When Benjamin Cant looks back on his Bachelor of Marketing and Media degree at Macquarie University, he says that he really tried to pack a lot in.
Can-do attitude: Benjamin Cant threw himself into university life and study, taking up numerous opportunities that now serve him well in the workplace.
He completed four internships, three overseas university programs in Germany, Singapore and Korea, played social netball, was part of the Global Leadership program, Christian Union and was a student ambassador.
During his four years at university, his internships included Publicis Media – the international marketing and communications agency, working on the Samsung S9 phone launch – the UN Association of Australia, Hope Media, a Christian broadcaster, and 2SER, the University’s radio station.
“These internships really showed me what drives and motivates me, and offered experiences in the areas I wanted to work in,” Cant says. “I also got clarity on what I didn't want to do, and realised that journalism wasn’t for me.”
Work-ready course
His coursework also prepared him for work. “It was quite an industry-integrated degree,” he says. “We had our eyes on the workforce from early stages. All the case studies were real-world problems from Australian businesses.”
Outside of class, Cant was a student ambassador, welcoming new students onto the campus, organising events for up to 1000 people and then, eventually becoming a leader training 60 other ambassadors. “This gave me experience of leadership, team building and training, as well as public speaking and stakeholder engagement,” he says.
By the time Cant applied for grad positions in 2018, he was work-ready. After a six-month application process, he landed a graduate position at Woolworths for a year and was then appointed a strategy analyst.
Soft skills and problem solving
Today, the skills he learned and developed from his extracurricular activities while at University help him as he analyses customer behaviour and competitor trends, as well as contributing to developing the long-term plans for Woolworths operations in Australia.
“The problem solving that I learned at Macquarie prepared me well for my job, in managing ambiguity, structuring analysis, synthesising problems, then getting people on board and influencing stakeholders,” he says.
Isabelle Sulpice, the company’s strategy manager and his boss, says that his can-do attitude is his best attribute. “Ben always has a super positive attitude and is always up for a challenge,” she says. “We work long hours in this environment and he is always enthusiastic, putting his hand up to help me prepare a presentation, even if he’s got lots of his own work.”
Sulpice also praises Cant for his business sense as well as commendable written and verbal communication skills. “As a junior, he’s surprisingly not stressed out when he has to talk to stakeholders. He’s very confident and good at messaging and articulating his ideas, and he learned that at university.”
BENJAMIN CANT
Degree: Bachelor of Marketing and Media. Graduated 2018
My job: Strategy Analyst, Woolworths
Three ways MQ supported me to be job-ready:
- Leadership skills: “All my overseas programs, the internships and extra curricular activities gave me experience of leadership, team building and training, as well as public speaking and stakeholder engagement.”
- Real world experience: “It was an industry-integrated course. We had our eyes on the workforce from early stages in the degree. All the case studies were real-world problems from Australian businesses, much of the time working directly with the businesses themselves.”
- Soft skills : “It's the soft skills, the human skills that I learned throughout university and the multiple extracurricular activities I did that were the most invaluable things that Macquarie equipped me for full time work.”
How I apply what I learned at Macquarie in the workplace:
“The problem solving that I learned at Macquarie prepared me well for my job, in managing ambiguity, structuring analysis, synthesising problems, then getting people on board and influencing stakeholders.”
Advice to prospective students:
"When deciding what to do after school, don’t relegate the importance of going after what motivates you and what you’re passionate about. Take advantage of the many curricular opportunities uni has on offer. in my experience these are the most formative aspects of your university education."
