At long last, our first season comes to a close. In the finale, I deliver a monologue (I know, how boring) sharing some final thoughts on the podcast and graduate careers more broadly.

Some timestamps for your reference:

0:00: Introduction

3:11: Thanking everyone

7:48: Three reflections on the podcast, and what you can do about them

22:04: Three tips for making great early career decisions

Thank you so much to every single one of you in the audience who have listened to so much as a single episode of the show - I hope you've taken as much out of these fascinating conversations as I have.

If you have anything further I can help with, feel free to reach out to me here. I'm rooting for every single one of you - keep moving and best of luck in your graduate careers!

Ben Buckingham is the CEO and Founder of Primary, a pre-seed fintech seeking to be the modern operating system for treasury management. His long and illustrious career has seen him take roles in several highly sought after roles, including at Allens and McKinsey.

This very special episode presses on Ben's prolonged experience compared to other guests, where we talk about:

For more on our amazing guest Ben, see here.

Tiana is a Marketing Campaign Manager from Telstra, after joining as a graduate almost four years ago. She also runs her own podcast, Unapologetically Asian, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Management from the University of Melbourne.

Today's conversation features an exploration of one of the most interesting and highly pursued areas in business - marketing! We chat through the common stereotypes associated with marketing roles - including how mathsy they are, what the role of a marketing manager/specialist looks like, and Tiana's journey working in marketing at a larger organisation.

For more on our amazing guest, see here.

Whitney is a Strategy Associate at Australia's premiere conglomerate of beauty stores, MECCA Brands. She also brings experience working in in-house strategy at Coles, and completed Bachelors and Masters degrees at the University of Melbourne in Finance and Management.

In today's episode, we cover the fascinating comparison between different kinds of strategy roles - from the more traditional like management consulting and in-house strategy roles, to more progressive ones like startup strategy. We also zoom out on Whitney's career and she unveils per mindset of never settling for less than a role she's truly loved, even if that meant going back to uni again.

For more on our amazing guest Whitney, see here. And for more on the podcast, see here.

Samuel is a Transformation Consultant at boutique management consultancy Visagio, whilst also completing his Masters of Science at Oxford University with specialisations in Computer Science and Software Engineering. Before this, he worked at the United Nations as a Statistics Consultant, and completed a Bachelors in Commerce and Actuarial Studies, after dropping out of a major in international relations.

In this episode, we chat through Sam's incredibly mature philosophy behind why he decided to leave the public sector (and spoilers! - perhaps one day return), his experience learning and working in more technical roles despite loving and excelling at public speaking, and what it's been like studying at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world.

For more on our amazing guest Sam, see here. And for more on the podcast, see here.

Terry is currently in his ninth year of an undergraduate degree. He started by completing a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Finance (with honours) at the University of Melbourne, and then decided to complete another bachelor's degree - a BSci in Statistics and Stochastic Processes, alongside a Diploma in Computing (that's four majors, by the way). During this time, he's completed internships at some of APAC's most well-known and respected companies in trading, management consulting and data & analytics*, and has also tutored multiple subjects at the university for three years. Next year, Terry will be commencing his graduate career as a quantitative trader at one of Australia's leading trading firms*.

In today's episode, Terry talks through how he's made a seemingly gruelling nine years so enjoyable, and what made him want to do two back-back bachelors in the first place. We also talk through his expanse of work experience and what made him settle with quant trading as a grad career.

For more on our amazing guest Terry, see here. And for more on the podcast, see here.

* The names of firms have been undisclosed for confidentiality.

Carol works in Change Management at Macquarie Group, spending almost 9 years at her previous company, the Commonwealth Bank. She started working there as a Collections Specialist early on during her time at uni, and worked her way up through contact centre roles and finished off as a business coach and learning/development facilitator. She also graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce/Laws from Monash University while working at CBA.

In our conversation, we talk about Carol's irregular path of sticking with her initial part-time role as a full-time graduate career - and what it's felt like to see her friends enter a range of different jobs, companies and career paths; along with how you can figure out if this approach might be something that suits you as well.

For more on our amazing guest Carol, see here. And for more on the podcast, see here.

Mark is an Analyst in Brookfield Asset Management's Private Equity investments team - they're one of the world's largest alternative asset management firms with over AUD$1T under management. He moved over from the Bank of America as a graduate Investment Banking Analyst, covering financial sponsors during his ~2 years there.

In this episode, we chat about the ins and outs of the world of high finance - how to make the application stand out, dealing with the notoriously challenging work-life balance of investment banking and private equity, along with discussing the nuanced differences between these two career paths. A must listen for students curious or looking to apply for roles in finance!

For more on our amazing guest Marc, see here. And for more on the podcast, see here.