Leo is a final year CBE student pursuing a Bachelor of Finance, Economics and Statistics (Honours). He is also a recipient of the Research School of Finance and Actuarial Studies honours scholarship. During his Honours’ year, Leo’s research focuses on the area of stochastic modelling in asset pricing models. He is currently working within the Governance, Risk and Compliance team at PwC Australia, and will be commencing an internship with the External Budget and Revenue Branch of the Department of Home Affairs in November 2020.
Outside of work and study, he loves playing music with his friends and has formed a string quartet and a guitar group.
How did you find out about the Department of Home Affairs opportunity, and what was the interview process like?
I found this opportunity on the ANU CareerHub. It was posted as an exclusive opportunity for CBE students. Upon reviewing the job description, I thought it seemed like a great potential fit for me as it aligned with my interest in gaining work experience in the Australian Government. The interview followed a standard process including an application, phone screening, in person interviews, reference check, and security clearance checks. Throughout the process, I found that it was important to know about Australian values and the goals of Department of Home Affairs.
What valuable lessons have you learned at CBE about obtaining professional opportunities?
Getting an internship, especially the first one, is not an easy task and there are lessons that you can learn from every application. I found that getting an internship requires you to spend an enormous amount of time researching the firm, preparing for interviews and never giving up when you get rejections. Research is about knowing everything you can about the values, culture and recent business activities of the firm. Preparing for interviews require you to learn about your skills when answering behavioural questions using the STAR method and dealing with unexpected questions. Never give up when you get a rejection after you have tried your best since there are still plenty of opportunities out there for you to explore. The CBE Careers and Student Employability team’s CV and interview workshops are great and resourceful place to start working on new skills.