OK SO IVE FINISHED MY UNDERGRAD, WHAT NEXT AND SETTING YOURSELF APART

Hello to Members of the MMSS, students, friends, associates and readers!

As a teaching associate for the department of marketing, a lot of my students either tell me their intentions for the future or ask me for my advice.  It seems that for many, even after years of study determining ‘what to do next’ is as challenging as choosing their university course in the first place. So what’s next?  Travel, further study, partying, relaxing, working, or just see where the wind takes you?

So many options, but the haste with which you must make a decision is looming and like it or not, once you walk out of that last exam room you are no longer a student!  Let me just reinforce, there is no trumpets that sound, or carpet rolled out. You simply walk out of the room and that’s it, you are no longer able to hide behind ‘im a student’.

First of all, before discussing what’s next I’m going to talk about setting yourself apart.

Setting yourself apart should have started years ago.  While I’m far from perfect, I’ll give you some tips on what has worked for me.   The best thing I ever did at Monash University was actually get to know my lecturers and tutors. Not all of them, but the ones I connected with.  Little did I know that in 2008, some 5 years after I finished my BBus(Mkt), Jane Carroll during one of our periodic catch ups would ask me to take on a teaching associate roll.   Jane knew my experience, we had remained friends and so when an opportunity came about that she needed the right person, she came to me straight away.  Call it networking, call it building a network.. call it what you will…. But networking isn’t something where you simply contact someone when you want something… its building up connections with people around you who want to help you when either you need it, or they think you can help them.  Like I say to my marketing students any relationship relies on a mutually beneficial exchange.   So build networks around you, put effort into creating relationships, you never know when you will need them.    My second role out of Monash came through an interesting network. My role as the Marketing Manager at Piping Hot came about through a presentation to an abattoir CEO, who a week later was at a dinner party with the owner of Piping Hot (whom I had met in passing a few times at various events) they were conversing about how hard it was to find the right person. After the CEO of the abattoir telling the owner of Piping Hot about this young guy who had impressed him recently during a pitch (speaking of me), a family friend who was at the dinner met with me and told me of this discussion he had overheard, and that eventually led to contact, phone calls and one week later I had left my current role to take up the role at Piping Hot.

Get involved in clubs and societies. I once was a Director of Sponsorship for one year and a Social Director for another for the MMSS.  While not only giving profile, it also gives you experience and something other than ‘student’ on the resume.

Discover what makes you tick, as interest can lead to motivation and motivation to effort and (hopefully) outcome (that is positive), creating more motivation. Yes it’s a simple systems archetype, yet many people think working at what you have no interest in will lead to mastering that area, which will lead to more confidence, more motivation and ultimately make you indestructible.   I should know, I once thought that. After 3 years working full time I thought I would try to focus on my area of greatest weakness (accounting and finance). So I enrolled in a Masters of Accounting (part time, working full time). Wrong move.  A lack of interest and passion led to a mediocre level of motivation and ultimately a mediocre result. Not uncommon, so I transferred into my area of great interest Management.  The difference? Passion, desire, motivation, fantastic results and most importantly knowledge transferred to the workplace.   

Remember you only reap what you sow. 

Base your interests and pursuits around your talents, you will all have degree’s (but these do not set you apart) but what makes us all different is our talents and how we use those talents.   Define what your key talents may be, these are your strengths and sharpen the edge, seek skills, knowledge and experience to continue to hone your talents.  Position yourself in the market accordingly.

Last thing to consider is ‘what next’. If you have finished your undergraduate bachelor of business, or even your ‘honours’.  Firstly congratulations.  It’s a significant achievement and be proud. However the greatest sphere for learning now for those who wish to be in business is…… experience! Yes that’s right, old fashioned work. So many students tell me their intentions to complete a post graduate course straight after the conclusion of their undergraduate.  The reality is that those who pursue a masters (or something similar) straight from undergraduate studies, on average, start at the same level as their undergraduate colleagues.  Furthermore, those with no work experience (and I include those who work as a promo guy or girl, or work in supermarket for example as no usable work experience), but who are highly educated are often ‘over educated’ and have more issues getting a job in the first place.

So is further study a good thing? Well it’s different for everyone, but for those of you interested, yes it’s great. However get a couple of years work experience under your belt first!  Then each piece you write at a masters level will have meaning, real application (as many coursework pieces can focus on your own workplace) and you will benefit along with your employer.  Note: It is not uncommon to find that those who have work experience bind together, as learning at a post graduate level (masters or equivalent) is about learning from each other as much as the lecturer and those with no experience are avoided in group tasks. Let’s be honest, no one wants to hear the example about management or marketing and your local netball or footy team.  The harsh reality is that my post graduate time was spent working with experienced individuals such as; a PNG government official studying his masters, a high ranking police officer in a special task force (of which we conducted a ‘Change Management’ case study on), a corporate manager from Grill’d, pharmaceuticals managers, a department of agriculture representative, a barrister, representatives from other chemical companies, and a director at World Vision.  I’m almost 29 years of age and would be one of the younger students in the room over the closing years of my masters. With 8 years’ full time work experience towards the end of my masters I found almost all of my work presented back to my organisation (where I was working full time, studying part time)  and the board of management  who then initiated new organisational strategies based on my studies and papers.

Education with experience leads to learning and development both personally and professionally.

So there it is, the first blog for the MMSS.   While reading all this realise that with much of the web, it is based on opinions, this is my opinion and my experiences, so always ‘read the product disclosure statement before purchasing’ J. 

Daniel Hunter

Teaching Associate

Monash University

Daniel.hunter@monash.edu