Graduate Profile: Psychology

Name: Jasmin Parnell
Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
Position Gained: Customer Service Officer
Organisation: Child Support Agency
Commencement Date: 15/01/2007

Could you give us a description of what your position involves?

My position involves supporting parents who have separated with managing their child support cases. This is primarily done over the phone. I am currently in the process of completing a 2 month training course. This includes training in the computer system used by the agency, learning the critical elements of the Child Support legislation and other relevant legislation, as well as learning how to read legislation. It also involves training in phone skills and making a gradual transition to work in my allocated team.

This position has a lot to do with collecting and distributing money. Generally the customers I work with are going through tough times and can be quite upset and emotional. I need to be able to follow my legal responsibilities, while attempting to provide the best service and outcome for parents.

With your experiences in securing employment what advice would you give to students who are in their first, second, and final year of study?

• I would recommend first year students go to the careers centre and talk to staff about what work and extracurricular experience would be beneficial to get a graduate position in the field they are interested in. I would also suggest students attend workshops held by the careers centre.

• In their second year I would recommend students take part in a range of work experience (voluntary and/or paid) that will allow them to gain the skills and competencies that graduate positions are likely to ask for. I would also recommend they keep in regular contact with the careers centre. If they have the time I would suggest they start practising filling out application forms and answering behavioural questions.

• In their final year I would recommend students to start filling out applications and attending recruitment fairs as early as possible. I would also recommend that students continue to keep in regular contact with the careers centre and attend the variety of workshops offered as these are invaluable resources.

How did you go about finding graduate employment?

I applied for a variety of graduate recruitment positions as well as positions advertised in the paper and emailed to me at my university email through the Careers and Employer Liaison Centres GRADJOBS emails.

Can you briefly describe the application process relevant to your position? What interview questions were you asked?

My position involved a very intense process, but it was a great challenge.

I was first required to demonstrate skills and competencies relevant to my position by filling out an application form -this included skills in customer service, the ability to interpret legislation, computer literacy and basic mathematical skills. I also provided 3 referees (no resume was required).

I then took part in a 45 minute behavioural phone interview. The questions included providing an example of:

• a time I had to deal with an angry customer,
• a time when I had to use my initiative to meet conflicting deadlines,
• why this job interested me, and
• an example of when I had excellent feedback from a customer.

I then attended two assessment centres- which involved an intray exercise, a basic maths test, a role play, a computer test, a second behavioural interview which was very similar to the one conducted over the phone, and team exercise.

There are a few hints I'd like to give for assessment centres:

1. Be yourself.
2. Be friendly and make the effort to get know the other applicants when you have spare time.
3. Don't complain, there was definitely a "bug" in my group, and nobody who complained or was rude got the job, we were definitely assessed on our attitudes and how we interacted with others.
4. Get a list of possible interview questions as early as you can, as you get examples through study and work experience write down answers to these. This way when you need to fill out applications and attend interviews most of the work is done. If you start this early in your degree, by the time you finish you will have gained an invaluable skill.

In your opinion, what factors enabled you to be successful in obtaining employment?

1. I obtained an invaluable foundation of skills at university and during my paid and voluntary work experience over the years, looking back what was most important here is that I had a balance of both academic and practical skills. Your degree at university alone is not enough to get a job unless your very luck.
2. Practice and research, the careers centre is an invaluable resource to point you in the right direction.

Do you have any further helpful hints for graduates?

Start early!!!! I had a retail job throughout university and my course included work experience so I was lucky. However it wasn't until I started my Honours year that I actually spoke to the people at the careers centre and I had a lot of extra catching up to do. I had to learn the skills necessary to fill out applications and be successful with interviews and it would have been a lot easier for me if I had started this 3 years earlier.