OTEN/Rotary Career Interview Series - Health Services

Background

My career journey commenced after I finished my High school Certificate and I decided that I really wanted to get into Education. So I did Adult Education at UTS and then I also had additional interest along the way, for group work.

That was one of the modules that I studied and so I enrolled at the institute of group leaders and did training in that particular field.

Along the path, I have worked in Community Health for about 25 years, always considering Education as I dealt with particular popularities and learnt more and was able to go into a little more deeper level of learning and understanding.

I then branched out and worked away from the department of health and worked in private industry, worked with Doctors and the Medical field and also training.

I started doing training in areas relevant to practiced staff and then I went on to the area of Mental Health and this is where I found my niche in that area.

I am the coordinator in the Mental Heath training unit, so I am actually building the unit.

In order to do this I had to have an understanding in the Mental Health sector and be able to work and build partnerships with existing training providers so that we could complement each other and work together. Thereby being able to offer an even wider range of topics. So now I also train. I train suicide intervention and where necessary, cause I do have the TAAE as well, so I am able to do  training competency based training too.

Current Industry Context

Working in the area of Education, particularly in the field of MENTAL HEALTH, HAS CHANGED VASTLY OVER THE LAST 15 YEARS.

There is an increasingly awareness of the need for training in Mental Health and an understanding of the newer concepts, such as recovery, which has come into the context as well.

So that’s an expanding area, where people who choose to work in that area will able to be used widely as the government decides to expand and have projects that have programmes that are devoted to both the careers of Mental illness and also the Mental Health system.

SO THERE’S A LOT OF OPPORTUNITY IN THE AREA OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ESPECIALLY IN TRAINING.

Industry Advice and Tips

The area of Community Services and in particular Mental Health, is a expanding area and a growing area.

I believe anyone who enters this area needs to consider, if they have a feel for it, YOU DEFIANTLY DON’T GO INTO IT FOR THE FINANCIAL GAINS, BUT THERE IS A LOT OF SATISFACTION FROM IT. But also because it is an expanding field, there’s a need for newly skilled people. So I think that you’re a relatively new field and that you need to realise that you will have an opportunity to take your own personal skills and build on them.

Me, I think you need to be prepared to continue your own Professional Development, as I referred to before, I always continue to learn, but there’s a lot available now through social media.

So you don’t just have to rely on the set text in a particular course.

If you’re adventurous enough and interested enough and passionate enough in the field of providing information for people, of training them or working with them as a disadvantaged population, you’ll find that you can obtain a lot of information which will take you to areas that will probably be restricted to, if you stayed within the course content.

So my advice to new people going into this field, especially Community Services, is to ALWAYS CONTINUE TO LEARN, TO ALWAYS HAVE GOOD SUPERVISION.

No matter, because you are a human being, you’re in a field that’s a caring field, it’s important that you gauge and PROTECT YOURSELF FROM AN AREA OF BURNOUT and that you’re able to manage your own stress.

It would be quite hypocritical to be working in Mental Health for your own mental Health to be compromised.

So I think any worker in Community Services needs to protect themselves and to be aware of re traumatising themselves by hearing stories or are thinking of people in a negative way.

Also, it’s important that they continue to network.

By continuing their studies, you’ll be able to link up with other people and then you’ve got mentors who have got the potential to network with people who can answer the areas that you won’t always be able to answer. To draw on and enrich the work that you do and prepare yourself and to meet the challenges that you will meet in the Community Sector.

Networking

I’ve already mentioned that it’s important to network with people who work within in related fields and as an individual I joined Rotary, not because I had a lot of spare time, I can assure you, but I hope that it might be an outlet to use my own skills in my own community and I, because I do train in suicide intervention, I actually believe I will have the opportunity to go beyond my own community to the whole of Australia and to gain the support of people who are like minded and who want to link into the community.

In saying that, there are other, may other opportunities that you can link in with similar networks, LINKEDIN is one of the – is an example in particular, in mywork place, that I use to find people who have additional information and can also build opportunities for expanding in the area that I choose to work in.

View Video http://ow.ly/7AZJC 

Industry Expert - OTEN/Rotary Career Interview Series - Electrical Contracting

Background

I started my apprenticeship with a company my father worked for, he was an electro mechanic and I used to do a little bit of weekend work with him and I rather enjoyed the work.

So I completed my apprenticeship and the TAFE course.

I was seconded to go over to Tasmania for a small period of time.‘Came back, worked for the company again.’

I then moved on to Wormald’s – which was doing fire alarms, as a supervisor and after that I decided I would like to start up my own electrical contracting business, which I‘ve  now done and have been doing for the last 35 years or so.

