My time in Sydney has helped me develop in many ways. It has helped me to learn about different cultures, made me a more confident traveler, and also developed me professionally. I am completing a summer study/work abroad program with CEA CAPA in Sydney for 6 weeks through the University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration. I am halfway through my time here and it is a wonderful experience. I have gained lots of hard and soft skills when in the classroom and at work.

I am working at a medical recruiting company called Wavelength International. While here I learned about the easy-going yet efficient work culture in Australia. I helped a team come up with ideas on how a software’s user experience should be designed for doctors looking for jobs. Currently I am conducting an analysis on thousands of emails from hospitals hiring temporary doctors to see how many of the job listings are being posted on the recruiting website. This analysis will allow the company to see how many are getting posted, which is vital to their revenue. This involved lots of communication with teammates, managing time between meetings, and problem solving. This major technology project includes implementing industry-specific systems custom made for Wavelength. These include Hubspot, Target Recruit, HealthPass, 2Cloud9, and others.

In the classroom, I completed coursework that included group presentations, field trips, and essays. Balancing school work, my internship, and travel helped improve my time management. Communication was also necessary to keep in touch with other students to coordinate our group presentations, despite the small class size of 4 students.

These experiences have helped me to develop hard skills like data analysis, researching, and using industry-specific systems. These experiences have also helped me to develop soft skills like communication, time management, problem solving, and adaptability. These will help me develop personally and make me more comfortable in a professional environment. They will also make me a more competitive job applicant, as many people do not have the same experiences that I am fortunate to receive from Pitt. These skills will also help me in my schoolwork as I will be able to find real world applications to my what I have learned.

My time in Sydney has been very important to developing skills that I will transfer to many different areas of work, and I am grateful for it.