Graduates – Page 3 – Griffith University Careers and Employment Service

Griffith grad gives back – Sandra Bell

Sandra-Bell “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”.

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Design your own destiny – Ryan Turner

As students, we are constantly worried about our employment prospects at the end of our studies. We are barraged with common refrains like “you need to start networking” and are told woeful tales of the competitive market and the elusiveness of our ‘dream job’.

It all seems too much, especially with the sunny distractions South East Queensland always to offer (Dreamworld trip anyone?). However, as Queensland College of Art grad Ryan Turner proves, thinking about your career early in your degree can produce incredible results.

Ryan studied a Bachelor of Design at QCA and had always dreamed of owning his own business. Despite starting a degree in psychology, he later realized where his passion lay and pursued a career in design.

Just a few short years later, he is now the Managing Director of his own successful business, Quantico Digital. His business specializes in graphic design, digital design and development, smartphone app development, social media and online marketing – meaning he gets to work with a variety of different brands.

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From the vine to breakfast – Ange Anderson

As Breakfast Newsreader for Brisbane’s Nova 106.9 radio with Ash, Kip and Luttsy, Ange Anderson has come a long way since her days as a Bachelor of Communications student at Griffith University. With a media career spanning 10 years, see how Ange created opportunities to build to where she is now and heading.

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Playing a Part in the Global Environment – Mohammed Hayat

With a career spanning three continents and early aspirations to be an aeronautical engineer, Mohammed Hayat took on his biggest personal and professional challenge to leave the industry he had worked in for many years to explore his passion for the environment. After starting an Arts degree in 1995, Mohammed discovered his heart wasn’t in it and transferred to a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies, graduating in 2000.

Originally from South Africa, Mohammed migrated to Brisbane in the late ‘80s and worked part-time as a soil tester throughout his undergraduate studies. “For this particular role, there was a lot of on-the-job learning. I was exposed to some environmental components and I got to interact with what I studied such as water, air and noise monitoring.” His degree took him to CSIRO where he would test different rocks from the mines in southern and western Australia.

Then, an initial eighteen month internship exchange program with a small company in the US extended to eight years. “Initially I went over as a student and learnt a lot of on-the-job skills for geophysical surveying”.

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From pouring concrete to PR – Kitty Danger

Kitty-Danger

“My progression from high school to today has been interesting to say the least!”

Writing, acting, furniture design, violin, travel and construction.

These diverse passions seem an unlikely combination, but for journalism graduate Kitty Danger, they form the less than traditional path that has led to a fulfilling career in public relations at The Red Republic.

While many high school graduates feel the pressure to careen head first into a chosen career, Kitty took the time to explore her options before settling on a Bachelor of Journalism, specializing in PR and Arts and Creative Industries.

This process of discovery led to Kitty securing a role well suited to her diverse and colorful personality. Working as an Account Manager on a variety of events, social media and publicity campaigns, means she is able to channel her creative side and in her own words “never get bored”.

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Paddling your way to success – David Houston

As one of Griffith’s first dental school graduates and the founding president of the Griffith University Surfers Paradise Rowing Club, David Houston’s career is going from strength to strength overseeing two dental clinics in Brisbane’s North-East suburbs of Redcliffe. Watch as he explains his career journey from Griffith student to entrepreneurial Griffith graduate.

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Seeing success in the streets – Simon Bottomley

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.

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Sisters doing it for themselves – Carolyn Nixon

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.

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30 Grads in 30 days – Meet Kylie

30 Grads in 30 Days

Do you sometimes wonder where you could end up after graduating? We, the Careers and Employment Service, got to catch up with some amazing, successful and interesting graduates for our ’30 Grads in 30 Days’ campaign. Each day in August, we will feature stories from Griffith grads across our social media. The stories focus on how they ended up at Griffith, their uni experiences and career journey since graduation.

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