At Swinburne, real industry experience is guaranteed in all bachelor degrees ... But what does that actually mean?

How do you get a placement, internship or apprenticeship? What’s an industry project? Does ‘industry experience’ really get you a job? 

Journalism student host Ada is on the case, getting you the inside scoop on industry experience at Swinburne.

Episode 1: Xian’s carpentry apprenticeship – proving yourself and embracing chaos

Want to know how to find an apprenticeship employer? After sending dozens of personalised résumés (and getting ghosted) Xian finally landed a commercial construction apprenticeship. In this episode of Career Connection, Xian shares tips on securing an apprenticeship, proving your worth on-site and turning your differences into an asset.


Listen now on:  Spotify   
 

Links from today’s episode:

 
 
Transcript
Title:  Career Connection
Creator: Swinburne University of Technology
Year: 2026

[Intro music up]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:23:10

ADA:

Career Connection is made on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus is located. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. 

XIAN:

My apprenticeship is definitely giving me the confidence to take up space. There's definitely space for women in construction. There's definitely space for women on site.
 

00:00:23:12 - 00:00:36:20

XIAN:

It is a bit scary to claim that space. But you can you can be in construction if you want to be.
 

00:00:36:22 - 00:01:00:00

ADA:

Welcome to this episode of Career Connection. I'm Ada Konstantine, your host and a journalism student at Swinburne. At Swinburne, bachelor's degrees have guaranteed industry experience, and vocational courses have guaranteed industry immersion. But what does that actually look like? Today I'm here with Xian and we're going to be talking about her apprenticeship -- her experiences, what's been unexpected, and how it's connected to her career.
 

00:01:00:02 - 00:01:29:09

ADA:

Hi Xian, how are we? 

XIAN:

Good, thank you. Thanks for having me. 

ADA:

Of course. Could you tell me about where you did your apprenticeship, what year you're in, and what you're studying? 

XIAN:

I'm currently at Swinburne Croydon campus, and I'm in my first year of the Certificate III in Carpentry. 

ADA:

Fantastic. If you could tell me, for example, if you were talking about your placement to a friend, could you tell me in one sentence how you would describe it?
 

00:01:29:11 - 00:01:51:05

XIAN:

Organised chaos.

ADA:

Could you tell me a bit about what the day to day of that organized chaos is like? 

XIAN:

Yep. There is no typical day in construction, I want to say, I work for a company that does commercial construction. So that's a lot of shop fitting, and also a little bit of joinery and, yeah, that's very different. Every single day you're doing something completely different. 

ADA:

And could you talk me through the process of how you found your apprenticeship? Did Swinburne help you source it? Did you source it yourself? 

XIAN:

So I did do the pre-apprenticeship at Swinburne as well. That which is a Certificate II in Carpentry. And they did have a, I think it's called the Vocational Placements Program, where they try to help you find employers.
 

00:02:21:06 - 00:02:48:07

XIAN:

So with an apprenticeship you have to find someone who is willing to take you on, and then they pay for your TAFE education. And that was a real challenge, going in as a mature age, woman apprentice. I'm not sure if this is the case for most mature age apprentices, that it's harder to find an employer because we start on a higher rate than, say, someone who's fresh out of high school.
 

00:02:48:09 - 00:03:22:16

XIAN:

So you've got to convince them that you're worth the extra money. I think I sent out 40 to 50 resumes with each with, individual, personalised cover letters for each company. I didn't hear a single word back from anybody. I didn't even get rejected. 

ADA:

So for people who are going through that application process and they're having to go through so many and stuff.
 

00:03:22:18 - 00:03:54:05

ADA:

Is there any advice you would give for them to keep up their hope? 

XIAN:

You've really got to put yourself out there. I find that a lot of the companies and builders that you are applying to prefer phone calls over paper applications, and I'm terrible on the phone. Like, who even does phone calls anymore? But yes, definitely work on selling yourself over the phone.
 

00:03:54:09 - 00:04:20:01

ADA:

Could you talk me through the main difference between studying carpentry and actually being in your apprenticeship? Like, what are the main differences you found? 

