Graduate Profile - Behavioural Science

Behavioural Science graduate working as a Rehabilitation Consultant with CRS Australia.

Name: Craig Stubbings
Degree Awarded: Behavioural Science (Psychology, Sociology)
Position Gained: Rehabilitation Consultant
Organisation: CRS Australia
Commencement Date: 10 March 2003

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

My position involves case managing clients that have a medical disability, injury or illness and providing them with vocational rehabilitation, assisting them in gaining work that is appropriate for there situation. This may involve many different services, eg:

• Assessments such as, vocational, psychological, functional capacity, work-site.
• Treatment to get a client into a position to maintain work, may consist of physical treatment, physio, massage, gym, or mental treatment, counselling cognitive behavioural therapy, etc.
• Vocational counselling
• Job matching
• Formal training, TAFE etc.
• Job seeking skills increased, canvassing, resumes, application letters,
• Work experience through CRS Australia's Work Training scheme
• Post placement support/monitoring
• Assistance in job seeking

Have the skills you developed at university been an important part of your job? (Have you, or are you planning to undertake further study?)

I am planning to undertake further study either in psychology, Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology or Social Work, Graduate Diploma in Social Work. The skills I learnt at Uni, while useful are not all entirely relevant to the position. I had no formal counselling training until attending some short courses through CRS, and I had no case management skills. I did have a basic understanding of mental health and the ability to research different topics if need be. I also had good critical analysis skills, gained through Uni.

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 recommend using any outlet to gain some practical experience. For example the university employment centre (Careers and Employer Liaison Centre), Volunteering SA, anything. Do something as long as it is practical and related to the field you wish to work in. It balances out all the theory of Uni and gives much needed experience. Also, do not be afraid of job interviews, if you fail, get feed back, improve your "sales technique" and go out and try again. If you continue to fail seek advice from someone, eg, university careers centre.
Research on the employer that you will be doing the interview with is vital. This way you can talk about how and why you will be beneficial to the employer. Do not suck up to the employer but weave your added knowledge into your answers and it goes a long way, for example, employer specific language, clients, customers, core business, private or public, etc. My Aunty works for CRS in Sydney and I spent many hours talking to her, gaining information. Also, be prepared to do things that most people would not to gain a job, eg. I drive for 1 hr and 15 mins to and from work, a 2.5 hr round trip every day, but if I did not I wouldn’t be part of a national Commonwealth agency.

Many employers presenting employment information sessions have commented on the importance of students undertaking extra curricular activities during their time at university. Could you comment on this?

This is extremely important as mentioned above. I did not know about the Careers and Employer Liaison Centre until my last semester, you guys really need to have a higher profile!! I would have been doing placements the whole way through 2nd and 3rd year for sure if I knew. I think it should be compulsory to have practical experience. Without experience you will never retain the knowledge or know how to put it to use.

How did you go about finding graduate employment?

I used the university careers centre email facility (GRADJOBS) and also to critique my resume. I applied for a position at CRS in Mt Gambier but was declined, I gained feedback and then gained a position at Murray Bridge CRS within 3 weeks. I am now looking at transferring to the Noarlunga office, which is much closer to home. Use all the resources available, papers, graduate employment services, canvass employers, the more you do the more likely you will be employed.

Can you briefly describe the application process relevant to your position?

I had to apply using selection criteria (12 criteria), an application letter, a copy of my resume and an application form. This was then short-listed, I attended a panel interview of three, the Regional Manager and two Senior Rehabilitation Consultants. I was then notified of the outcome 2 weeks later. The whole process took 6 weeks. I used the CAR system for my application letter and selection criteria (Context, Action, Result)

What did you do to prepare for the interview? What questions were you asked?

I went over my application, thought of different scenarios to the selection criteria that I answered so that I could talk about different topics but still be relevant and not rehashing what I had written. I made sure that I stayed calm, dressed nicely, showered and all the usual process, it is amazing how many people don’t though! I was asked mainly behavioural questions, in this situation, what would you do...... and what skills are required to do this.... I also tried not to be too hesitant, but also to think about my answers before saying something so to be coherent. In your opinion, what factors enabled you to be successful in obtaining employment?
In short, my application, resume, presentation and confidence in the interview, researched information on CRS, the ability to talk about myself in the interview in a narrow way without wafting or sounding too confident. And most importantly....LUCK!!

Do you have any further helpful hints for graduates?

Yes, I believe that everyone before they go into a degree should have an idea of what they want to do at completion. If you don’t your wasting your time and probably won’t get good enough grades. I was lucky to get this position and if I didn’t then I would probably have had to do more study as degrees such as Behavioural Science do not qualify you for anything, and my grades weren’t the best. ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN!