My Local Placement Program experience: Emma Debus

Bachelor of Commerce student Emma Debus shares her experience on the Local Placement Program (BUSS2100/BUSS6500).

The Local Placement Program gave me the opportunity to work for a leading firm as part of my degree. This semester I completed a Local Placement Program three days a week for ten weeks. I applied to be part of the program at the beginning of Semester 2 in 2019. The process of being accepted into the program involved an application, a video interview and an assessment centre. By the end of Semester 2 I found out that I was going to be working at Nestlé for KitKat Chocolatory.

Emma Debus

My internship was supposed to be centred around the opening of a KitKat Chocolatory store in Sydney’s CBD in April. Following two days working in Nestlé’s office in Rhodes, I was told that the remainder of my internship would be virtual, and the store wouldn’t be opening until isolation restrictions loosened. Instead, I was involved in the planning and design of new KitKat products. This involved Skype meetings with people at the factory explaining the capabilities of the chocolate machines. Luckily not being at the Nestlé office didn’t restrict my chocolate intake as new KitKat products were sent to where I was isolating. I also conducted extensive research into confectionary and medicated trends to assist Nestlé’s brands in responding to competitors.

Part of the Local Placement Program involved reflections about my experience interning. Through the process of reflecting I was able to understand more about how my personality characteristics influence my working style. Writing reflections also revealed the impact of my studies in preparing me for the workplace. For example, marketing subjects prepared me well for creating presentations and conducting research effectively.

Working virtually posed technical difficulties and changes to my work content as the KitKat Chocolatory store couldn’t open in the city. Now, as I have gained an understanding that you need to be adaptable to unique issues that digital communication brings, I am more relaxed when technical difficulties arise as I recognise that technology is not a domain that I can perfect. Looking back, interning from home has equipped me with skills necessary for an evolving workplace as working virtually becomes more common.

I strongly recommend to anyone part of the business school to apply for the Local Placement Program.

Learn more about the Local Placement Program here.