Making an impact at 8am

By Amy Fox, Learning and Development Coordinator, SydneyTalent

It’s only 7.45am on Friday morning but Sanaz Bassiri, Learning and Development Consultant with SydneyTalent is far from bleary-eyed.  The darkened training room is already illuminated by her PowerPoint presentation as she prepares to deliver this morning’s workshop.

Twenty minutes later the student attendees have arrived, many with cups of coffee in hand, and the introductions kick-off.

Since this workshop is brand-new, workshop facilitator Sanaz will deliver Making an Impact in Networking and Presentations for the first time at SydneyTalent.  It is the fourth in the WorkReady Essentials workshop series, designed to enhance students’ vital workplace skills and employability.  For many of the students, this is a rare opportunity to increase self-awareness and practise workplace skills on campus that are beyond university curriculum.

Networking is not just about who you know but who knows you, as this morning’s attendees discover.  However, making sure that your colleagues know who you are, by exploring various networking avenues, is something that is often overlooked by people at any stage of their career.  Sanaz emphasises that networking should be an ongoing process in forming and maintaining fruitful, long-term professional relationships.

Having attended all five workshops, Anthony, a law student employed through SydneyTalent, found the Networking and Presentations workshop to be the most practical. “I think this has been the best one – there are practical ideas I can relate to and take away,” he said.  Presentation and networking skills are relied upon on at least a weekly basis in many work settings and if executed well, can significantly help to accelerate your career.

All of the workshops rely on the concept of peer group learning and are as interactive as possible to encourage the sharing of ideas and experiences. 

From the attendees’ response, it seems clear that students at varying levels of study and work experience can enjoy and benefit from the workshops.  Cathal, a Phd student in biological sciences, has previously attended many workplace training sessions and cited the WorkReady Essentials series as one the best. “It’s very well structured in that each unit is a complete block and the presentation leaves a lot of room for discussion.”

After three hours, the whole group, including facilitator Sanaz, is in good spirits and visibly energised from the discussion and activities.  Sanaz wraps up the workshop with a final overview of the key points and invites feedback from the group.  By now, the participants are chatting amongst themselves like old friends as they head out of the training room into the summer heat.  A couple of participants linger to ask Sanaz further questions about today’s topics. It seems as if the networking side of the workshop at least, has worked.