National Marketing Manager for OST Stainless and Fagersta, Courtney, tells us what the grad program was like for her and tips for getting the most out of it.

I started on the graduate program in January 2008 as the National Marketing Officer for Steel and Tube before moving to a business process improvement role based in Brisbane which is where I’ve been located ever since. I am from Brisbane originally, so moving to Sydney for the first rotation was an exciting opportunity. OneSteel made it incredibly easy to relocate, and the fact that I was willing to move meant I had a greater variety of options for my first rotation.

At the end of my graduate program, an opportunity came up for a National Marketing Manager across OneSteel’s Stainless division and I’ve been in this role since January 2010.

During the grad program, I never felt disadvantaged because of my age, or the fact that I was a recent graduate, and I had a lot of visibility with people across the business. I had real roles that gave me a good grounding for the work I’m doing now. I’m not sure I would be as far in my career if it hadn’t been for the experience I gained on the graduate program.

The fact the rotations lasted a year allowed me to get a good insight into the totality of each role. During the program, I was able to manage complete projects end-to-end and have a real impact on business processes and outcomes, as my roles had real responsibility and accountability.

To anyone who’s thinking about how to succeed during the grad program, I’d say be open to rotating as it’s best to do that early in your career. Rotations are a great way to not only learn about other locations, but also other divisions. It can seem hard at the time, but the pay offs will come later. Also, be proactive. The program is structured to give you access to as many opportunities and introductions as possible, make the most of them. I took every opportunity to build good networks and that’s really helped me in my current role.

The best advice I can give is keep an open mind. A large company is more far reaching and complex than you would be able to imagine. It means that roles or career paths exist that you would never be able to learn about at university as options. An open mind will allow you to make the most of these opportunities and experience gained in any area is never wasted within a large company.

Find out more about OneSteel's graduate program HERE!