What's your job about?

I am an ANZx graduate – which means I get to work with 3 different teams within a division of ANZ called ANZx during the 18-month graduate program. My current rotation is with the product management team which looks at the holistic view of all the products within ANZx. A ‘product’ in this context is a financial instrument that is packaged as a product for customers to consume – for example, a deposit account or a home loan. The team looks after the whole suite of product offerings from ANZx. This means that mine and the team’s work can vary day today, which makes it a very exciting and dynamic role. A large part of the role in product management includes engaging with different stakeholders including legal, product development, or finance. Most recently I have been performing an analysis on a deposits product by gathering business performance metrics for different features that make up the product. One of my favourite parts of the role is being involved with the product strategy, which can involve many different aspects like pricing and determining our target market for a specific product. During this part of the process, you get to engage in product brainstorming and ideation. If we do our job well, we give the engineers, developers and other numerous people involved, the ability to work innovatively to ultimately produce products that provide value for our customers.

What's your background?

A bit about me! A born and bred Sydney-sider I attended UTS studying a Bachelor of Biotechnology and a Bachelor of Business. I tried a lot of different things at uni, I interned at a fashion tech start-up and got to travel to Indonesia to work for a fintech start-up that empowered its non-banked customers with access to financial technology. I experienced college life in Texas during my exchange year, learnt how to make my own agar plate out of vegemite through a community-funded biohacking program, and of course, got to experience the world of online learning during my final year of university in 2020. I have always been drawn to these opportunities to learn especially areas with some technical contexts, which is why the ANZx grad program really intrigued me! It talked about the different aspects of tech that would be involved, something that I hadn’t really associated with a bank before. And of course, it also tapped into the business knowledge I had studied at uni, after learning about interest rate dynamics through my economics major. After being with the ANZx program for one year now I cannot say there has been a day where my curious mind has not learnt something new!

Could someone with a different background do your job?

100% Yes! I did not have the traditional background for going into the tech program! I would say if you love to learn new things and tend towards a curious mindset you would be the perfect fit for this program. There are many different people with vastly different backgrounds that come together each day to work towards the ANZx proposition. This also means you have an amazing network of people to learn from! The specific knowledge you’ll need can be taught as long as you have an open mind and a great attitude towards learning!

What's the coolest thing about your job?

By far the coolest thing about my job is to see your idea or concept come to fruition. When I get to work on an aspect of the product and it ends up in customers’ hands, there is so much joy in that experience.

What are the limitations of your job?

As a grad you should take initiative when you don’t understand something. You are not expected to know everything but are expected to take these opportunities to learn and develop the skills during your rotations within different teams. This will also provide valuable learnings for you in terms of what kind of work you enjoy doing and your preferred working style.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

1. Focus on what makes you unique during the job application process! What do you like to do in your spare time? How would your friends and family describe you? And how could that add value to a company? This is a great way to set you apart from other candidates and build confidence in yourself!
    
2. Seek out extracurricular opportunities that push you out of your comfort zone during your time at university! For me, these were the best experiences I have had from my time studying; one example is when I signed up for a 3D printing hackathon (not related to my degree) and had the opportunity to learn and use these amazing 3D printing machines all for free! There are so many resources available when you are a student, so make sure you take the time to utilize them!
    
3. Practice, practice, practice interviewing! Interviews are nerve-racking, but the best way to ensure success is to practice with another person. One of the best things I did during my time at university was mock interviews where you would practice answering common interview questions like “Tell me a bit about yourself?” with other students or staff. You’d be surprised by how much you not only learn about the person you practice interviewing with but about yourself.