Telstra

The team was comprised of approximately ten people for the majority of my time working there. Of these, approximately half were either current or previous UTS scholarship recipients. This common starting point made adjusting to a new environment and team significantly easier and more comfortable a process for me, with other teammates having previously gone through the same process and assisting me in various ways in this transitionary period.

The past UTS scholarship recipients were the ones who conducted my training.

One part of my degree is the Diploma in Information Technology Professional Practice, which requires full-time placement for a period of 9-12 months. As the Telstra Certitude Enterprise Scholarship, which I received, provided a means to fulfil this, I saw this as an opportunity I should not miss. Additionally, the opportunity to gain industry experience while working in a role at Telstra, the biggest telecommunications company in Australia, was what I saw to be an invaluable chance and opportunity for me.

Being one of three recipients of a scholarship that has been running annually at UTS for multiple years, remains as one of my proudest and most notable achievements during university.

The first stage in the application process was completing the application form, which specified a required minimum WAM of 65+ until that point, alongside a guarantee that this minimum mark would be maintained for the duration of the scholarship and that contained questions about personal motivations, attitude and interest. After being reviewed by Telstra's hiring staff, I was shortlisted for a virtual interview, which contained situational response and behavioural questions, the interviewer provided a review and comments to the UTS scholarship staff board, for a final review. Following this, an offer was provided.

I actively followed up with my interviewer through phone calls and messages in the period between the interview being completed and the offer being made, which was a potential factor in having successfully received this offer, as it was demonstrative of my drive and commitment.

This role was as a business support to enterprises. Companies that used Telstra services would make enquiries on their company's behalf, by raising tickets for support on salesforce, which would then be actioned by our team. These requests for support, included but were not limited to: generating reports of various Telstra service usage, fund transfers, new connections, modifications, and cancellations of Telstra services; and completing intermediary submissions for business wideband feasibility assessments of different connection types and bandwidths, based on their respective requirements. It was also my role to prepare requests made for other Telstra teams, to assist them in fulfilling customer requests that were ultimately out of the scope of our team.

The team was extremely productive in fulfilling our role, that for the majority of the year, there were usually less than 10 unpicked salesforce case requests, which was a significant improvement from previous years that often saw much higher numbers of unpicked requests.

This one year full-time placement was a requirement to complete the Diploma in Information Technology Professional Practice aspect of my degree, which required me to work full-time for a period of 9-12 months in an internship role. Additionally, this particular internship was completed through a scholarship program I was successful in achieving, namely the Telstra Certitude Enterprise Scholarship.

I was one of three students to have received this scholarship in 2023, and one of approximately 80 students within the faculties of Engineering and IT at UTS, to receive a scholarship in 2023. of the approximately 10,000+ students in this faculty, I placed in the top 1% of students at UTS this year.