My Local Industry Placement Program Experience: Patrick Nguyen

Bachelor of Commerce/Advanced Studies student and Local Industry Placement Program (Local IPP) Scholarship recipient Patrick Nguyen shares his experience of the program.

Why I chose to do the Local IPP and how I got involved

The Local IPP reflected an amazing opportunity for me to extrapolate beyond fundamental university courseworks by providing an elective unit for part-time internship work within realistic business environments.

Having discovered the unit through the University of Sydney Business School’s Local Industry Placement Program Scholarship, I found major solace and gratitude in the University’s willingness to support students by eliminating pertinent boundaries and encouraging talent to thrive with confidence.

As such, the rare opportunity to be supported by the university while also undertaking an internship with full-time study meant that I was able to focus on diversifying my skills and maximising my time within the industry. While progressing through the application, interview and focus group sessions, I believe I garnered important experiences into the real-world recruitment process and its competitiveness.

My Experience with the Local IPP 

During my Local IPP, I was fortunate enough to be matched with Nestle Australia, working as a brand management intern for MAGGI ANZ and Harvest Gourmet.

During my ten week tenure, I was able to explore the opportunity of physically and virtually working within interdepartmental team settings who, despite having different areas of specialisations and delegations, remained consistent and collective in their strive for success.

While the duties were challenging, they were definitely rewarding and provided a major sense of achievement and pride in building my skills and knowledge of the industry upon the completion of the program.

Key Opportunities & Challenges

Through the Local IPP, I was genuinely surprised by the immense amount of freedom I was given to spearhead degree-relevant projects which allowed me to feel that the work I was doing made a real impact on the business. In doing so, I gained more independence, experience and critical thinking for problem solving scenarios which have influenced the work I do at university and my attitude to day-to-day work. I was also able to work within teams of those with different career pathways, different expertise and different experiences which allowed me to gain an understanding of multiple perspectives. This provided a great platform to witness first-hand the work of other fields and allowed me to see what I possibly may like to explore later in the future. Finally, the Local IPP gave me an outstanding capacity to connect to a web of experienced networks which may help in exploring a future NextGen Graduate position at Nestle Australia. 

While the Local IPP is a well-designed part-time program for full-time students, it proved a challenging task initially to balance the workload between a busy university schedule and trying to adapt to workplace settings. To overcome this, it was important to communicate these concerns with my Local IPP supervisor at Nestle and at the university who were extremely understanding of the situation and helped to accommodate for the concern and worked to make a solution. On my end, I also solved this situation more by planning my assignments and Local IPP schedules through a calendar to better visualise what was forthcoming and its importance.

Future advice for Local IPP applicants

If you are commencing or already doing the program, I highly recommend coming into the program with an open mind and being willing to step outside your comfort zone and experience different fields; the opportunity to try different fields is hard to come by so don’t feel stuck with your majors. 

Learn more about the Local Industry Placement Program.

My Local Placement Program experience: Alyssa Wong

Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Advanced Studies student Alyssa Wong shares her experience on the Local Placement Program (BUSS2100/BUSS6500).

What is the Local Placement Program?

The Local Placement Program allows business students of all majors to gain corporate work experience at a leading firm while obtaining university credits. This unique Work Integrated Learning unit offered by the University of Sydney matches students to a suitable role and firm based on your preferences and fit. 

How did you apply?

I applied in Semester 1 of 2019 and the application process consisted of submitting a CV and letter of motivation. Once I passed this initial screening, I completed a virtual interview, group case study and individual writing component before receiving an offer. For some internships, including my own, a final face-to-face interview with the host company was required. For future applicants, I would use this opportunity to polish up online interviewing skills as most internship recruitments now occur online, especially with social distancing measures in place.

Placement Program students Dhruv Sood, Phoebe Yang, Alyssa Wong, Hugh Dawson, Rishabh Khanna

Where did you work?

The Placement Program team matched me to Macquarie Group, a leading Australian Investment Bank, based in Sydney’s CBD. With my Finance and Banking majors, I was placed in the equity research team covering Banks and Diversified Financials. In this role, I strengthened my analytical skills and helped publish content in Macquarie Insights Reports.

How did the program help your career?

The Local Placement Program offers many students their first internship, at a reputable host company no less. This will automatically highlight you in any application process. Furthermore, my supportive team assigned tasks that were both interesting and challenging, providing me with many learning opportunities for hard and soft skills development relevant in the financial sector.  

What was the best part of your placement?

The best part of my placement was the opportunity to work with and meet a diverse range of bright industry professionals. I was able to connect with people within my team and other business units within Macquarie Group, where I gained more insight into the world of finance and banking. Ultimately, this helped me understand the possibilities of where I could take my career.

What was the biggest challenge and what did you learn from it?

One of the challenges I encountered as a university student working with seasoned industry professionals was the lack of self-confidence I had in my skills. It was exciting to intern in an office where colleagues' careers span longer than my age as I could learn so much, but I felt inexperienced. I overcame this challenge and improved my self-confidence by asking questions if I needed clarification on tasks and being proactive in developing relationships with my buddy, colleagues and fellow Local Placement Program interns.

What advice would you give other students? 

For future Local Placement Program applicants, I would recommend leveraging the support the university provides to put your best foot forward. I utilised the Careers and Employability Office for resume and cover letter checking, mock online interviews and case study workshops. In retrospect, I was grateful for this experience as it was similar to summer internship applications this year. I also recommend reflecting upon the daily tasks you completed as an intern as you can refer to your notes to recall experiences and quantify your impact during future job interviews. Lastly, strive to build good working relationships with your colleagues and offer your help to people inside and outside your team as you never know what valuable insight and advice they can give you to develop personally and professionally.

Learn more about the Local Placement Program here.

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.