º«¹úAV

Thinking Beyond

Preparing for a successful 21st-Century career.

Year 9 began preparing for their post-School lives at a vibrant careers event: Thinking Beyond Day. It was structured to prompt them to start anticipating the skills of the future and planning how to position themselves for the working world.

The day began with a careers speed networking session. The students toured the Undercroft taking turns to chat in groups with around 35 of our inspiring young alumnae. It was a chance to learn the day-to-day of a huge range of roles and start narrowing down their personal career choices.

Sophie (Year 9) is interested in entering the healthcare field, " But it was fascinating to discover the range of positions our alumnae are employed in and really opened my eyes to careers that I didn't even know existed," she says.

Allegra (Year 9) is interested in news reporting and psychology, "While most of the alumnae work in areas that I would not think of doing, it was a great insight into a range of careers and what it is like to do each one," she says.

The young alumnae included Alexa Donovan (2016), who has just begun her career in software engineering and recommends it for the chance to problem solve and collaborate on interesting projects with interesting people. "I have discovered it to be an absolutely massive industry where you can do basically anything you want," she told the students. "I interned every single year during my degree, finally spending time at Amazon Web Services, where I was lucky enough to secure a role. I recommend the University of Technology course because it is so hands-on, and all the exams are open book."

Hannah Barrett-Lennard (2016) is an archivist with Channel 7, supporting the editing process of daily programs such as the nightly news. "I collaborate with reporters, producers and editors and really love the fast-paced excitement of racing towards tight deadlines in a collegial environment," she says.

Zara Penklis (2020) is a law student who works as a paralegal in her spare time. "There are many misconceptions about studying law," she told the girls. "You can be successful even if your electives at school were completely unrelated, and it provides a great grounding for a huge range of careers."

The rest of the day was made up of activities such as lessons in resume writing. The students were guided to evaluate their current strengths and weaknesses, examine the attributes that lead to success in an ever-changing business environment, and think of ways to dial up the skills they will need.

"Career Development is integrated within the º«¹úAV curriculum through various subject areas, and these workshops are intended to start the process of preparing students for life Beyond º«¹úAV," says º«¹úAV's Director of Student Opportunity and Career Education Miss Samantha McFetridge.