With that belief I went to university, enrolled in commerce and started out with a double major in accounting and finance. In my second year I continued Bahasa Indonesia classes and in 1999, my third year, I went to Indonesia for six months to attend university at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta.

 

This gave me time to ponder life as an accountant, a life I quickly realized wasn’t for me. It was also this trip that inspired me to live and work in Asia. I don’t regret this minor detour as having a commerce background is extremely useful and some of those accounting and economics classes definitely come in handy. 

 

I returned to Perth, quickly changed universities and enrolled in a Tourism Management degree. In my second stint at university I also got involved in two organisatons, AIESEC, and the Young Australians Tourism Association (YATA). I later went on to become the chairman of YATA. 

 

Taking on positions in student organizations is a great way to meet people, develop leadership skills and get experience managing teams all of which are skills employers look for. Remember that the year you graduate you are just one of hundreds of people with the same degree – how will you differentiate yourself against the competition? Employers want people that have more than just a degree and in my near 9 years work experience nobody has ever asked to see my grades! They are all keen however to know what else I’ve done!

 

 

Whilst at university I built up a good relationship with several lecturers who also worked at Tourism Western Australia. Because of these relationships it was fairly easy, with a little persistence, to get myself working on some work experience projects at Tourism WA (it’s hard to say no to free labour after all!). 

 

This opportunity gave me a foot in the door and I went on to spend almost five years at Tourism WA in several different positions. Rather than chew up my word count writing about my different jobs you can read about them on LinkedIn. Had I graduated with some relevant work experience I probably would have entered the workforce much sooner after finishing university. 

 

Networking means attending events and meeting people, but as a student it’s often difficult to attend lots of conferences and events if you don’t have a big budget. Always consider contacting the event organizer and offering to volunteer! I met so many people in the Western Australian tourism industry by serving drinks at the annual Tourism Council Christmas Party and it cost me nothing – I even got free beer out of it!

 

One myth I would like to dispel is that networking means going to an event and coming home with a pocket full of business cards. My advice is to take your time and try to develop real relationships with people. Understand people’s needs and work out how you can assist – it might be connecting them to someone else you know or there may be an opportunity to work with them directly. Don’t forget to follow up and keep in touch! Remember too that if you approach networking with a view to helping other people before helping yourself it will come good for you in the long run.

 

My second piece of advice about networking is that networking where you work is as important, if not more important, than networking with people outside of your company especially in your early days in the workforce.

 

Next time there’s office drinks get to know the management, get to know people in other departments, help them get to know you, your interests, what you’re working on, what you’re good at and what your aspirations are. People in the travel industry have amazing stories to tell, take the time to listen! Always remember, they started out where you are so they can relate to the challenges you face. 

 

By building good internal relationships you have more chance of being top of mind next time there’s a promotion opportunity internally. And when you do eventually look for a job in another company your future employers will see that you have been proactive, have a diversified skillset and experience, and that you have potential for the longer term. 

 

I have a lot more to say about networking, but rather than read about it, come have a chat at the next WITNext event on June 1.