Any hat you like – iexchange delivers choice and diversity for Rajesh

"it gave me the perfect break to get quality work experience and a subsequent job”

Rajesh Iyer has worn more than a few hats in his professional career including finance and IT roles with multinational organisations throughout India. While undertaking post-graduate studies in Australia, he added a few more meaningful hats to his collection thanks to an initial placement with tuscon’s iexchange program.

“iexchange is unique because it place students in highly skilled jobs suited to their profile and experience,” Rajesh explained. “It builds an effective bridge between skilled students and corporate Australia,” Rajesh said.

When he first heard about tuscon and iexchange, Rajesh was completing his second Masters degree at QUT’s Brisbane Graduate School of Business (BGSB). His Master of Business (Professional Accounting) degree complemented the Master of Business Administration he had also earned at BGSB. At the time, he was also working part-time as a customer service representative in a car rental company, a job that had nothing to do with his experience and qualification.

Friends introduced Rajesh to tuscon and after making it through the rigorous interview process, Rajesh was rewarded with a three-month placement at the Department of Emergency Services, one of Queensland’s largest organisations. His role was to undertake activity based costing and resource gap analysis of the Department’s Human Resources Branch.

“This was the first job I had had in Australia that involved utilising all of the knowledge, experience and skills I had gained over the years. It was a good place to start and with the support of tuscon and the Department, I had complete freedom to develop my own methodology and platform to do the job and prove my skills,” he said.

The outcome for Rajesh was “fruitful”. At the end of his three-month contract, he was offered a job within the Department as a Senior HR Performance Analyst.

“I have been with the Department for more than a year and a half now and it’s been a very fulfilling journey. I have grown and learnt both professionally and personally through my experience here. I have successfully used both my business and accounting knowledge at various levels,” he said.

“I would certainly recommend tuscon to all students, especially current students, as they can gain valuable experience in the corporate environment. The iexchange program not only gave me the opportunity to get a look into the functioning of organisations, as I was lacking in Australian work experience, but it also gave me the perfect break to get quality work experience and a subsequent job.”