Name: Kellyanne
Role Title: Beef Industry Development Officer
Location: Natural Resources and Environment, Wodonga, Vic

Description of work undertaken:
Involved with a range of projects and programs to support the beef industry in marketing, production management, best practices, meat quality, Sustainable Grazing Systems. I am based in three locations in Victoria over my first two years and then have a three year fixed contract, so I guess an interesting thing will be living and working in different areas.

Team and / or individual role / responsibilities:
On the Graduate Program you have a supervisor at each location as well as a mentor. Many work projects are initially run in conjunction with the supervisor. Later in the program there is opportunity to run individual programs whilst still having the benefit of full support if needed.

Future?
Learning as much from supervisors as possible to enable me to have a successful career with NRE in the Beef Industry.

BACKGROUND:
Grew up where?
I grew up in Medowie, north of Newcastle NSW, a semi rural town and I studied agriculture as part of my HSC. My interest in Agriculture developed there.

Course(s) studied:
Tertiary /post secondary:
Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) at The University of Melbourne.

Secondary:
I studied the sciences at secondary school ( Physics, Chemistry, Maths etc). I also studied agriculture which gave great background for my university course. School provided me with good background science knowledge.

Work experience:
At University we needed to undertake 12 weeks work experience to satisfy requirements. I spent time on a wheat and sheep property, an Ostrich farm and with an NRE Animal Health Officer.

OPPORTUNITIES:
Further study:
I am currently enrolled in a Graduate Certificate in Agricultural Extension (The University of Melbourne). I am keen to continue to study. Through NRE there are also numerous training courses to undertake.

Learning on job, new skills, etc.
Presently I am learning a lot on the job, especially with respect of Extension and facilitation with farmer groups. It is an advantage that each course I do can be reinforced in my work.

Travel, etc.
The travel aspect is fantastic, apart from learning you get to see a lot of country that you would otherwise not see.

ADVICE TO STUDENTS NOW:
students up to Year 10
Enjoy school and choose the subjects where you have an interest. This makes studying as easy as it can be.

VCE students
Spend the two years working as hard as you can to give yourself maximum choice at the end. Make sure you check prerequisites out thoroughly. If you have no desire for uni education, then do the subjects that offer maximum practicality for your working life after school.

Tertiary students
The time at Uni. goes very quickly, enjoy all the holidays you get.

OTHER:
Comments, thoughts, suggestions.
Agriculture offers interesting and diverse employment. There will always be demand for people in the agricultural sector.

What careers have other graduates from your course entered?
Many of our year have got jobs with NRE. There are a few employed by VFF, Department of State Development and the Australian Wheat Board. There are very few who have gained employment outside the agricultural sector.