How did your Transdev journey begin?
Having had come back from a year-long exchange in 2018, I was keen to get some industry experience in the last year of my studies. I was lucky enough to have concurrently been offered two internships – thankfully, finding one that would transform into a career.
I worked as an intern in the stakeholder engagement team for Transdev Australasia from May 2019 up until I had started the graduate program in March of this year.
My role at Transdev is unlike anything that I had been exposed to during my degrees. Stakeholder engagement was a new realm for me – one that has been fun and rewarding to navigate so far. One thing that I have learnt through this process is that there is truly never a dull moment in public transport!
Tell us what you thought your first couple of months would be like in the graduate program?
Since Transdev is a dynamic organisation, I expected that there would be ample opportunity to see how other parts of the business work and co-exist. I am, for the most part, a big picture thinker – I like to understand and make sense of how my work interacts with and facilitates the other departments to function and vice versa.
Although COVID has stalled my operations placement program, I am still intent on gaining a greater insight into the operations side of Transdev – especially being in Sydney, where they span over three different modes.
How has your working day changed since COVID-19?
We are incredibly fortunate enough in Sydney to have slowly shifted to an alternating timetable, given the easing of the restrictions. I am in the office 2-3 days a week now but come and go when I please to coincide with avoiding peak hour rush.
My 9-5 is hugely flexible, more so than before. I feel that COVID initiated a societal shift in that it allowed us to be more transparent with our workload and voice what is and isn’t working in our day-to-day. When working from home, I closely follow the routine that I’ve established when working in the office. I find this to be the easiest way to keep a consistent routine.
What have you learnt during this period?
There is a wealth of lessons that I have learnt during this period, some of which include:
- Staying connected – with your team and with others
- Prioritising your mental health – to release negativity and increase productivity
- Finding a healthy work-life balance – especially when your workstation is at home
- Taking advantage of technology – although I sort of already knew this (honorary Gen Zer)
- Being open to change – after all, not all change is bad
Are there any new habits or routine changes that you will continue even after COVID?
I think the most obvious one that can be said for a lot of people is the uptake of regular breaks – whether that be physical activity, coffee breaks, etc. That and getting into the routine of regularly catching up with your team both in a work and social context.
During COVID, I was also more inclined to read the news every morning. This is something that I’ve continued doing, having expanded my media monitoring to more arbitrary topics.
What advice would you give other graduates to continue to make the most of their program?
Embrace change. I think this period, although unprecedented, allows us to review and question how things have always been done and make necessary changes to potentially outdated functions and processes. How can we use this change to our advantage?
