Jonathan Millen has 25 years' experience in business, 12 of which have been in learning and development and coaching.

He had reached a point in his career where he was boxed in, unable to take that next step up. Too young and ambitious to accept this fate, Jonathan made the decision to up-skill with Swinburne, smashing his way out of the box and onto a new and exciting career path.   

Jonathan Millen – Graduate Certificate of Business

“What led me to Swinburne was I’d reached a point in my previous organisation where my managers didn’t believe I had the capability to get to that next level of seniority; rightly or wrongly they had a perception that I couldn’t do it. This fuelled a limiting self-belief in me, where I thought maybe I’m not ready for it; maybe I’m not capable.”

In hindsight, Jonathan will tell you that the decision to undertake further study was easy: he had a goal and he knew how he was going to achieve it. However, just because the decision to start was easy, doesn’t mean that it was easy achieving his goal.

As Jonathan explains, he was initially unsure how he would cope with the demands of study. “Normally there is work life, and then there is family life, and adding study life to the mix isn’t easy.”

But Jonathan was driven, and well supported both at home and by Swinburne, and these factors meant he was in the best possible position to succeed.   

“Coming to Swinburne for the first time in 2013, I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was an industry-based qualification, from a well-recognised and respected university, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to walk into days of solid lectures where you have to take truck loads of notes and then figure out the rest by yourself. In actuality, my experience was the polar opposite to that.