XIAN:

I found that, at TAFE, when you're at school, the learning is sort of spoon fed to you. Regardless of whether or not you want to learn, the teacher has to make you get through the curriculum.
 

00:04:20:06 - 00:04:47:07

XIAN:

Right? But on site, I feel like you can really take your learning into your own hands, and you sort of have to, because it's very easy to be relegated to the broom for the first year of your apprenticeship. If you're not proactively showing that you're capable of so much more than sweeping the floors. 

ADA:

What are some of the ways you were proactive in showing your enthusiasm to your supervisors?
 

00:04:47:09 - 00:05:10:13

XIAN:

So when I was put in charge of a broom, I made sure that the site was spotless, and I tried to do that as quickly as possible so that I can then go up to my supervisor like, hey, I don't think I can clean anymore. Like, there is nothing else to clean. What else can I do?
 

00:05:10:13 - 00:05:28:03

XIAN:

And they can't put you back on the broom, because the site is spotless. So, they have to give you other work. And so, you end up learning.

ADA:

So it really is an eye for detail, even in the little things and caring about the little things that gets you far.
 

00:05:28:05 - 00:06:04:24

ADA:

And you've spoken a little bit about how you're a woman in trades and you've spoken about how you might feel a bit different to what some people would typically associate with a trades student. Can you tell me a bit about what that's been like? 

XIAN:

So, I'm also quite short for a woman, and, it was hard for me to do a lot of overhead lifting, which tends to be everything because, again, I'm short. There's ways around it.
 

00:06:05:01 - 00:06:37:00

XIAN:

And usually what I find is that, a way that works for me is actually safer and less strenuous for them. So they're happy to do it the way that I need it to be done for me to do it, if that makes sense. For example, one time we were installing some heavy overhead cabinetry and usually, someone would just be lifting it while the other person screws it in.
 

00:06:37:02 - 00:07:00:07

XIAN:

But because I can't lift it, I just use clamps to clamp it in place. And so no one had to actually be under there to hold it up. And, that worked well, and they implemented it and they're like, why don't we do this from now on?
 

00:07:00:09 - 00:07:22:24

ADA:

That's wonderful. How are you feeling about your future and the way that your apprenticeship has impacted you so far?

XIAN:

My apprenticeship has definitely giving me the confidence to take up space. There's definitely space for women in construction. There's definitely space for women on site. It is a bit scary to claim that space. But you can you can be in construction if you want to be.
 

00:07:23:01 - 00:07:34:24

ADA:

And from the sounds of it as well, it's been incredibly satisfying to take that space.

XIAN:

Yes, it’s what I always wanted to do.
 

00:07:35:01 - 00:08:04:06

ADA:

That's really awesome to hear. Have you got any personal ambitions or dreams that you've want to pursue using your experiences?

XIAN:

I've always had always working as a hobby, but I never considered carpentry as a viable career option. And what really pushed me in that direction was buying my own home, which needed a lot of renovations, and I didn't have the funds for it, and I wanted to do it myself.
 

00:08:04:12 - 00:08:37:08

XIAN:

So it sort of went hand in hand that I pick up more carpentry skills. And it just so happened that there was a break in my career. So I went to do the pre-apprenticeship, found that I was totally capable and so started looking for the apprenticeship and finally found my employer. And so now, I can see the way that professionals do the renovations.
 

00:08:37:08 - 00:08:51:10

XIAN:

And I hope that, you know, whatever crazy ideas that I have for my own home I can carry out and do to a great professional standard.

00:08:51:12 - 00:09:18:16

ADA:

That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your journey so far and your experiences. The thing that I want to close with is if another student were to take on the same opportunities you what advice would you give someone? 

XIAN:

It is going to be hard finding an employer. They're not going to tell you why they didn't pick you.
 

00:09:18:18 - 00:09:42:22

XIAN:

Again, I got ghosted in my process for looking for an employer to take me on as an apprentice. And it can be really, really disheartening. But if you really want to do it,

there are other ways to get into the industry. In that year where I was looking for an employer, I was actually just working as casual labourer.
 

