Griffith University Careers and Employment Service
Career advice, inspriational stories and updates for Griffith students and graduates.
As a Griffith Film School graduate in the Bachelor of Animation (3D Animation and Character Animation) Stephanie Tomoana balances her time between her work as a professional at Alt.vfx and freelancing in graphic design, illustration and animation. Living by the Walt Disney quote, “the difference between winning and losing is not quitting,” Stephanie credits hard work and persistence as the key to developing a successful career.
Continue reading “Animating a career in VFX – Steph Tomoana”
After seven years of gruelling study and dedication to become an MD Brendan Goodwin is about to commence his intern year at Princess Alexandra Hospital. With the pressure of his final exams behind him, this Doctor of Medicine graduate will soon be able to immerse himself in new overseas experience, learning from international medical leaders in London and Montreal.
The Careers Team asked Brendan about his uni experiences, reflections on being part of the first Griffith Honours College cohort and where he sees his future heading.
Why did you choose to study medicine?
I originally went into Biomedical Science with view to one day studying medicine. However I changed my mind about my end-goal a few times throughout the course of my undergraduate degree, but came back around to the idea of medicine by the end.
Continue reading “Medicine offers Brendan a lifetime of learning – Brendan Goodwin”
As a mum with three kids, Toni Mason always knew she wanted to be a teacher. With the support of her loved ones, Toni graduated in December 2013 with a Bachelor of Education – Primary (Early Childhood Education) and was awarded the Education Medal. Prior to graduation, Toni was in the middle of her prac at Calamvale Community College when she was offered a job teaching Year 1 students.
The Careers team sat down with Toni to find out she’s finding life after uni, juggling a family and teaching commitments and how her career may have taken a different direction if she had accepted her first Griffith University offer.
What made you decide to study teaching?
It was always something I wanted to study but I never got around to it until I was older. I was a parent with kids and being home with kids and knowing you are working school hours allows you to arrange a flexible schedule. I knew I would be able to come and work from home on the things I needed to do. And kids – that’s the other thing. I love teaching kids, they are fun and it’s always a challenge. It’s exciting and never boring. You never go through the same day twice.
At 18, Bachelor of Education (Secondary) graduate Daniel Collins thought he would be married, living a comfortable suburban life and teaching in Brisbane. In his 3rd year of uni, Daniel’s study exchange to the US changed everything. With a love for all things science and travel, Daniel is currently teaching Biology and Chemistry at a Catholic school outside London and has a reputation for enjoying weekend snowboarding trips in Switzerland and term breaks in Egypt.
The Careers Team caught up with Daniel while at Nordcap in Norway (inside the Arctic Circle) to see how he combines his love of travel with educating students about science.
Continue reading “Go global with education and science – Daniel Collins”
1994 marked a year of momentous political change in South African history as Nelson Mandela was appointed president, the end of apartheid was celebrated and the country became democratic. Whilst many citizens cheered the dawn of a new era and believed things would get better, there was still enormous uncertainty and danger associated with the future direction of the country. Wayne Beech’s family initially decided to stay in Johannesburg after the first multi-racial election but after his brother was involved in a serious hijacking, they made the tough decision to move to Australia.
After studying marketing in South Africa for two years, Wayne left his family and friends behind to finish his degree at Griffith University. “When I came across here a lot of the subjects I studied at home covered Human Resources and actually got me a large portion of the way to majoring in it. While studying both, I decided I preferred studying Human Resources.”
“Chase your passion and the money will come”
Griffith graduate Chelsea McGuiness is a shining example of how pursuing the activities you are most passionate about can lead to a successful and fulfilling career later in life.
For Chelsea, coding was always a hobby. It was only during her gap year working as a reservationist in luxury transport did she realize it could become a long term career.
“My boss said ‘I want to change this on the website but I don’t want to get the guys to do it’, so I said ‘I’ll have a look at it’ and from there, I thought ‘maybe I should see what Uni offers in this area’ and that’s how I got into multimedia,” she says.
It’s a thread often repeated by fresh high school graduates who just don’t know what to do with their lives. Who does at 17? Evaluating the activities that make you happy is certainly a great place to start.
“I can’t leave uni; I’m always looking for new things”.
This statement sums up Sandra Bell’s attitude towards learning, giving back to her community and making a difference. After leaving school at 15, Sandra explains her parents encouraged her to get a good job as a secretary or bookkeeper.
Raising her family, Sandra volunteered at her children’s school but one day after dropping her son’s friend home, she noticed his mother rushing to attend university lectures.
“It was my light bulb moment and I started to ask questions of how did you get to do that?”
With education as her first preference, Sandra received an offer for her second preference to the Bachelor of Human Services – Child and Family Studies in 2002. Student life was confronting as “those first six months are a real make or break. I started to learn very quickly what it means to write a quality assignment”.
As General Manager – Asia Pacific for EJ, Griffith Commerce graduate Simon Botttomley is passionate about pursuing business excellence with 20 years’ experience in the industry. Simon credits his university experience for delivering him with a skill set and confidence to mix it in the real world of business.
Continue reading “Seeing success in the streets – Simon Bottomley”
When Carolyn’s sister, Michelle White, looked into doing nursing about 15 years ago and found out it was a degree, she thought it was too scary back then. Michelle’s motivation to study at university was to have a career post family and to be able to work alongside her husband in the primary care industry. Once Carolyn enrolled, her brother in-law told her to convince Michelle and with only a week till cut-off she applied. They were both accepted and the rest was history.
This began a three year journey of sisters doing it for themselves as they navigated university life as mature-age students, managed full-time workloads and undertook nursing placements to put into practice what they learned in lectures.
Continue reading “Sisters doing it for themselves – Carolyn Nixon”
“I could end up as a paediatric specialist or a sports specialist. I don’t know. It’s about being open to opportunities that come my way”
Many graduates have a clear expectation of what their career will look like once they put down their tasseled caps and gowns and step out into the real world. A journalism student will become a journalist for a news organization and a nursing student will become a nurse in a hospital.
While assumptions exist about what your first job out of uni ‘should’ look like, physiotherapy graduate Krystle Luvis is proving how being open to different opportunities can provide you with a much richer experience when starting your career.
Krystle graduated from a Master of Physiotherapy and admits she didn’t make any clear goals for her career post-University. While most of her friends were fixated on working for sporting teams or in private practice, she didn’t know where she was going to end up and was still trying to decide between the private and public systems.
Continue reading “Physio manipulates career opportunities – Krystle Luvis”
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