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Value learning and take full advantage of all the available opportunities by Damian Shannon 14 April 2014
I
am an Indigenous graduate from Australian School of Business, UNSW Australia. During my final year of my degree I decided to enrol in the Diploma of Professional Practice, in conjunction with my studies for a Bachelor of Commerce. The Diploma of Professional Practice is designed to give students a competitive edge in the graduate employment market. This program is designed to give students the necessary skills and knowledge to obtain graduate employment, by equipping students to develop a greater self-awareness. The diploma subjects are contextualised within contemporary issues like global citizenship, the changing nature of leadership, the impact of technology, work life balance and emotional intelligence. To be honest I only enrolled in the diploma to maintain a full time study load status. While my intentions for enrolling in the diploma maybe dubious, the knowledge and self-awareness I developed over the program is unquestionable. I started the program having a vague idea of what I wanted to achieve in my career and what motivated me. During the program I learnt how to conceptualise my values, interests and career goals. By the end of program I had a clear understanding of my career goals, what motivated me, what I valued and more importantly I learnt the power of reflection. One of the lecturers summed up this transition when she explained: “At the start of the diploma you’ll have an idea of things you value, but by the end you’ll know
why you value something.” As part of the program, students are required to undertake two work placements. I completed my first placement at AMP spending time with the Organisational Development and Internal Communications teams. The connections and insights I gained from my time at AMP continue to be invaluable. I was fortunate enough to complete my second placement with John Holland where I am now currently working as a HR graduate. I commenced working at John Holland at the beginning of this year. For my first rotation, I have been working with the National Employee Relations team; a team that provides advisory services across the whole organisation.
This allows me to gain exposure to a wide range of matters from disciplinary and performance management to industrial relations. The past three months have been a huge learning curve. Whilst I never pictured myself working in Employee Relations and dealing with Employment Law matters I am thoroughly enjoying the experience. The key lesson I took away from my experience is don’t simply view university as a place to develop your technical skills. View university as a place where you can develop emotionally and spiritually. See the value of learning and take full advantage of all available opportunities. This article was first published in Nura Gili News Edition 11 March 2014
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