 

Current Industry Context

CURRENT INDUSTRY IS CHARGING AHEAD. There’s a lot of different sort of work out there now. More computerised, but until they can get away without any hard wiring, I’ve always got a job.

Industry Advice And Tips

If you’re going to enter the industry today I believe the best thing is to DO ADDITIONAL COURSES if you can. ‘especially in the electronic side of it. Maybe the alarm side and specialising in something like that.

And if you are going to to an apprenticeship with a company, I’d try and GET AN APPRENTICESHIP WITH A COMPANY THAT DOES A VARIED STYLE OF WORK, not just the one style of work.

Networking

I was well known in the Strathfield area, doing my electrical contracting, but I felt that it would be something that I could do to give back to the community, so I joined Rotary.

I knew a lot of people in Rotary, but having known them, THEY HAVE CONTACTS THAT HAVE CONTACTS, that have contacts. So I believed that it’s a good thing to get to know as many people as you can.
View video http://ow.ly/7tCot

Industry Expert - OTEN/Rotary Career Interview Series - Building Construction

 

BACKGROUND & CAREER

I’m a structural engineer by training, I finished – I finished training at Sydney University in the 70’s, but I joined a specialist contracting company soon after that and worked in that and a few years later I started my own construction company.

In the same business, which was Post Tension, and I ran that business for some years by myself and then subsequently gained a friend’s sharehold and all together I ran that business for 30 years. It was probably the second largest Post Tension company in Australia, when I left the company.

CURRENT INDUSTRY CONTEXT

The industry at the moment, we are talking about 2011, is in an interesting state, for a number of reasons.

One is there has been a

GREAT DEAL OF CONSOLIDATION AT THE TOP END and you will all of heard of companies such as leighton's and Teece and Hollands and companies of that size and type.

They’re essentially now totally overseas owned, so at the top end of the market – the construction market, not so much the building market – that is entirely overseas owned and it operates very much on a sub contract basis and basically those companies, those large companies are essentially construction managers and they employ sub contract companies to do the physical work.

Much the same applies in the building industry, except that there are a larger amount of companies and by and large they’re not  foreign owned.

At the moment there is a shortage of availability of funds for infra-structure. The commercial office building market is, at the moment, fairly quiet, but the building market for the units is fairly strong.

I think that will continue, there's population growth and I think there is further consolidation of the market. People are moving back into the cities, because of travel times and costs and consequently they are, they’re  more interested in buying units and town houses and the like than before and so that, I think, will be the direction in which, at least the residential industry heads, there’ll still be expansion into the suburbs, but I think this will be inevertably slow.

Of course the other thing that will cause residential building to move ahead is de-centralisation, for instance I’ve been in Goulburn recently, I've been to Orange recently and both cities are growing quite quickly in terms of population and in residential expansion of normal residential homes, so, that’s (ahh) – that’s probably where, for the present at least, the future lies in that form of construction.

INDUSTRY ADVICE & TIPS

You have a number of choices.

You can join a, let’s say a home builder and do whatever they require of you.

You can join one of the larger companies and with the prospect of at least starting off, on sites and then perhaps moving on to a project management role and then perhaps a management role.

I think from my experience theBEST SINGLE TIP I COULD GIVE YOU, if anyone’s studying building or engineering or a similar disapline, is at some stage to also, and this is very important, ALSO STUDY MANAGEMENT OR COMMERCE OR BUSINESS.
That type of rounded training will give you a much better propects for the future in terms of job promotion and job satisfaction – I think, because you know you come to a stage in your life where you don’t want to be on sites any more, or you want to be doing other things and that, that educational background, whether you do it straight after what you do here or whether you do it subsequently, is still going to be very valuable to you and, as a sideline, it will increase your salary prospects significantly, so that’s my tip.

NETWORKING

I would consider networking as probably your single most effective way of staying within the full knowledge of the industry that you’re in.

In other words, keeping up with the latest developments and trends and so on.

But also in looking for new opportunities, if that’s what you are – are doing at the time.

MOST GOOD POSITIONS, REALLY THESE DAYS COME UP THROUGH NETWORKING, rather than advertising or, other than of course, internal promotion.

So networking’s a very valuable tool, apart from what ever social benefits it delivers to you.

Rotary is an organisation which is primarly aimed at doing good things in the community and helping people raising some funds for various charities, some charitable initiatives as well and is a network of it’s own, but strickly speaking, Rotary is not a business network. It is a group of people with a common goal of doing good things within society.

