Why did you apply for the Industry Placement Program (IPP)?The main reason that I applied for the IPP was to gain practical experience in financial advisory. I strongly believe that you never truly understand the culture of an industry and whether it is the right fit for you until you’ve experienced it first-hand. As such, I perceived the IPP as an opportunity to further explore my finance major and understand which potential careers in finance were the right fit for me, if any at all.
How did you prepare for your IPP application?
Throughout my first year, I was fortunate enough to have exposure to a number of recruitment processes when applying for vacation programs. As such, I was familiar with what each stage in the recruitment process entailed and formed the belief that practice makes perfect. For instance, I knew that video interviews were my weak point, so I created my own mock interviews by recording myself and reviewing the delivery of my responses. In my first year, when I had no exposure to the recruitment process, the assessment centre workshop and one-to-one consultations offered by the Careers and Employability Office (CEO) were very helpful in preparing me for the daunting task that can be the recruitment process.
What has your IPP experience been like so far?
My IPP experience has been invaluable in enhancing my knowledge of the finance industry and growing my professional network. In particular, I have had the opportunity to work on stock recommendations in Wilsons’ research team and am currently working in the corporate finance team. Each of these teams have been extremely welcoming and have provided me with relevant work that has given me an insight into what a career in finance would entail.
What has been a highlight of IPP for you?
This is a really tough question to answer given how many highlights I can think of. But, if I had to pick one, it would probably be my first month of the internship, which coincided with ‘reporting season’. This meant that I was attending numerous investor pretentions held by the CEOs and CFOs of ASX listed companies in Wilsons’ board room and had the opportunity to chat to them about their plans for FY19 – a very memorable experience.
Why should students do IPP and how should they prepare?
The IPP is an invaluable opportunity to get a foot in the door quite early on in your professional life and it enables you to connect what you learn at university to real-life practice. It should also provide greater clarity of where you want your career to go as you build relationships with the people around you. In terms of preparing for your placement, I think the advice and resources provided by the IPP unit coordinators and the CEO are extremely helpful when forming expectations about the internship and devising strategies to maximise the experience.
Written by Jay Singh
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