Registering with the SydneyTalent team was invaluable when I applied for the Graduate Program at a top tier auditing and consulting firm. I have no doubt it played a big part in being one of the few to be offered a position after the company passed over thousands of other applicants.

The work experience along with the learning and development opportunities at SydneyTalent gave me the insight and experience to move through group assessment days, individual case study interviews and individual competency interviews.

I stood out from other applicants because of the critical thinking and problem solving skills I developed through my work experience with SydneyTalent. I was able articulate my thought processes and ideas because I had to do this every day at work over two and a half years. I was also able to reflect on my experiences in the workplace and the human resources industry, to enrich my responses to questions and problem solving tasks. I can confidently say any student without any relevant work experience would struggle to get through the graduate recruitment processes of these top tier firms.

This work experience also led the company to offer me a salary more than five per cent higher than the standard graduate salary.

In every interview I had with this and other organisations, employers discussed the value of my work experience, and how important it was that I had balanced work with study.

I would highly recommend SydneyTalent to any student from any discipline or academic background, knowing the experience would undoubtedly be a positive one.

Yours sincerely
Vanessa Bugge
SydneyTalent student employee

As a key part of the University of Sydney’s gold sponsorship of the Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo from 1 May to 31 October 2010, SydneyTalent was invited to showcase their unique Learning and Development offer by designing a specific skills development program for Pavilion staff.

In April, the SydneyTalent team conducted their intensive Leadership and Teamwork workshops over a 5-day period for all 250 employees and volunteers at the $84million Australian Pavilion. Staff included all customer-facing and team leader employees from retail staff through to hospitality, technical, sales and marketing staff.

SydneyTalent takes a proactive approach to equipping pre-graduates and graduates for workplace success. Our range of learning and development initiatives fosters the development of enduring life skills, complemented by the practical skills learned on the job and in university degrees.

All students registered with SydneyTalent can take part in our WorkReady Workshops Program, a series of face-to-face, interactive training workshops designed to develop the life skills identified by society and industry as key to success.

Late last year, Microsoft and SydneyTalent formed an agreement to work together in sourcing high calibre students from the University of Sydney for the MACH (Microsoft Academy of College Hires) program.

Microsoft fielded over 1000 MACH applications from over 15 universities across Australia to secure the select few MACH placements for 2010. Through this agreement, SydneyTalent secured 20% of Microsoft’s total MACH student intake.

SydneyTalent partnership helps students survive the GFC (and its fall out!)

By Amy Fox,
SydneyTalent student employee and undergraduate law student

In 2009, final year engineering student found themselves on the wrong end of the global financial crisis. To complete their degree, the students needed a 12-week work placement but with world markets collapsing and employers cutting costs wherever they could, the employment market for engineering graduates dried up.

"There was no doubt that the global financial crisis had – and continues to have – a profound impact on engineering graduates," said the Executive Officer Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Foundation at the University of Sydney, Skender Bregu.

Likes...Food, in all shapes and sizes.
Dislikes...Arrogance.
Currently reading...Marching Powder by Rusty Young.
Best part of my job....Delivering quality and fun programs for student to help them develop their work readiness skills.
In 2010, I'm looking forward to...Professionally, I am looking forward to reaching as many University of Sydney students as possible with our learning and development programs. Personally, I can't wait to travel to Argentina later this year.
I'm always being asked...As I am a psychologist, I am often asked if I can read people's minds or analyse their personalities!
One thing you'll never see me do...Bungee jumping or sky diving, I have watched my friends though I could never do either.
If only I could...I would love to have my paintings displayed at the National Art Gallery of Australia one day.
The best advice anyone ever gave me...My grandmother always says to me, "Treat others the way you want to be treated".
The one advice I like to give students...My advice is to be proactive and not wait for things to just happen; find out what you want and make it happen. 

Since inception, SydneyTalent has found employment for 786 student employees. Currently, there are 146 roles being filled by SydneyTalent student employees across finance and banking, professional services, IT, consumer, natural resources and environment, infrastructure and manufacturing, public sector, health, and not-for-profit sectors.

Microsoft Marketing Protégé oppourtunity

Over the past few months SydneyTalent has been promoting Microsoft’s marketing Protégé Opportunity. Students who entered had the chance to win one month’s paid marketing work experience and mentorship. All you had to do was showcase your marketing ideas for one of their products and you could become the Microsoft’s Marketing Protégé 2010 Winner. The competition has now closed, and Microsoft had over 300 teams register, a fantastic result, and those teams have now been narrowed down to 70 semi-finalists who will be presenting their work this week.

Following SydneyTalent’s Gr8 Debate in March where Gen X battled Gen Y to determine whether Arts or Science was more valuable to society, we launched an Opinion Editorial Competition asking students to give us their opinions on the same topic. The question we asked was:
 

Why study Arts?

OR

Why study Science?

Is it time for a change? Would the world be a better place if we tipped the scales in favour of the arts and acknowledged their greater contribution to society? Or is science what’s going to keep the world ticking over?

We had some fantastic responses to this long debated topic, but there could only be 2 winners and they were Joseph Ware on the Arts side, and Michael West on the Science.

Click here to read their winning essays.