The internship

Earlier this year I signed up with Career Trackers, an amazing program that mentors and helps Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students get an internship in their area of interest and present opportunities. Author: Ada

I am studying a Bachelor of Arts in Media, my end goal is working in the film industry, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get an internship in a film company in SA because most places like that don’t pay interns, (oh yeah and through this program you can get paid through your internship!!) 

But since I’m a arts/media student and have done marketing and courses in social media and studied other areas, Career Trackers have given me a great opportunity to work for Scentre Group who basically run the Westfield centres all around Australia! 

Before anything, Career Trackers prepared me and other participants with all the tools we could ever need. Mentoring in interview preparation, working in teams workshops and all sorts of different things to prepare us which was really helpful. And we weren’t just given the internship, we had to go through the whole interview process. I had one interview over zoom with a recruitment manager interstate and another in person with my now manager. Both were terrifying… I have to say the zoom was easier than in person. I was definitely nervous. But great news, they liked me! And a few months later, I started my internship at Westfield Marion. 

It started off with meeting my new manager and a couple of others in the team at a cafe and had a coffee, to get to know me and me them, a very comfortable beginning which I was grateful for. We took a tour of the centre, which I already knew most of because it’s my local. And then we went up to the office, where I met all the other staff and others in the team I would be working close with who were so nice! The whole environment was so much more chill than I expected and everyone was so welcoming. I expected strict and corporate, like you do, but it felt very comfortable. My official role is a BXA, a Brand Experience Assistant. I’ve been helping the BXE’s, Brand Experience Executives with all these projects. And it hasn’t been just internship work, like stapling or anything, it’s been actual work. They’ve given me so much independence and trusted me with things, that of course they look over after to see if I’ve done it right or have missed anything, but it’s helped me learn so much. I’ve helped out with events, and social media and marketing on Instagram and Facebook which are all things to draw people into the centre to check out the retailers that reside there and become a member of Westfield to receive benefits.

There’s so much that goes into that huge store, it’s so cool! And I’ve always loved behind the scenes stuff so knowing all of this and learning about new programs and the things that draw people in is so interesting, and such a great experience. Something that’s great about this internship is that Career Trackers get you to do it during the winter holidays so it doesn’t interfere with uni, AND you can go back and do it in the summer holidays and get paid AND IT MAY PRESENT YOU WITH AN ACTUAL JOB! After your internship, you get to become an alumni at Career Trackers pretty much forever and have that support and sense of community and go to all the events which is super amazing!

I hadn’t heard of it until this year and I really encourage all Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander students to consider this amazing opportunity! It’s so beneficial to develop your skills and professionalism and such a great way to start your career! 

I would like to acknowledge the land as the traditional land of the Kaurna people and pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging.