Graduate Profile - BSocPl (Hons), BSW, PhD

Name: Keith Miller
Position Gained: Project Officer with National Suicide Prevention Strategy
Organization: 3 Divisions of General Practice
Commencement Date: 6 September 2004

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

It will involve working with General Practitioners and Health professionals, developing a more consistent response when confronted with people presenting with suicidal ideation and self-harm.

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

The Careers and Employer Liaison Centre (CELC) provides an excellent service. Continue to apply until you are accepted for a position or until the right option comes up. I applied for several positions, until I was finally accepted for this, which fits very well with my studies.

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 dependent on the student. Some are able to cope with extra involvement and some are not. It also may or may not have much influence on whether you are offered the job for which you apply. That is more dependent on other applicants. I was involved in committees, etc, and found this helped me.

How did you go about finding graduate employment?

Almost solely through receiving e-mails from the CELC, and then applying for the ones I felt were appropriate.

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

Filling out an application, and responding to each of the Expected and Desirable Criteria. Once offered an interview, I needed to respond to questions put by the panel. Unfortunately, these were not always what I expected. So sometimes I felt put on the spot.

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

I read around the area as best I could, trying to interpret from the application what the job entailed. Sometimes this was not obvious. I also familiarised myself again on what I had written on my application.

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

The breadth of knowledge I had in the field in which I was employed.

They admitted afterwards that they were uncertain as they felt I was too academic and may not be able to put the knowledge in to action on the ground. I felt confident I could. But, from their point of view, it was a risk. I need now to assure them that I can fulfil their expectations.