Pathways to Success

Last Thursday, Women Entering Business (WEB) held ‘Pathways to Success’ an Internship and Graduate Panel that focused on how to land an internship or graduate job. This event was the perfect way to kickstart our first in-person event on campus. We were joined by Sophie Kaelin (Security Engineer at Google), Kate Paterson (Account Executive at Nestle), Mimi Ly (Taxation Graduate at the Australian Taxation Office) and Vis Vythilingam (Sustainability Consultant at KPMG), all Macquarie University alumni, who offered a diverse range of tips and tricks when tackling the application process for internship and graduate jobs.

The panel segment of the event was divided into the five stages of the application process which include research, written applications, assessment tests, interviews and the graduate/intern experience. This was followed by tips on how to network and their best pieces of advice to university students aspiring to land their dream intern/graduate role. Some key takeaways include:
“A vacationer or internship linked to your field is important, exploring different options is also important” - Vis Vythilingam
“Work experience is number one. Numbers, data, figures really show what you’ve achieved - talk to these points in interviews” - Kate Paterson
“Just because you do a degree in something doesn’t mean it has to be your job. Mentorship and support networks are valuable, keep those connections.” - Sophie Kaelin
“It’s okay if you haven’t found your passion yet or haven’t completed your degree, it will all pay out…we are young and now is the time to explore what’s out there.” - Mimi Ly

The event concluded with a Q&A and networking session where students were able to interact with our panelists and ask them any extra questions they had. Overall, this successful event helped provide our members with the opportunity to connect with professional networks to achieve their career goals.