Helen Warner

What is your current role and how did you get here?

I’m the Head of Partnerships at the Australian Computer Society. Our organisation represents IT professionals in the workforce, helping them upskill and stay current in different technologies as well as assisting in developing their industry knowledge and professionalism, making sure that they have the skills that they need to progress in their careers. My role oversees the commercial side of the business. We work with large organisations that want to build an exceptional tech team and see Australian Computer Society membership as a way of building skills and career paths. One side of my role is to facilitate that, ensuring that we have a program of work that enables and engages those companies to achieve their goals. The other side of my role is to build more reciprocal relationships and to develop new products or benefits for our members through commercial arrangements.

My career started in a customer service role a long time ago with the Australian Associated Press. It was never something I thought of as a career, but when I had that first experience in the corporate world, I discovered my strengths and passion for customer engagement and problem-solving. From there, I found my way into the events space working at an event agency for quite a few years. Events involved learning about sales, marketing, and sponsorships – so even though my title was Event Manager, I learned so many valuable, transferrable skills. I worked in events for 10 years, but after the six-year mark I realised it wasn’t the career for me. It’s an incredibly high-stress, high-pressure, and emotionally draining environment that I knew wasn’t good for my health. Often, I’d have to sacrifice my personal life to ensure an event ran smoothly, and that’s when I realised this wasn’t the career path for me. It was hard because I was comfortable being very good at what I did, so it was one of those willpower moments where I had to back myself to make a change.

While I was working out what I didn’t like doing, I realised how much I enjoyed the customer satisfaction aspect of my role. The bit where you make people happy and help them meet their goals was really fulfilling for me. That’s when I started to explore a career in account and sales management. With a commercial background under my belt, I was approached by Australian Computer Society to come in as a Strategic Partnerships Manager (the role below my current position). I’ve been at Australian Computer Society for 5 years now and absolutely love it.

I entered the workforce at the age of 21, not knowing what to do. In retrospect, I was lucky to have entered the workforce in corporate positions that allowed me the ability to understand where my strengths and skills lie. On the flip side, I’ve also worked out what I don’t want to do, which I think is arguably more important than knowing what I do like doing when it comes to my career.

Head of Partnerships Australian Computer Society

What skills have served you well in your career?

I can’t decide if this is a skillset or a way of being, but dedication to continuous learning. If you’re not constantly thinking about how you can learn more, then you’re always going to be behind the curve. Taking that mindset and applying it to your career but also to all aspects of your life can have a really positive impact. One that I’ve learned later in my career is don’t put off tomorrow what you should do today. I created stressful situations for myself by procrastinating, saying to myself ‘I’ll get back to it’ or ‘I’ll do it later’. Now I just do the things I need to do now to avoid that stressful feeling.

Any advice for someone wanting to start their career in sales?

Having confidence and genuine belief that I could do something else with my career was a massive hurdle, and it’s easier said than done. The saying ‘fake it ‘till you make it’ is true in my experience. Oftentimes, if you’ve done something at least once, you’ll most likely have more confidence the next time you do it. It’s always the first time attempting something you haven’t done before that is scary. If it works out – fantastic. If it doesn’t, it’s not a big deal. You’ll learn from every experience, so I recommend working on building that inner confidence as it will help get you where you want to be.