Yvette's journey since UWA
It was 2010, my husband and I left Hong Kong and relocated to Perth for a better work-life balance. After working in accounting firms for 6 years as a tax specialist, I was keen to have a career change. The MBA programme with UWA helped me with that.
After graduation from UWA, I joined Landgate a state government agency as a pricing consultant for 3 years, then worked in various business areas in Landgate as a financial analyst, commercial consultant and project manager before I moved to my current position as a Senior Contract Manager.
How did you choose your specialisation?
Before I started the master degree in UWA, I was a senior tax consultant specialising in transfer pricing in Deloitte. After graduating from the MBA, the first job I applied was a Pricing Consultant in Landgate, which was quite relevant but slightly different from my previous job. I think it was previous the work experience that contributed to the success in securing my first job.
Work-life balance is a key consideration when I applied for the job in Landgate as my first child was only 2 years old by then. Working in the public sector provided stability and flexibility to my young family. Also starting a job that I’m familiar with seemed to be much easier to gain confidence in a different cultural setting.
What was your interview process like?
The interview was quite straight forward. I first applied online and got shortlisted. A few days later I received a call from a recruitment agent asking me to the interview. I was interviewed by a panel of four people, including the potential manager, HR representative, a senior manager from other business area and an observer.
I can’t really recall the questions as it was 7 years ago. I think the questions were mainly related to the selection criteria listed on the job ads, and I was asked to demonstrate the criteria by providing specific examples. I was lucky as most of the interview questions can be PREPARED!
Suppose a student was considering your career. What would you advise them to study?
What does your employer do?
Landgate is WA’s only authoritative land and property information, provider. It’s the guardian of property ownership in WA and one of the oldest government agencies.
What are your areas of responsibility?
My current role is Senior Contract Manager. I manage external contractors, consultants and suppliers with regard to service delivery, quality of service and compliance to policies and procedures. I also develop mechanisms to monitor and review the performance of various contractual relationship outcomes. I contribute to project planning with resourcing, scheduling and capacity information.
Can you describe a typical workday?
Well, I’ll first tell you the most interesting aspect of my work. My typical workday starts at 9 am and finishes at 5 pm. The second most interesting aspect of work is having coffee with people at work. Really, beyond attending meetings and writing reports, one of the most important tasks to advance your career is building relationships and exploring opportunities. This is how I got to work in different business areas. From a tax specialist to a product pricing consultant, then to an analyst in special projects and now a senior contract manager – I gained valuable experience through talk.
The last thing I worked on was involved in legal and financial due diligence for a potential equity investment in a start-up fintech company.
What sort of person succeeds in your career?
Involved in state government priority project to secure a 40-year contract worth $1.4billion.
If you could share one piece of advice with an international student at UWA, what would it be?
A relationship takes time. Build a relationship before you need them.