Graduating in the time of COVID

2020-09-01
Share

Commerce graduate Dan Gynn from our NSW bus team has started his career working in the assets team where he helps manage more than 450 vehicles on the road across seven different sites with a focus on identifying financial savings and operational efficiencies.

Dan describes assets as ‘all things keeping buses on the road and the community moving safely’.

Tell us about your graduate journey

Initially starting at Transdev, the plan was based on a rotation between departments to get a taste for how the business operates in its different functions. Whilst I managed to sneak in a portion of this, I don’t think anyone would’ve anticipated their career beginning in the midst of a global pandemic. This drastically changed the working environment as the office shifted to home. While this wasn’t ideal for the social aspects of work, it did present some interesting challenges as the business looked strategise on how to deal with the worst-case scenarios and also support our essential frontline staff.

How has COVID changed your daily routine?

The regular working day has changed heavily over the last few months. The average step count has dipped shamefully to a level I’d rather not make public! A two-hour round trip to the office and back has turned into laps around my house with a daily venture outside to get a coffee. Fortunately, being a global and a mobile workforce at Transdev meant many practices like MS teams and Zoom meetings were already standard. It also provides various opportunities to leave the house and engage in different projects across our many sites. In more recent times, office visits and small meetings have been a welcome change of pace and probably provided my partner with some sanity without me being at home 24/7.

What lessons have you learnt from this unusual time?

However unusual the start to life at Transdev has been, it delivered a huge learning curve as to how the business could react to such large scale uncertainty. Being thrown in the deep end in some scenarios presented unique challenges and fast-tracked learning in a few key areas.

It also proved the strength of the various teams and ability to work together to keep things moving in the best way possible. While COVID-19 has hindered the graduate plan so far, there have been many invaluable learnings and experiences that help you understand that there’s always a way through a challenge. Coming out the other side of COVID-19 it shows how effective teams can be when working remotely and has forced the business, like many others, to further adapt to being geographically dispersed.

What advice do you have for new graduates?

Whilst the 2020 graduate start to life has been unorthodox, the experience is what you make of it. The team and the culture is excellent and the support and opportunities are there for you to grow in your role and ultimately gain experience and further your skills and development. Put your hand up and be ambitious.  

 

 

How can we help you to move forward?