00:09:42:24 - 00:10:08:20

XIAN:

So I was already on construction sites, doing the grunt work, and hopefully someone on site can see that you are capable and, you know, worth employing despite, you know, the preconceived notions of being a woman in trades and whether or not you can or can't do the job.
 

00:10:08:22 - 00:10:20:17

XIAN:

Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for listening to Career Connection. You can find other episodes of Career Connection on your favourite audio apps or at swinburne.edu.au/podcasts.

[Music up]

[END OF TRANSCRIPT]

Episode 2: MJ’s software engineering project – building apps and backing yourself

What are industry projects – and how do they help you get a job? International student MJ worked in a team to build an app from scratch during her final-year software engineering project. In this episode of Career Connection, MJ breaks down what a year-long industry project is really like, and how it’s made her career-ready.


Listen now on:  Spotify  
 

Links from today’s episode:

 
Transcript
Title: Career Connection 
Episode 2: MJ’s software engineering project – building apps and backing yourself 

Creator: Carolyn Huane

Year: 2026

[Intro music up]

ADA: Career Connection is made on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, the Traditional Owners of the land on which Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus is located. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. 

MJ: Creating a whole new app was really different from just doing assignments.

We learned and then we executed immediately, so sometimes it crashed, and we didn’t know how to fix it. At the end of the day, when we got the project, it was all worth it. 

ADA: Welcome to this episode of Career Connection. I’m Ada Konstantine, a Journalism student at Swinburne, and your host. At Swinburne, real industry experience is guaranteed in all bachelor degrees. But what does that actually look like? Today I’m here with MJ, and we’ll be going through her software engineering industry project at CAPEX. Hi MJ, how are we? 

MJ: Hello Ada, it’s nice to meet you.

ADA: It’s nice to meet you too! Can you tell me what you’re studying, what year you’re in, and the name of your industry project?

MJ: Sure. So, I just graduated from my bachelor degree and immediately came back to Swinburne again with my master’s by research degree. So, I’m currently doing my master’s by research, and my industry project was called BeSide. So, it was an app, it’s still going on, so it is an app. It’s a mobile app, and it’s like a travel buddy kind of a thing. If you want someone to be at your side while you’re travelling, or walking, this is definitely the thing you need. So, kind of your travel buddy, as I said.

ADA: Wonderful. The way this industry project came about was through CAPEX or the Capstone Project Expo, Could you tell me a bit about what that's all about? What's it been like?

MJ: So basically, this whole capstone project is all about your final year project. So, you work with a team, like a group of 5 or 6 random students from different backgrounds and we all become a group or a team and work on a same project for a year. And then, after that year, we complete the whole project and showcase that at CAPEX. At CAPEX, we have like so many, like, big industry people or like education people, peers and stuff like that. Really honourable persons that are coming there. And we have like huge guests coming there as well to see our project, you might get a direct connection with them to get something, like a job or something, like that immediately. I got some cards, contacts when I was like promoting or like showcasing my project from, like really big companies.

ADA : That's awesome. And the really exciting thing about your project as well is that you actually won a couple prizes of CAPEX. Could you speak to that a little bit?

MJ: Well, it was unexpected. We worked really hard. We were targeting to have like a great, picture out of it, but then we never thought, like, we'll get two prestigious awards out of it.

So, it was really great. One, was Best Project in our department, and the second one was People's Choice Awards. So, all the guests we had in the showcase, they could vote for our project, and everyone, it was around, like, probably thousands of people were there, and eight hundred or so projects were there as well in total. Then, we got the best, People's Choice award.

ADA: Congratulations. Well-deserved. I'm sure.

MJ: So, that’s of course, a really great experience and, very new to me.

ADA: Could you talk me through an unexpected challenge, or perk that you found while you were working on the project?

MJ: Oh, there was so many. Because it's an app, and also, like, we all were software engineering students, we had to build, the whole app from scratch. There were a lot of perspectives where we haven't really worked before, because creating a whole new app was really different from just doing assignments or like writing few codes and just completing the assignments for other units. So, it was totally different. We learned, and then we executed immediately. So, sometimes it crashed and we didn't know how to fix it. So, we spent like a whole night back-to-back sometimes, especially before CAPEX. We were like spending our whole night at the LateLab. As we have the LateLab, we can stay there for the whole night. So, the whole group was there. We were fixing, we’re building, we’re executing and like, this was going back and forth all the time and a few people almost died.

