Meet Brenda, a double degree student who's figuring out her career direction with a few surprises along the way.
Team update: A lot has happened since this blog - all great things! We’re now in the United States and our new product launched in November 2021, helping teams in fast-growing organizations find and hire their best-fit junior and mid-level talent in Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Customer Success. Try it here for free. This means some of our articles before this date may have product shots that look a little different. That’s all from us, enjoy the blog.
Commune Digital is a leading digital communications agency that uses digital solutions to make a difference in healthcare. We sat down to chat with Brenda, whose Hatch role as a Business Coordinator has turned into a permanent position. Nice work, Brenda!
While you've been studying at university, have you known where you wanted to go with your degree?
Yes and no. I have an engineering and commerce degree, but I wasn't sure where I wanted to combine or go with my commerce degree. I planned to major in Information Systems, but I had no business acumen. I just wanted to see what was out there and how I could apply my engineering skills within more of a business environment.
What do you think are some of the engineering skills you use in your Business Coordinator role?
Because Commune Digital is a healthcare communications agency, what I know about scientific referencing and making sure the primary claims are matching up is good to know. And this was something I naturally had to do as part of my honours thesis.
I’m also able to problem solve in a methodical way to make sure there is an evidence-based solution using qualitative data.
Was there anything you were nervous about before starting your Hatch role?
Company culture is important to me, and in previous work experiences, I felt nervous about learning and not confident enough to ask questions. But I didn’t need to be, because that wasn’t the case at Commune at all.
What does a typical day look like in your role?
I work across around 7 different client accounts. Usually, I start my day by checking emails, looking at what projects I am working on and seeing where things are at on each client’s timeline.
Some days I am doing website and application reviews to test functionality. Other days, I do qualitative research like social listening around COVID-19 to see what the general sentiment is. And then I am always making sure projects are completed on time by checking in with the creative and data teams.
What parts of your role have you really enjoyed?
All the tasks the team have given me allow me to directly & meaningfully contribute to the project - it isn’t just random admin.
And has there been anything you’ve found through working that’s surprised you?
At uni, I really didn’t like coding. But I helped update content on a website, and I had to learn HTML, and I really enjoyed learning and applying it here. Now I am open to learning even more about other programming languages. It gave me a bit of perspective about my uni experience of it; was it just my mindset, or do I actually not like this?
Besides coding, have there been any other skills you’ve been able to build?
Learning how to communicate with different teams is so important for teamwork. When I speak with the creative team, I need a briefing document that covers things like the look and feel whereas when I talk to IT, they just want the dot points of what they need to do. Learning how to communicate in these different ways has been really important.
You mentioned before company culture was important to you; what do you value?
Company size and being in a smaller business makes it easier to get to know people. I’m not afraid to go up to the Director and ask “Hey, what is this?”.
The people I work with are important because they all contribute to how I learn, and I think its good to continually have a learning curve. My first 6 months at Commune were all about nailing the basics. Now, I am interacting more with the client and questioning the user experience and how we can make it better.
How do you think your Hatch role will help you navigate your career in the future?
I don’t have a huge range of exposure to different industries, but it has helped me pinpoint things I do and don’t like. I’m now thinking about more strategic positions, and I would never have delved into that area before I started at Commune.
Any advice for other students?
Doing a dual degree, I felt a little demotivated about exploring different industries. People would ask me “Why would you pursue something in a corporate or business environment when you have the technical skills to go into engineering?”. I would always say that I wanted to improve my business acumen, learn how finances work and how it all ties together. You have to give it a shot; if I didn’t try, I wouldn’t have learnt. So have more confidence to just apply.
