7.3 Questions With Elizabeth Serbin

We’re back with our third Vogue-inspired installment of 7.3 Questions Answered By Your Favourite Accomplishers!

This week we had a chat with Elizabeth Serbin, who currently works as a graduate at Lendlease.

Elizabeth Serbin on her networking, the benefits of constructive feedback, and what it’s like working in a graduate role.

1. Who are you? 

My name is Elizabeth Serbin and I studied a Bachelor of Business. I majored in both finance and economics and I will be graduating in 2019. 

2. What made you decide to join the Accomplish Award?

After hearing good things about the Accomplish Award from friends I decided to sign up in 2018 as it sounded like a very interesting and unique program. I thought it would provide me with lots of information to help prepare me for life after UTS, and a great opportunity to learn things that you wouldn’t learn in a tutorial or lecture.  

3. While taking part in the Award, what was the benefit of meeting with real employers?

 Being able to meet with real employers was an eye opening experience that gave me so much insight. It provided a fantastic networking opportunity which allowed me to develop my professional communication skills. The expertise and knowledge you can gain from all the employers and careers staff was invaluable, and receiving the real world feedback was extremely helpful. 

4. Where are you now, career-wise?

I am currently a finance graduate at Lendlease, working in their head office at Barangaroo. I am in my first rotation with Lendlease Engineering.

Every day is different as I work across three finance departments. I’ve been able to learn so much in such a small amount of time and am gaining experience across finance; from reconciling accounts to analysing and forecasting. The exposure and change keeps me on my toes but it is very rewarding.  

5. How did you get that role?

In my final year I took part in Accomplish at the same time I was applying for graduate roles. After hours and hours of applications, online testing, and video interviews I secured an assessment centre and eventually the role with Lendlease.

I decided to apply for the program as it was very diverse and broad (which is something I wanted as I didn’t know which specific sector of finance I wanted to enter and wanted to gain experience first). The culture was great and at every step of the process I had an extremely positive experience.  

Accomplish taught me new skills and reinforced others that were highly beneficial for the graduate recruitment process. It also increased my confidence, as it acted almost as a practice round before the real thing. The tips and resources provided made a huge difference and was helpful in providing me an extra edge. Having real feedback from professionals gave a deeper insight into what employers look for and this really helped calm my nerves when it came to applying and entering a professional environment. 

6. How does the Accomplish Award benefit the students and employers who take part?

It allows you to develop a deeper insight and gets you to start thinking seriously about where you want to go. It helps to put your uni degree in perspective with the real world and really pushes and motivates you to get involved and gain more experiences (either volunteer or professional). 

It allows employers to meet and hear from students in other faculties that they wouldn’t usually get to meet.

7. What would you say to students who were hesitant to apply?

Take that first step and push yourself to apply. At first it may seem a bit scary but the more you put yourself outside of your comfort zone, the easier it becomes. Accomplish provides you with a range of experts that you would never have the opportunity to meet anywhere else. Just apply, you won’t regret it.

0.3. Why? (Interpret however you’d like!)

Why not? You never know who you could meet so take on all the opportunities and experiences you can whilst at uni. Your future self will thank you.