It used to have more of a commercial edge, but of course people join Rotaries – there would be a Real estate agent, or a doctor or whatever, joining and they were all from an area and they worked together.

There is still a large element of that, and if you feel you want to do good things within the community, help others, then I think Rotary is an excellent organisation to join and be a part of.

You can become a part of it to whatever degree you like. You can spend as much or as little time doing things with it as you like, but it’s certainly a way of giving back something to the community.
View the video http://ow.ly/7m9yq

Industry Expert - OTEN/Rotary Career Interview Series - Real Estate

BACK GROUND & CAREER

When I first left school it was important to me to start working, there was a lot of unemployment around at the time and I decided I would work in the public service.

So I took a role at the water board and was there for about 4 years.

During the time I was there I had started studying the Real-estate course at TAFE.

Like a lot of people, a lot of people get attracted to the real-estate industry because they  had relatives or friends that were involved in it and it looks good.

That’s what I thought; I had an uncle who was doing it at the time. He was successful; I thought I’d get started in that.

So I did the TAFE course. One day I just sat down and started phoning real-estate offices until I got some interviews and I started working for the industry in 1981.

I worked for  a couple of different employers for about 3 or 4 years and then the opportunity came up to run my own office. Which I took and have run with it since then.

TIPS AND ADVICE

One of the things I have found within the industry now and the time that I’ve been involved in it, is that PERSISTENCE and RESILIENCE are 2 of the strongest traits in a successful real-estate agent.

When you commence looking for work you might come up against a lot of knock backs, it may be difficult for you to find work within the industry, but believe me, you’re going to get the same knockbacks time and time again, maybe day after day, once you’re in there and the most successful agents in the real-estate industry are those that have persistence and resilience to come back from what they see as success one day, seeming like failure the next day. THE ABILITY TO GET UP AND KEEP GOING. You also need to embrace technology.

Lastly, but by no means less important, DON’T GO IN HALF HEARTEDLY.

If you are going to commence a career in real-estate – go into it as a career and (ahh) get stuck into it right from the beginning. Put all your efforts into it and it will pay off.

VALUE OF NETWORKING

Like all industries that you may be involved in, networking is very important.

The age old saying – IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, IT’S WHO YOU KNOW.

It’s extremely important within the real-estate industry.

Often it comes from conversation with somebody you know with either Rotary or down the road, or whatever community venue you are attending at the time, who just happens to mention “Oh hey – could you come and see me on Monday, I’m thinking of selling my house?”

So networking is all important and in Rotary it is a Community Service group.

You don’t necessary join Rotary simply for networking, but it is a bi product of people who often become good friends. Networking becomes natural and business flows from that.

The same way iT does out in the community organisations, through schools and through your involvement in just the general running of the suburb that you’re within.
View the video http://ow.ly/7eZCx

Are you thinking about a Career Change or Transition? Webinar Recording

Are you wondering about managing career change or transitions?
Thinking you might have made some mistakes in managing your career previously?
Our Career Development team here at OTEN kindly presented an online session just for our OTEN LinkedIn community on this topic on August 3rd 2011. If you can spare 30mins then you can play the recording https://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/p92435276/ to discover some good tips and strategies.

Some of the topics include:
• Career decision making factors to consider
• Knowing and finding ‘reliable’ web information
• Where to get more personal help

You can download the Powerpoint presentation at http://ow.ly/d/ivd

Testimonial from top Accounting Student at Graduation Night

Transcript from Priya's Speach at our Graduation Night for 2010 Graduates
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OTENDE?feature=mhee#p/c/4/rHxX4zRsx-U

Rewarding Pathway:

It is an honour to be given this opportunity to share with you some aspects of my journey of studying TVET Accounting with OTEN. I was a Year 12 student last year at Penrith High School. OTEN provided me with a rewarding two-year pathway of study from which I continue to reap the benefits.

Bewilderment to Motivation:

I remember trying to choose subjects in Year 10 for the HSC and being bewildered by all the choices that needed to be made. There were subjects from many diverse disciplines, ranging from the sciences to languages at the other end of the spectrum. Then on one fateful day it all started when I was directed to information about OTEN’s TVET Accounting course. I realised that one of the best things about the Accounting program was that the content was very different from that of all of the school-based subjects on offer. At first I was a little unsure as to my ability to learn by distance education, given that I had never studied that way previously. However, the nearest TAFE college offering the course was at a fair distance from both my school and home, and this meant that studying through OTEN would be the most convenient arrangement. The Accounting course is unique in that the majority of HSC marks arise from work done in Year 11 and the main exam is also out of the way by the end of Year 11. This meant that there was a great deal less stress in Year 12 and this element of the course also became a key convincing factor motivating me to step out of my comfort zone and pursue study of Accounting through OTEN.

