How an Industry Project Unit can help you secure a graduate job

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Vincent: ‘A Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management. I graduated end of 2018.’

Jenny: ‘I was an exchange student for Semesters 1 and 2 in 2018. I will graduate from Georgetown University in the United States in May 2020.’

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Vincent: ‘I currently work as a Business Transformation and Strategy Consultant at IBM. I aim to help clients make significant and lasting improvements to their performance and realise their most important strategic goals.’

Jenny: ‘I am a summer research intern at the World Bank, working with the Global Agricultural Practice.’

Can you give a brief overview of your Industry and Community Project experience?老河口耀东春机械有限公司

Vincent: ‘My ICPU experience consisted of working closely with the Westpac Group to identify the most appropriate AI opportunities to maximise its benefits for all key stakeholders. My colleagues and I prepared a proposal that outlined key actions Westpac should take now and in the future, in order to prepare for and take advantage of AI. I was then able to pitch my proposal in a boardroom setting to Westpac's key senior stakeholders, such as the Head of Innovation, Head of Strategy and the Chief Technology Officer. An absolutely fantastic opportunity that I still reflect upon and think about today.’

Jenny: ‘My ICPU experience was wonderful. I worked with a team of four students from different disciplines to identify, research, and provide recommendations for a problem and opportunity in the Australian Dairy Industry. We chose to focus on evaluating the potential impact of blockchain technology on dairy farm financing.’

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Vincent: ‘The ICPU helped me to get my current role in every way that I can think of. The deliverables produced, the work performed and the processes that I undertook is exactly what I do as a management consultant now at IBM. I was able to leverage my experiences from the ICPU in my partner interview when going for my role at IBM.’

Jenny: ‘The ICPU provided me valuable experience of ‘working in the field’ without leaving campus. I was able to demonstrate that I had experience working on and evaluating the impact of digital technologies in agriculture, which is what the World Bank research is focused on.’

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Vincent: ‘I utilise the methodologies learnt in the ICPU in my everyday work, such as structured problem solving and formulating decision trees to break down issues. In particular, I utilise various project management methods such as Waterfall and Agile, which I had both learnt during my time on the ICPU project. Above all, the skill of stakeholder management is of upmost importance in my current role and that is what I had to develop over the course of the ICPU project.

Jenny: ‘How to think systematically and map out the different variables to dissect complex problems. Learning to draw concept maps, conduct stakeholder analysis, and think more systematically were things that I would not have otherwise known.’

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Vincent: ‘In the ICPU unit you are no longer writing for an academic audience, you are preparing to have an impact on a real-life organisation which is completely different from a standard unit of study. The best part about this unit for me is that I got to engage with one of Australia's biggest financial institutions and have my voice heard.’

Jenny: ‘The ICPU is like an internship where you get to work with real-life situations and research to solve real-life problems. The best part was learning about the different tools to use to solve problems in group settings. It’s a great way to gain ‘work experience’ and delve deep into a topic that interests you professionally.’