PPA students attend SMIPA Road Show

January 2012

Monash College's own Yalu Zhou and Julie Aarons present to hopeful students Written by Julie Nunn, Operations Manager, PPA

During the 44 week Professional Year program, PPA students attend industry events for their specialisation – ICT or Accounting. As part of this program, PPA organises the SMIPA Road Show twice a year.

On 12 December, 90 SMIPA students attended the event held at the CPA Australia Head Office in Southbank. It was a three hour event and the students received presentations from accounting professionals - Renata Bernard (ICAA), Andrew Best (IPA) and Diana McGowen (CPAA). Emma Probert, an ex-placement consultant at PPA who is currently working for PricewaterhouseCoopers, returned to share her experiences from a graduate's perspective and identified key considerations for graduates when applying for jobs.

Monash College Finance staff, Julie Aarons and Yalu Zhou, also presented on their SMIPA experience. In April 2010, Yalu completed a SMIPA internship with the finance team at Monash College. Julie spoke about her work experience prior to becoming Finance Manager and also about what stood out for her when Yalu did her internship which resulted in contracting her into the team. Yalu took the students through her experiences and linked her studies and internship experience to playing a critical part in her being where she is today.

In some respect, the SMIPA Road Show simply reinforces what is taught in the Professional Year classroom. The more we can incorporate real life examples into the program, the more credible and powerful our message becomes and the greater the chance we have of reaching our students. It makes sense to have past students tell their story of how the program played a part in their job success,  or have job seeking advice delivered by employers and recruiters. This advice demonstrates to students that by successfully completing the Professional Year program and internship, their chances of gaining work is significantly increased.

Since the event... A placement consultant received a phone call from a student saying that he now has a clearer picture of what is expected of him from the host company's perspective. He has turned a new leaf and is now punctual and proactive in the workplace and the feedback from his supervisor is more positive as well!