Visit Krystle's GradConnection profile.
Hello, my name is Krystle and I have recently graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with a Bachelor of Information Technology on a Co-op Scholarship. During my study abroad semester in the United States of America, I saw the opportunity to apply for GradConnection’s Most Employable Graduate Awards. Even though I was half way across the world, I decided to apply for the Awards to see whether the lessons I learned from university, really prepared me for the “outside” world.
Leading up to the Awards Ceremony in November, there were several rounds to the selection process, including an online application, online assessment for problem solving and ethical behaviour, a video interview, another online assessment for emotional intelligence, an in-person assessment working in pairs as well as in a group, and finally a panel interview. The selection process was very enlightening, as unlike completing online assessments for internships or graduate jobs, GradConnection provided detailed feedback on the results gained, allowing for greater self-awareness and identifying of improvement areas.
The possibility of actually winning the awards seemed like an impossible feat, but I knew once I was named one of the four finalists in the IT category that I had to take the chance and fly home to see if there was even the slightest possibility to take out the title. I arrived back in Sydney the day before the Awards Ceremony, and eagerly participated in the Assessment Centre. Upon completion of the assessment centre, the IT students named in the Top 100 were fortunate enough to be invited to a private company tour of Deloitte, the Award Sponsor. We learnt about the different technology service lines and met with key individuals within the company.
Winning the title of GradConnection’s Most Employable IT Graduate in Australia was a great honour and definitely worth the fourteen hour flight. It has opened many doors, where the winner of each category received a career development package, including one-on-one mentoring. Throughout the selection process itself, it allowed me to meet many IT professionals and made me aware of several job openings.
In February 2015, I will be commencing the Graduate program at Microsoft Australia.
