It’s been almost a year since I graduated with a Bachelor of Communication from The University of Newcastle, Australia (UON) — how time flies. One year ago, my ex-classmates and I were busy job-hunting and didn’t have any idea where we’d end up. I thought this anniversary was the opportune time to find out more about their current careers and reflect on how their degree helped them in their current jobs.

1. What do you do at work?

Pimnara Suksomjai, Brand Marketer: I do all marketing-related things — from coming up with advertising ideas to executing it, creating social media content, taking photos and videos. Being in a startup allows me to put on many hats at once, and I sometimes find myself doing other kinds of activities like retail and baking to understand our product better and interact with our customers first-hand.

Chi Chia I, Digital Marketer: As a digital marketer, I handle a spectrum of digital marketing related job scope. Other than managing the company's social media and various e-commerce platforms, I also track and monitor Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) using Google Analytics to obtain insights into a potential customer's preferences and active hours.

Content-wise, I am in charge of newsletters and product shots; designing social media posts using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro; drafting video scripts; and I am the copywriter for all three brands, frequently translating content from Chinese to English.

Reuben Ng, Marketing and Events Executive: I mainly take care of our e-commerce site. This includes anything from tracking sales to answering customer queries. But apart from that, I also have to think of ways to improve our sales. This led me to do digital marketing, mainly in pay-per-click (PPC) ads like Google Ads and Facebook/Instagram ads.

I do a lot of SEO work by optimising keywords/images, and improving the speed of the site. This meant that I had to do a fair bit of tech work like optimising our servers, looking at HTML and CSS codes or even adding/removing plugins to create a better overall user experience (UX). Apart from focusing on online marketing, I also take charge of offline sales in our retail outlets.

Charlene Ho, Real Estate Agent: I sell real estate by assisting and guiding my clients in purchasing, renting or selling properties. Part of my job scope is to also walk them through the different schemes and grants they might be eligible for, advise them about the different market conditions, do marketing for the properties under my care and strategise my clients’ wealth creation through real estate.

2. How long did it take for you to secure a full-time job?

Pimnara: Seven months from graduation, although I didn’t start looking for a full-time job straight away as I was previously freelancing as a graphic designer. I took three-and-a-half months from the time I started sending out resumes to getting my current job.

Chia I: About five to six months after graduation. Prior to my current role, I also did a three-month internship as a marketing assistant at another company.

Reuben: It took me one month of job-hunting before finding a full-time job.

Charlene: I took the Real Estate Salesperson (RES) Course during one of the trimester breaks and passed the exam during the final trimester so I guess you could say I secured my full-time job before graduating.

3. How did your degree at UON help you in your current job?

Pimnara: The Bachelor of Communication taught me to evaluate a company using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and inspired me to bring fresh perspectives that can raise brand awareness of the company. All of these are relevant and important to my job as a brand marketer.

I also learnt ways to effectively communicate with my target audience, as well as the importance of building relationships with other companies through public relations. This is useful as part of my job involves collaborating with brands and giving out sponsorships.

Chia I: Through various modules at UON, I learnt copywriting for different forms of media — newsletter, social media posts and speech. On top of that, I also learnt video editing and graphic design, which allowed me to have an edge over other fresh graduates in securing a full-time job.

Reuben: Learning about communications and understanding audiences allowed me to craft messages and ideate for projects or marketing campaigns that are effective in driving conversions and sales. My Bachelor of Communication was advantageous in helping me realise that communication in a B2C company is essential to understand customer’s needs and to reduce wasting valuable time and resources.

Charlene: Although my current job is not entirely related to my degree, the skill sets that I gained from UON has definitely given me an advantage in my career.

As I majored in Journalism and Public Relations, I was constantly pushed to do things outside of my comfort zone. Rather than just being graded based on tests and essays, many modules required us to do presentations.

Furthermore, we were expected to work with real-life clients. We did everything expected of a media practitioner, from interviewing them and writing an article, to pitching proposals and allowing them to grade us.

These assignments taught me how to pitch my proposals to my clients and present to them confidently. These are skills that you won’t be able to learn just by doing tests and writing essays.

4. What advice do you have for future graduates?

Pimnara: It's okay if you don’t want to or can’t find a job directly related to the field that you’re studying now — the skills you learnt from university can be applied to other aspects as well.

Chia I: On top of school work, self-motivation and self-learning are the keys to success. If you take the initiative to learn beyond what’s taught in the classroom, you will be in a better position to seek and secure a job that is the most suitable for you.

Reuben: Graduation is not the end of learning. You need to pick up new skills or polish your existing ones outside of school in order to succeed.

Charlene: Always start and plan your job search early as you wouldn’t know how long it would take before you land yourself a job. The working world is very competitive these days. Don’t be afraid to seek jobs that are not directly related to your degree.

To conclude the knowledge gleaned from my ex-classmates, the Bachelor of Communication is a versatile degree — even if you don’t end up in the media industry, you can put your communication degree to good use.

Find out more about the degrees offered by UON at PSB Academy here.

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