Ripping Excitement:

One day early into Year 11, I remember excitedly ripping open a package I’d received in the mail thinking it was something I had ordered from Amazon. Out popped an accounting textbook instead, and that there was the first of many things to arrive in the mail from the accounting department. It was also around this time that I was introduced to the Online Learning Support website; little did I know how helpful it would turn out to be.

Help at Hand:

I had regular chats with the friendly automated voice from the OTEN helpdesk; he became my best friend. When I was confused by concepts, the TVET teachers didn’t seem to mind being bothered by my never-ending questions. At the beginning I must admit it felt very strange to be working through activities and exercises with no physical class or face-to-face teaching. As I became more comfortable with the notion however, I realised it gave me the opportunity to study when and where I wished, and that then meant I could fit my study around extracurricular commitments more easily. I was the only one from my year group who was studying a course through OTEN, and my friends were rather envious of me when it came to the first major exam because it was open-book. Even when my exams weren’t open book, I could choose the TAFE college at which I would sit the exams which was quite convenient.

Offers Came In:

During Year 12 I was very unsure of what I wanted to pursue after high school and I decided to investigate a vast range of university degrees. I had enjoyed many aspects of the TVET accounting course so I applied for and received offers for all three accounting cadetships of the big accounting firms for which I had applied. It was a good feeling being able to surprise and impress the partners who were interviewing me with the fact that I had already begun study of some fundamental accounting concepts. The way that TVET Accounting had acted as a stepping stone was an added bonus to doing the course which I hadn’t realised at the time of choosing subjects.

Excellence Awards:

During the latter half of Year 12, I received the Regional Education Director’s award and the Education Minister’s award for excellence in student achievement, both of which recognised among other things my extracurricular involvements. I also graduated with an ATAR of 99.95, with the accounting course contributing one fifth of my ATAR score. I remain convinced that the TVET accounting course played a significant role in these successes, particularly because of the way that a large proportion of assessment is taken in Year 11, reducing stress and freeing up some time for other commitments in the final year of high school.

Studying Medicine:

Up until the end of last year I had not decided on which university degree to study. At long last I decided to decline the offers for accounting cadetships and instead I opted to study medicine, which I am now doing at the University of New South Wales. As a medical practitioner in the future if I were to one day be working in a private clinic, I am sure that I will be able to build on the accounting skills that I acquired through the TVET course in order to manage many financial aspects of a clinic. In particular, I found that my training in the use of MYOB accounting software had many practical applications and immense usefulness for the future. Another major benefit of studying Accounting through OTEN was that I became somewhat accustomed to managing my own learning and setting learning goals, which has definitely helped with my adjustment to the university teaching environment.

Thanks:

This journey that I undertook had some great navigators, and I’d like to genuinely thank the OTEN accounting staff who really did make my study of the course feel worthwhile and supported, and I would particularly like to thank my TVET teacher Penny Bowden. With such a positive experience I look forward to perhaps rejoining the OTEN student ranks one day for some other course. And of course, I would like to congratulate my fellow award recipients here tonight for their achievements.

Finding a Job When You Have No Work Experience

Many people, especially new graduates, find themselves in a difficult situation when looking for jobs: you need experience to get experience. It is difficult to start when you’re competing against job seekers with years of experience. However, there are some tips that can help you to get started.

Have the Right Profile/Resume:

Change your LinkedIn profile/resume to highlight your strengths and downplay your limited experience. If you are looking for the right job without experience, having the right profile/resume that shows your capabilities in a positive manner is very important. These can be highlighted in your LinkedIn profile under ‘Summary’ and ‘Specialities’ section. It is also important as pointed out in the post "Let the Recruiters come to you" on the OTEN Group discussion page to include the job title of the job you are looking for in your profile, so when recruiters search LinkedIn (which they often do) you will come up in the results.

Work experience

Consider volunteering or doing work experience in the area you want to get into. You will gain experience doing real work in that area, and you may be able to turn that work experience into a full-time job – either at that organisation or through someone you meet there.

Networking:
Having connections in LinkedIn will give you leverage when looking for a job, see post 2; "Use LinkedIn to Connect" in the discussion tab. Find as many connections on LinkedIn as possible, through people that you already know (do a search) and through LinkedIn Groups where you have something in common such as a professional interest or alumni group such as the OTEN group.