ADA: I can imagine!

MJ: Like, Oh my God, it has to get fixed or we’re just done. At the end of the day, when we got the project, it was all worth it. But yeah, there was a lot. Also, handling the whole team is really tough as well, when you have like different commitments and different people coming from different places. So, it was really hard to be in a team and work together.

ADA: It’s all a bit like a Jenga tower, isn't it? Because you've got to pull out different pieces and put them back on top and balance it all. But you managed to get it, and it looks great.

MJ: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we all did it together. 

ADA: Fantastic. Yeah. Was there anything from your course that was unexpectedly, like, more useful than you thought it would be during the project?

MJ: Yeah, dealing with the client. You can deal with your teammates, your professor and stuff like that, right? But, you can’t never do that, without going into a workplace or without doing any business. So, doing a project with a client in the industry, really helped me to learn how to deal with a client like, professionally. And sometimes, you know, because client has different perspective, you have different perspective, the whole team has a different perspective. So, combining everything together and then dealing with the client was really something huge and different. And doing that, professionally as well, because sometimes, clients will be like wrong, right. But yeah, you can’t really say ‘hey, you’re wrong’.

ADA: Yeah, you have to work with them and be gentle and be like ‘Hey, yeah, I think that this solution would work better. 

MJ: Yeah, exactly. 

ADA: And learning how to communicate in that way is, is so useful. Also I'd say, in so many fields as well, not just in engineering.

MJ: Learning that before jumping into a workplace was really, really great, and I would say this will help me a lot in the future.

ADA: How has the experience prepped you for your career, you think?

MJ: Definitely in a really positive way, because as I mentioned, I never thought about dealing with clients, and then, dealing with a whole team with different perspectives, and then communication. That communication skill really helped me, and then also leadership. So, all these kinds of things and how you do a project with a whole team, and present that and then how you manage the whole thing. Like, when we like mistakenly did something and the app crashed and that we had to fix it. So, stuff like that, really, was unexpected. During this whole journey, I learned from step by step how things work in real industry as well, because these are the things you actually do at a workplace. Like you get a project handed over to you, and you have to figure out how you want to do it, right? Then you have to present that to your boss, or to your client, and then you have your whole team there, to work with you. So, this whole thing, before even jumping to the workplace, I got to experience that during my whole last year project. It was really outstanding. and this will actually help me to going because I know how workplaces work right now, with this experience. So I won't be like, ‘Oh my God, what's happening here? I don't know, I just want to go home’, You know what I mean? On our first day at work in future.

ADA: How did doing the project help inform what you wanted to do after you graduated? You mentioned earlier you were doing a master's by research. Was this something that came about partially because of the project? Or is this something you're pursuing separately?

MJ: Well, research was kind of a thing, that was again, never in my list, honestly.

But then yeah. while doing these kinds of projects, I have done some other projects with my other supervisors as well. So, while doing these whole things, I felt like, studying software, and doing this project, can really help actual people out there. Like, we can actually create something or research on something that can improve others in society or like, in general. 

ADA: It has a real impact. 

MJ: So that's how the motivation came to me. That, if I do some research, and some big projects, do something about it, it will be really beneficial for me and others as well.

ADA: If another student approached you and asked you for advice on taking on an industry project like yours, maybe presenting at CAPEX, what piece of advice would you give them?

MJ: It might feel really hard at the beginning, but then yeah, you might feel lost. Well, and I also failed at points, when nothing was working at a point. But then, when we worked hard on it, we stayed awake all night. eventually it worked out. So yeah, just keep going. Keep going. Yeah.

ADA: Thank you for listening to Career Connection. You can find other episodes of Career Connection on your favourite audio app or at swinburne.edu.au/podcasts.

[Music up]

[END OF TRANSCRIPT]

Episode 3: Tahira’s law internships – money laundering and how to network

Want to know what law internships are really like? In this episode of Career Connection, Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Business student Tahira gives the lowdown on law internships – application processes, office etiquette and networking. Plus, how working on a money laundering case during her internship led to a paralegal role.


