Written by Susan Cilento, who is an Early Careers Recruiter for Adelaide at Accenture
University is a funny ol’ time. Everything feels so very important (I reckon because it is), and change can be hard-won. There are some valuable skills that come with this, like learning to work within (or flaunt) due process and take grand ideas seriously. There are also frustrations: impossible timetable clashes, regulations, relating to staff and students whose personality doesn’t click with yours.
These are all normal life (and business) problems. Your ability to solve them – bonus points for doing it with an easy smile – speaks volumes about your maturity. Plenty of ‘business’ skills come down to empathy for another person. Do you like it when an individual member of your group misses a deadline? Do you feel left out when you’re the last to know about an important decision? Extend others the same courtesies you want.
At Accenture, one of our core values is ‘Best People’, which is where my role as a recruiter comes in. I stand at the front-door, hold it open for you, and we have a chat about whether or not you’ve found the right place.
Really, don’t stress. Get the basics right: proof-reading, using simple language, including all and only relevant information on your CV (this is all stuff you can Google). Trust that we, the recruiters, will see you as a whole person. Don’t let one ‘no’ throw you off your game – take on feedback and try again.
Accenture are looking for graduates and others early in their career who are interested in bringing their best self to their workplace. This is as much about good attitude as anything you’ve learned in your course.
We have over 550 000 employees worldwide in 140 countries, and it’s only growing from here. This is the cool thing about Accenture, where we work with three-quarters of the Global Fortune 500. Rest assured, whatever industry/trend/global issue is next in the business world, we’ll be part of those solutions.
Apologies if I sound like an ad! I’m just a bit mind-boggled by the reach of the work we get to do. (Read more on our website. To start you off, a case study of our work with this skill-share company in Nairobi and our landing page for news on our Adelaide Hub).
Anyway, my tl;dr is the same as anyone else’s: do your best, keep your mind and options open.