This year, as we expand our CareerReady offering, we’ve been encouraging Wyverns and our wider community to let the College know of internships or graduate opportunities available at their work places.

We advertise these opportunities on our intranet, encourage students we know would be a good fit for the company to apply, and coach them throughout the application process. The coaching takes several forms ranging from workshops on CV writing, networking, and interview preparation and technique. Individual guidance and support from Queen’s staff is offered to students throughout the process. Students have access to consultations with Wyverns who work in recruitment, helping them create a strong application.

The Wyvern informing us about the role is often also happy to chat with our students. This is very valuable for our students who are able to find out what the organisation is like, the type of work they might do, and more broadly, they can learn more about career paths in that industry.

This was exactly what happened earlier this year. Wyvern Grant Holtes (2016) – a quantitative developer and FinTech professional with the JANA organisation  – contacted the Advancement team at Queen’s to let us know that JANA was seeking a second year student to join them for 1.5 days a week.

After promoting this on our intranet, several students asked the CareerReady team for assistance with applying and reached out to Grant. He generously spoke with them about the JANA workplace, the work they would undertake, and career options both within JANA and the industry in general.

Ultimately, JANA selected Aidan Moore (2nd Yr, Science) to join their organisation. Aidan found the support provided by the CareerReady program to be invaluable and is grateful that he had access to the Wyvern network and the opportunity this has provided.

Students are always very keen to engage with these opportunities. If you are aware of internships or graduate roles at your workplace, please let the Advancement team at Queen’s know by emailing us at wyverns@queens.unimelb.edu.au