Listen now on:  Spotify
 

Links from today’s episode:

 
Transcript
Title: Career Connection
Episode 3: Tahira’s law internships – money laundering and how to network 

Creator: Carolyn Huane 

Year: 2026

[Intro music up]

ADA: Career Connection is made on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus is located. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

TAHIRA: That case got me the role that I am in right now. I got hired because I had experience of money laundering, and yeah, all those skills got me into another role, which I’m in right now as a paralegal.

ADA: Welcome to this episode of Career Connection. I’m Ada Konstantine, your host, and a Journalism student here at Swinburne. At Swinburne, all bachelor's degrees have guaranteed industry experience. But what does that actually look like? Today, I’m joined by Tahira, she’s studying a double degree in law and business, and she’s going to be talking about her experience on her internship. What’s she’s experienced, what  it’s felt  like, and how it’s connecting her to her career. Could you tell us a bit about what you’re studying, what year you’re in, and where you did your internship? 

TAHIRA: Sure, thanks for having me today, Ada. I’m studying a bachelors of law and business, majoring in accounting. I’m in my fifth year, last semester. 

 So, I did two internships, one at Norton Rose Fulbright which was in the commercial litigation team, and the second was in Victorian Legal Aid, which was in the infringement team.

 ADA: With these two internships, how did they come to be? Like, did you source them yourself? Or did Swinburne help you find them for you?  

TAHIRA: So, the Norton Rose Fulbright, I actually sourced it myself, but with the help of Swinburne actually examining my CV and cover letter and helping me with those. With Victorian Legal Aid, Swinburne helped me find it.  

ADA: Can you go into a little bit of detail, actually, about how Swinburne helped you with your CV?

TAHIRA: Yep, so there is something called CV360. I uploaded my CV there, got it checked a few times, with grammar and all the small skills I had to build up, and I uploaded my cover letter and asked them if this cover letter matches the job requirement. And they actually helped me pick up those little specific wordings the job required and asked me to help writing the sentences or the paragraphs that suits the job description. 

ADA : So, Tahira, you did two internships. You did one with Norton Rose and you also did one with Victorian Legal Aid. Could you talk me through some of the logistics behind that? So, like, how long did it go for? Was it part-time or full-time?

TAHIRA: So, for Norton Rose Fulbright, I was there for three months, and that was full-time. And then straight after that, the following week, I started Victorian Legal Aid with uni and I was coming in only one day a week for Victorian Legal Aid. With Norton Rose, I actually got paid, but with Victorian Legal Aid, I wasn’t paid. It was just one day a week consisting of 20 days, which I had to do 20 days of placement, three of them, for my degree, but yeah.  

ADA : You worked on a really big case for Norton Rose; it was about money laundering, I believe. Could you give us a flyover view of that one? 

TAHIRA : Sure, I won’t go into much detail about that one. It is a confidential case, but it was to do with an international client from China. He did some sort of money laundering in Australia. Even during the court hearings, he was speaking Chinese. There was a translator, and there was all the lawyers translating back to him. It was back and forward a lot. That case got me a role that I am in right now. I am a paralegal at Lander and Rogers, and I got hired because I had that experience of money laundering. And right now, I am working on another money laundering case. It is anti-money laundering, where I have to prepare two documents for Lander and Rogers, a risk analysis and policy and procedure documents. And yeah, so all those skills, got me to another role which I am right now in as a paralegal.  

ADA: Were there any unexpected challenges or perks that you found during your internships? 

TAHIRA : I think the most challenging part was the Victorian Legal Aid Internship. Where I had to sit with a client for at least 30-40 minutes and listen to their stories, analysing their scenarios. They were vulnerable, so I had to make sure to understand their perspective to help them in a way that I can give my full potential. And I think you know that was the most challenging part, just consuming the information and then delivering that back to my manager so we can help them, in any way possible.

ADA :  Could you describe for me a moment where you felt like a real professional during your internships that you couldn't have felt in a classroom? 

TAHIRA : At Norton Rose, I think every day. I used to go to work, I had to be very professional, especially when I’m talking, you know, I had maintain a tone, maintain certain wordings with different people, especially talking to big law firm partners. The first impression is kind of last impression.

