Samantha Doran graduated from the UNE Business School in 2012 with a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing and Management.

As a local to Armidale, Samantha studied most of her degree on campus. She fondly remembers the relaxed atmosphere at the UNE Business School, as well as the relatively small classes. The small class size made it easier for her to approach lecturers, especially when she needed assistance.

She completed her final year at the UNE Business School through online study. Like several of our current students, Samantha was able to balance a job and full-time study, as she found the flexibility of studying online worked well within her already tight schedule.

Samantha now works as a Communications and Marketing Coordinator for the Armidale Regional Council (ARC). Here no two days are the same for her. Samantha does an array of internal communications work where she focuses on writing up projects, staff newsletters and keeping noticeboards updated. She also manages the council’s social media accounts and does the ARC’s web editing. A lot of the councils print advertisements you’ve seen around town, she has coordinated. She is actively involved in events and occasionally takes a few snaps. Samantha has recently worked on projects involving graphic design. This aspect of her job is an opportunity for her to tap into her creative flair.

The Bachelor of Business offers a good foundation for entering the workforce, but Samantha wants students to know that there is no better way to learn than on the job. This is why her advice to current students is to intern as much as you can and aim to gain practical experience. She says, ‘…this is particularly important for when you graduate. Employers want experience and you’ll have it up your sleeve’. Students, especially in their final year of study, should be actively approaching employers to secure an internship. 

As the workforce is becoming more streamlined, it is necessary for even university graduates to up skill and retrain. Samantha explains digital technologies have changed significantly in a short amount of time, and a lot of the content she studied needs to be adapted to suit her current workplace . It brings to light that there is no formal education which will be remain relevant throughout the course of your career. To aid the dynamic changes in workplaces, UBS offers short courses alongside the mainstream degrees. These short courses are an opportunity to work on your own professional development. The course provides all the resources of postgraduate study for the cost of a typical university unit. The assessment tasks are designed around your daily work challenges and will become part of the toolkit you take away from this experience. To read more about these course or to enrol follow this link: https://www.une.edu.au/about-une/faculty-of-science-agriculture-business-and-law/unebs/short-courses