Best Foot Forward Career Skills Workshop with CBA: Interviews

Thanks to all participants who took part in the Best Foot Forward Careers Workshop on Thursday 25 October. The workshop was the second of a three part workshop series, organised by the Women in Engineering and IT Program and facilitated by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). Elise Ianno has been running these workshops to help give UTS women an edge when applying for jobs and internships. Elise is the Manager of CBA Graduate Recruitment Programs, so we were very lucky to have the benefit of her wealth of experience in the job application process.
This second workshop revolved around interviews, and we were given many useful hints and tips about how best to present ourselves in interview situations. Some of this advice included:

·         Dress appropriately for the occasion

·         Be prepared to give examples of your experiences in dealing with difficult situations. This includes situations that ended negatively as well as positively; so long as you demonstrate your thought process and what you learnt. This is an opportunity to talk about your extra curricular activities as well, so don’t limit your examples to work experience and university projects.

·         Be professional, always sit up straight and make eye contact. Don’t look around the room or ask personal questions, it’s inappropriate.

·         The organisation is interviewing you to see if you're right for the job, but you should also be interviewing them to see if the job is right for you.

·         ALWAYS ask questions! If you’re stuck for questions, ask the interviewer what attracted them to the organisation. This might give you an idea of what the working environment will be like.

After Elise’s presentation, students all had the opportunity to participate in a mock interview. Feedback from the interviews was mostly positive, with everyone acting on Elise’s advice. One pointer that everyone received was to give more detail when providing examples and not to rush your answers. 
The third workshop will be held in early 2013, so keep your eyes posted for event details and updates!

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RMS site visit: Transport Management Centre for NSW

Today, the WiE&IT Team took almost 30 UTS students on a site visit to the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) Transport Management Centre for NSW. The Transport Management Centre is situated in Redfern, and is the centre for traffic control for all state roads in the whole of NSW- that's 18,000km of road! We were invited into their presentation room, the very same room where they greet politicians and international partners, which had a great view over the Transport Operations Room. Having never heard of the TMC before, I was truly amazed to see the huge screen occupying an entire wall and displaying many familiar roads. Angela Cannuli, our presenter for the day,  explained that the Operations controllers work in shifts to monitor these roads 24/7, every day of the year, and to send assistance where it's needed.

Operations Controllers monitoring traffic in Sydney city

Angela showed a short video which explained the operations of the TMC in more detail. The Operations Controllers role is 'incident management', which involves liaising with emergency services, coordinating field resources, monitoring traffic, planning major events to minimise impact on non event communities (such as City2Surf), communicating with customers including using various social media and last but not least, road works (of course). Angela also described some of the innovations in traffic control management that have been implemented throughout Sydney over the years. One of these innovations includes the SCATS system. SCATS stands for Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, and is used to control traffic flow. Before SCATS was used, traffic lights were on a time based cycle, and would change periodically despite traffic flow. Now, when a car pulls up at an intersection, weights under the road detect there is a demand for the lights to change. This makes it much easier to reduce congestion in busy intersections. This system was developed in Australia, but is operational in 27 countries and 263 cities around the world.

Angela showing us the SCATS system in action 

Other innovations include the electronic lane changing system used on the Harbour Bridge, as well as the Live Traffic NSW website. Fiona Simmonds, who works on the Live Traffic NSW website, gave a short talk about the mobile applications that are now available for Android and iPone (which I immediately downloaded!).
RMS are always looking for graduates. Anyone interested in working at RMS should apply through their website, found here:
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/careers/index.html

Keep an eye on our Facebook for more upcoming events and site visits!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/UTSwieandit/

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UTS Women in Engineering Alumni Event

It’s a rainy afternoon in Sydney, but the inside of the Powerhouse Museum is warm and alive with music and the smell of good food. Guests were welcomed in front of a giant 1920’s steam train and invited to take a look at the museum's Engineering Excellence Awards technology exhibition. Engineers from around Sydney, UTS alumni and staff were treated to canapés and drinks before presentations began.  
Themed, "Where have the flowers gone?",

the meeting is an invitation to UTS  engineering graduates to reflect on where they are now and share perspectives on the
experience for women in the profession today. 
The rate of growth of women in the engineering profession in Australia does not reflect even the small increases in university enrolments since the 1990’s. Reasons for leaving engineering uncovered by successive industry surveys include lack of flexible working conditions, workplace culture, lack of career development and pay inequity. At the same time, women are succeeding in engineering by adapting and by innovating and by finding progressive employers. What prospects are there for change that will better sustain and help retain women to succeed and flourish in their chosen fields and how can we collaborate to see it happen?
This topic was discussed by three panelists: Professor Marian Baird, Drenka Andjelic and Fiona Coe.
Professor Marian Baird has been a key policy advisor to government in the development of new legislation – Paid Parental Leave, Fair Work and the proposed Workplace Gender Equality Act.

Drenka Andjelic (Alumni) has put her values about work life balance into practice in the establishment of her project management company in the construction industry, and has won recognition for her innovation.

Fiona Coe (Alumni) has been a strong advocate for women in engineering as a student, and she has worked hard to make her professional workplace a more sympathetic environment. Now she is on a quest to find a way to resolve her passions with engineering practice.
After the speakers, there was a lively discussion  with many questions from the audience. Some interesting points of contention were raised and different view points discussed. You can view the entire presentation section of the evening by clicking here.

From left to right: Bronwyn Holland, Drenka Andjelic,
Fiona Coe and Prof. Marian Baird

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