ADA : Do you think you could take us through what a typical day at Norton Rose could look like?

TAHIRA : Sure. So, work started at nine. Started off with, you know, just catching up with my buddies, just a coffee catch up, usually. And then, after coffee, 10–15-minute coffee catch up, we used to just sit down and work. The whole office went quiet for at least until lunchtime. It was very quiet. So, yeah, we just focused on work. Depends on if it's a court day. We used to go to court, straight away after the coffee catch up. For me, as an intern, I used to just go to the chambers of barristers and help them fix the paper wordings and files to take to court. Otherwise, if it's in the office, just working on whatever task I was given, making the priorities at the top and then coming down to the least priorities. So yeah, then lunchtime and then after lunchtime again, back to work. But usually after three, I wanted to go to explore other teams, and I used to ask my manager if I could go, you know, shadow some other team doing their work, if they don't mind, if it's not too confidential. Yeah. So, the work I did at Norton Rose really fit my skills or experience I had before, and after that, yeah, I changed my mind to do commercial law.  

ADA : Is there a piece of feedback that you've received during your internships that's really stuck with you? 

TAHIRA: Yes, During Norton Rose Fulbright, there was court hearings basically every day for at least two weeks, for one of the cases. And I came across a barrister, who was dealing with that case, and I usually used to help him, taking things to court with him. On the way from court to his chamber, we used to do a small walk, and during that walk, I used to ask him about his life experiences. He has lived a long life. So, I used to just ask him about skills or to become a barrister or become a good lawyer, what skills do you need? And what do you need to take on? And the first, or I think, our second meeting, he said, “I've been noticing you and you've been doing a very great job. For someone different in the room, you have been doing very well, and I want to see where you go, and you have a lot of potential in you.” He actually got connected with me through LinkedIn, and he was like, “Yeah, get connected with me through LinkedIn, I want to see where you’re going.” And that word of him just saying, you know, being the youngest in the room, really told me that, you know, I've been doing a great job. You know, all the experiences have taught me a lot to be where I am today. But I think it was that feedback that, you know, just a little compliment that was really great.

ADA: That is so lovely. And like, so encouraging. It's really great to hear. Talking about industry connections and networking, is there any tip you would give to anyone new to law or business about that?

TAHIRA : I think that for law, networking is very important. Just a five-minute chat with the HR person, or anyone in the area you're working in could lead you to so many areas. Because one person has so many connections that they can connect you with. So, where I am today, all that with all these experiences, I think networking was my top, the one thing that I've done well, and it got me somewhere. I reach out to those networks first, if there are any opportunities around. Before I take a step, fitting in myself into some new opportunities. But I think networking is very important for law here. 

ADA :  How do you feel stepping into the next phase of your career?  

TAHIRA : I feel very confident. If you asked me this question three years, two years ago, I would say “I don't know where I want to go". But, at the moment, I feel very confident and I have long-term and short-term goals set out. I know where I want to go, so I don't have to stress when I think about it. But yeah, with all these experiences, I have chosen a pathway to go in the future or in the next six months. But yeah, it has opened some doors for me. It has opened my mind where to look. But yeah, I have built that confidence to make that decision of where I want to go in the next three months. 

 ADA : Yeah. Fantastic. I guess the last question that I kind of wanted to ask you was if someone were to take on the same opportunities as you, so, the two internships that you did, what would be the first piece of advice you give them?

TAHIRA : Take the risk. Ask the dumb questions. Ask the silly questions. There are no wrong questions. So yeah, even if a small, an example question could be, “how do I open a Word document?” Ask, because there are a lot of ways to open that Word document. 

 So, ask the silly questions. But I think, take the risk at the start. Don't be afraid of taking any risks.

ADA : Fantastic. Thank you for joining us, Tahira. You've been a wealth of knowledge, and you've been an absolute joy to have. 

TAHIRA : Thanks for having me.

ADA: Anytime. 

ADA : Thank you for listening to Career Connection. You can find other episodes of Career Connection on your favourite audio apps, or at swinburne.edu.au/podcasts/.

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