Improving my employability. Suggestions? (1 Viewer)

[danielvh]

Hey guys

I'm a first year uni student at UWA doing Economics and Commerce double degree. It's a 4.5 year degree (5.5 if I do honours)

So, have the scope to do up to 5 majors. Currently probably doing economics, international business economics, asian business, management and marketing.

I want to try and eventually, once I leave uni, get a graduate position at one of three types of jobs (havn't decided yet which I want to go for):
1) Economics: State/federal treasury, productivity commission
2) Management consultancy. Large global firm
3) Foreign affairs. Department of foreign affairs.

My majors pretty much reflect these three options.
For option 1: Economics, International Business Economics
For option 2: Management. And I think economics, international business economics, Asian Business and marketing might be beneficial
For option 3: Asian Business and International Business Economics

So, I'm looking for suggestions on how to improve my employability. I'll list below what I've done so far:

- Getting D's and HD's in all subjects. I'm going to try to move this to all HD category.
- Have achieved the top mark in the unit for one of my units (Foundations of Asian Business). And 90% in microeconomics. This semester it's going to be all mid-low 80s and high 70s.
- TER (equivalent to HSC) of 98
- Backpacked solo around south east asia and Europe for 6 months last year (I figure this will help particulalry with dept of foreign affairs and generally showing maturity etc with others)
- While on backpacking trip, volunteered as an English teacher for a week in spain.
- About 1 years experience working as a repair technician/salesman at a computer store (to pay the bills but also good general experience). This is my current casual job (I also worked there full time last year)
- 10 months experience as a computer hardware reviewer and PR manager (organising review samples from large companies like Antec and so on) for a computer hardware review website located out of Dubai.
- Got work experience lined up for jan/feb at an economics consultancy in the city
- Applying to go on study abroad for a year at the university of bristol in the uk starting 2nd sem next year. (I should get this)
- Got a position lined up with a student society for next semester. Organising a large event (organising speakers, getting the word out to ppl, organising venue and catering etc)
- In high school I participated in debating and also went to an international debating competition in canada. But I havn't done participated in this in uni. I really should.
- From the age of 12 until 17 each year I represented Western Australia at the national junior chess championships (selected for and sponsored by the West Australian Chess Association). Again, I need to get back into this.
- Participated in mock trials at high school as the solicitor
- Acted as general editor for our school's newspaper entered into the west australian schools newspaper competition. We won 1st place.
- Top mark in school for information systems

So, any suggestions? Am I on the right track for a position at one of the options I've listed above?

Thanks

Daniel

 

[Excalibur_]

You're employable.

lol.

I think the key thing these days are communication, leadership and people skills. Judging from what you've done, you're fine. In fact, I'm jealous =P

 

[alby]

been there, done that and you've only been out of school for 2 years....damn you!

you were one of those people who thought 99% wasnt enough, werent you?

 

[danielvh]

been there, done that and you've only been out of school for 2 years....damn you!

you were one of those people who thought 99% wasnt enough, werent you?

Thanks for the positive remarks guys.

I mean, I know I'm employable. My real question is whether I'm employable enough for the big consulting firms, for the department of foreign affairs (I think I would be for this if I picked up another language), or aus treasury deparments/productivity commission? These fields are all ridiculously competitive.

And to alby re whether I'm one of those guys for who 99% isn't enough...... the answer is not really. I was actually a lazy bugger in high school. I hardly did any work and just coasted through. Could've done a lot better. I'm now putting in the effort at university because I'm doing something I actually enjoy now.

 

[_dhj_]

Wooot... Mock Trial!!

that's oldschool lol.

 

[faov]

Thanks for the positive remarks guys.

I mean, I know I'm employable. My real question is whether I'm employable enough for the big consulting firms, for the department of foreign affairs (I think I would be for this if I picked up another language), or aus treasury deparments/productivity commission? These fields are all ridiculously competitive.

And to alby re whether I'm one of those guys for who 99% isn't enough...... the answer is not really. I was actually a lazy bugger in high school. I hardly did any work and just coasted through. Could've done a lot better. I'm now putting in the effort at university because I'm doing something I actually enjoy now.

I have little to contribute to this discussion, but just to add a quick comment (I bolded what I will elaborate upon). My parents are both diplomats, and have been for about 20 years. We've lived in Germany, Switzerland, Qata, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Poland, Russia, Hong Kong, Taipai, France and Mexico; now live in Indonesia, and my parents are moving to South Korea in March. The longest time we have ever spent in one location is 3 years, and I've lived in Australia for under 1 year combined since birth. We move so frequently that it simply would not be feasible for my parents to speak the language of each country of which we reside in. So while it may be advantageous to speak an additional language, it certainly is not necessary and my father says that it would hold very little weight during the recruiting process (unless you speak Arabic.. where it would be a major advantage for Middle East postings).

So apply. They don't advertise them often, but most Australian embassies offer paid internships for Australian citizens (Jakarta, where we currently live, does). So apply. It's competitive, but the benefits are good. While salaries are low (low six digits), there is no tax to be paid, there are generous allowances (e.g. housing, chauffer, vacations, domestic help) to ... help cope.

So my advice is... APPLY!

 

[danielvh]

I have little to contribute to this discussion, but just to add a quick comment (I bolded what I will elaborate upon). My parents are both diplomats, and have been for about 20 years. We've lived in Germany, Switzerland, Qata, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Poland, Russia, Hong Kong, Taipai, France and Mexico; now live in Indonesia, and my parents are moving to South Korea in March. The longest time we have ever spent in one location is 3 years, and I've lived in Australia for under 1 year combined since birth. We move so frequently that it simply would not be feasible for my parents to speak the language of each country of which we reside in. So while it may be advantageous to speak an additional language, it certainly is not necessary and my father says that it would hold very little weight during the recruiting process (unless you speak Arabic.. where it would be a major advantage for Middle East postings).

So apply. They don't advertise them often, but most Australian embassies offer paid internships for Australian citizens (Jakarta, where we currently live, does). So apply. It's competitive, but the benefits are good. While salaries are low (low six digits), there is no tax to be paid, there are generous allowances (e.g. housing, chauffer, vacations, domestic help) to ... help cope.

So my advice is... APPLY!

Hey. Thanks a lot for the post. Any chance you could ask them what they look for in the graduate recruiting process?

Oh, and for these internships, are they only looking for penultimate students? And also, could you ask what they look for for these too?

Thanks!

Daniel

 

[alby]

And to alby re whether I'm one of those guys for who 99% isn't enough...... the answer is not really. I was actually a lazy bugger in high school. I hardly did any work and just coasted through. Could've done a lot better. I'm now putting in the effort at university because I'm doing something I actually enjoy now.

i dont call getting a 98 ter a lazy bugger!

my bf's just finished his degree, and he said the best way to get up your employability is through actual industry experience. in the end of it all they dont really care if you get credits or 100% in absoloutely every subject, they want you to have real-life experience otherwise you're basically worth as much to them as a hobo