Content
USC graduates connect school communities
When University of the Sunshine Coast student Narissa Wilson scored a graphic design job she found on USC’s online job search site, she didn’t expect to be general manager of the small business by the time she was 22.
Narissa, of Landsborough, was promoted to the position in May – one month after officially graduating from her USC degree in Information Technology and Design, and five months after starting full-time work at Schoolzine.
“After landing this job, I know I studied the right combination of IT and graphic design at USC,” Narissa said.
“I feel privileged to get this position so early. It’s a dynamic and fun team environment and, as a graduate, I have lots of challenges.”
Schoolzine is an IT and design business based at USC’s Innovation Centre at Sippy Downs. It provides e-communication tools for schools across the nation to connect more efficiently and effectively with parents.
Half of the company’s eight staff are USC graduates and it uses the USC jobs site, called Career Hub, as a recruitment tool.
Schoolzine director Sheree Fletcher, who graduated from USC in 2007, said the company was expanding staff and services.
“We started off providing print and online e-newsletters for schools and business is taking off,” she said. “Now we’ve got schools from as far away as Perth and we’re offering a whole communication suite such as web interaction and direct SMS-ing between a school and its database of parents."
USC Careers and Graduate Employment Officer Clive May said the wide array of vacancies advertised on Career Hub were local, national and international.
Mr May said 450 students and 150 employers had logged on to the network in the past six months.
It is one of the job-related services provided by USC’s Career Connection team, which helps students find part-time work and graduates find full-time careers.
— Julie Gatehouse