studying at CBE has been the access it provides to leading organisations. Graduating from the College showed employers that I have a world-class education.