What do employers look for?

Good Answers To A Difficult Question

CPA Australia’s involvement with the Master of Management program has turned out to be a fantastic opportunity to tap the insights of some newly emerging corporate talent.

Keen to involve a group of course students with a key issue we’re currently contending with, we commenced our association by steering them onto some opportunities with our tertiary market. Essentially, we wanted them to tell us how we could show students who are just about to finish their university studies the benefits of moving straight into a CPA program. How could we go about increasing those particular numbers? How could we have more of an impact on that particular demographic?

Over the course of six-weeks we had five students sitting in our offices two-days-a-week. It was almost like an internship. We gave them access to specific material, office facilities, and the expertise of our staff, their task being to analyse the available data and come up with some recommendations. That’s a hard call at the best of times, but they were fantastic, quickly getting to the crux of the question and getting the project done.

Their final presentation was highly impressive and I can honestly say they’ve left CPA Australia with something tangible to consider. One of the ideas to emerge was so good, we may put it to our Executive Team for consideration.

Based on our experiences, I think it’s fair to say that the Master of Management program shapes as a great recruitment tool for companies looking to establish a relationship with course students. It’s an ideal means of accessing a rich talent pool and observing how well potential recruits function in a practical business environment. I’d have no qualms recommending an involvement.

Author: Archie Petsas, Employer Relationships Manager at CPA Australia