Low paying jobs.
There are several jobs in these categories that might be relatively low paying ones. Low paying jobs can take you to the first step up the ladder, to get needed experience. Entry level jobs can provide you with the initial experience you need, and you can be promoted to a higher position in that company.

How to use LinkedIn Companies to your advantage

LinkedIn Companies: LinkedIn is a fantastic source for learning about companies you're interested in and using this information to find and explore potential companies to work for or do business with. Company Profiles are a powerful research tool that has a company overview, who you know at the company, and unique data from the LinkedIn network.

Click on the “Companies” option on your top navigation bar to take you to the Company Search page. Here, in addition to being able to search for companies you want to research, you can find out which companies are the most viewed, fastest growing, and most connected.

Search results will show how many jobs a company has vacant. You can drill down searching by industry, location (near postcode). You can also limit the search to those companies that have 1st and 2nd degree contacts; this is very powerful as you can immediately see those companies that have jobs in which you have contacts which will exponentially increase your chances of employment.

Once on the company page, you can check out the “company employee insights” to see the different job functions, years experience, educational degree & university attended. If for example you notice that a particular company has a proportionally high percent of employees from a particular college or university, this can be helpful in choosing which company to apply to.

LinkedIn - Let the Recruiters come to you:

Recruiters search LinkedIn all the time for candidates when they have a job to fill.
I have surveyed a group of recruiting agencies about LinkedIn including Command Group and Hayes Recruiting and this is some of the feedback. Nearly all agencies use LinkedIn. Many of the consultants use it, but not all. They may post a job or in many cases they will search LinkedIn by job title, some good advice was that if you are a graduating student that still does not have experience in a particular job you are looking for, include the job title of the job you are looking for in your profile e.g. “java programmer” and when they search LinkedIn you will come up in the results and they may give you a call.

With Mycareer.com.au job search site, you can log in to LinkedIn and when applying for a job, you can use your LinkedIn profile.

Quote: Hayes Recruiting News Story - “Of course, you can also make cyberspace work for you to enhance a potential employer’s perception of you. For example, you can leverage the LinkedIn network or show your passion for your particular specialisation by blogging about latest trends.” http://www.hays.com.au/common/pages/news/newsdesc.aspx?id=481

LinkedIn - How To Get In Touch With 1st, 2nd, And 3rd Degree Contacts?

Connecting with other professionals is an important part of building up your leverage and influence within LinkedIn. Good communication on LinkedIn is about etiquette and respecting those you connect with.

TYPES OF CONTACTS
There are 3 types of contacts, 1st degree, 2nd degree & 3rd degree that you can contact within LinkedIn. 1st degree contacts are those that have agreed to connect with you ,a 2nd degree contact is someone you are connected to through a 1st degree contact and a 3rd degree contact is a 2nd degree contact of your 1st degree contacts.

WHY GET IN TOUCH?
Getting in touch with contacts is important when looking for a job, getting professional advice, promoting yourself/company etc. In particular when looking for a job, a good approach is to identify qualified employers that might be a good match and then contact decision makers within those companies. The more contacts you have the more chance you have of contacting these decision makers. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to contact 1st, 2nd & 3rd degree contacts.

So what are you waiting for, start connecting today!!

Use LinkedIn to Connect

Connect with people: Use LinkedIn as a way to reconnect with people you've lost track of and to meet new connections. Making connections is what LinkedIn is all about. Joining groups is a great way to do that because you can send a message to other group members or ask to add them to your network. Just click on the members tab when you are in the Group and when you mouse over a member an “invite to connect” and “Send message’ link will appear. Having a common association such as OTEN Alumni will allow you to make valuable connections.
Find groups that are focused on your particular area, industry and you'll not only make connections, you'll be up on what's going on in your industry, current trends and people.
LinkedIn has different categories of groups; Alumni, Corporate, Networking, Non-Profit and Professional. To search groups, click on the groups menu, select your category and put in your keywords.

Welcome OTEN Graduates

Welcome to our blog for OTEN http://www.oten.edu.au/ Distance Learning Graduates.
Our graduates already have a LinkedIn Group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3677510 an online networking site that helps you find inside connections to jobs, industry experts and business partners.
Through our members-only group, you can:

·         Search LinkedIn's jobs database, then connect with OTEN group alumni companies.

·         Leverage the power of LinkedIn to connect with OTEN alumni and their contacts.

·         Accelerate your career through referrals and searches from OTEN Alumni members.

The OTEN Alumni group on LinkedIn provides an ideal networking group that will become even more powerful as it grows. It will also provide you with a point of contact for individuals outside the OTEN community who are connected to your fellow OTEN members.