AUT Employability and Careers Info and Advice Blog

“If you find a passion it is a blessing,” declares PhD gastronomy student Prang Ittikul, who discovered a new career focus by combining not one, but two, passions! An inspired combination of food politics and illustration has opened up a new career direction.

Internships painted a realistic vivid picture of the workplace for Hannah Stowers, helping her to work out where she wanted to work after graduating. “Internships painted a picture of what I could do and wanted to do,” says Hannah.

Make the most of career and networking events and presentations, says Brittany Fitzpatrick, business advisory accountant (chartered accountant) at Findex.

Initially shy and unsure of herself, Jennifer Susanto flourished at AUT, presenting work at two exhibitions in Sweden, becoming an industrial design peer mentor, creating start-up Foodscrapz, landing two design roles and gaining overall achievement for the AUT Edge Award.

The experience of working with others while volunteering for the AUT Edge Award helped Ghokkul Muhunthan land the role of IT support technician in a social services organisation where he is delighted to be using his IT skills to help others.

Be proactive about your passion, advises AUT Master of Marine Science  alumni Jaever Santos, who as a kid loved  "creepy ocean stuff". That became the pathway to marine conservation postgraduate  research and a role at Australian Museum.

It can take time to find your place in the world. If you’re feeling unsure about the study you’re undertaking, it is okay to take a deep breath and reflect on what you’re doing. Is it just a difficult point in your study or could there be a better career path for you?  As AUT graduate Jordan Anderson found out, it is better to have a break and work out what you really enjoy,  rather than slog on unhappily.

Helping people through working in recruitment for a social justice organisation ticks all the boxes for Tominika Moa. The AUT Human Resources and Employment Relations graduate works as a HR coordinator at Lifewise. She advises students to not worry about lack of experience when applying for jobs. She applied for all the HR roles she could find even though she had little experience. “Don’t be scared to put yourself out there.”

The role you take as a graduate is often a starting point from where you can develop the transferable skills you need to land the role you dream of. This was certainly the experience of Zymus International applications technologist Roselle Samaratunga.

As someone “annoyingly practical and analytical” Natalie Pettitt reckoned science was a natural fit. Her desire to understand the ‘why’ behind sour dough and cheese led her to study microbiology and food science at AUT. Now a senior technician at Ministry of Primary Industries, Natalie talks about her science career journey over the past couple of years.