MGMT30015: Managing Work and Your Career

30% case analysis (in pairs), 20% career plan (15% marked by tutor, 5% peer assessment), 50% final exam

I highly recommend this subject for students who have no clue as to what they want to do for a career, or even those who need better clarity in their career paths. I actually found the best part of the subject to be the weekly personality tests (e.g Big Five, FIRO-B, Holland's, tolerance of ambiguity, political skills, networking). I felt that they were really helpful in painting a bigger picture of the type of person I am and how I can manage myself in my career. The best part is that you get to meet others in the tutorials with completely different career aspirations and see how everyone views career success. Lecture content can get fluffy at times (like most management subjects), and mostly requires common sense, nonetheless the material covered was definitely practical and relevant before going into the working world.

The subject only had one lecturer and one tutor throughout. My cohort was about 70 people and lectures were quite interactive. Stephanie graduated from uni not too long ago. She made sure the lectures were dynamic and engaging, which I had to get used to at first but appreciated later on. We had a guest speaker from SEEK who came to speak about recruitment and selection, but I missed the lecture. The tutor, Kris, was really nice as well. Tutorials were very easy to sit through and interesting at most times. Most of the weeks we did personality tests during the tutorials so it was relaxed.

The assessments were due at week 10 and 12 and it could be quite a pain if left for last minute. The first assessment was a 30% case study analysis done in pairs. We had an ice breaker and other opportunities to speak with each other in tutorial, so get to know your classmates well and find a suitable partner. I had a good partner and we scored an 87. The second assessment was a 20% comprehensive career plan done individually, and it required no referencing whatsoever, just your own opinion. We had to present our draft to our table in the week 11 tutorial (which was mainly to get feedback), and usually three to four others in your table would give you a mark out of a 100 based on a set criteria. An average would be taken from it and that would make up 5% out of the 20. Get good mates you already get along with to be at your table so they won't be too harsh. I got helpful feedback from my table which I took on board for writing my career plan and managed to get a 93 for it (partially thanks to them!).

The 50% final exam was 2 hours and had 3 sections. First section we had to choose 4 out of 7 short answer questions (20 marks). Second section is an essay about career success (15 marks). Third section was a case study with short questions (15 marks). The test was pretty straightforward. I didn't have time to study every theory or concept (I had 3 papers in that week) so I selected specific parts of each lecture to study and it worked for me. Also, you could plan the second section beforehand about career success. This subject had 30 minutes of reading time and you could also annotate, which is plenty of time to read the case and think about every question.

Overall, I think this subject could be really helpful or a waste of time depending on what you make of it. Clearly i wanted to make the most out of it as I pay a bomb as an international student, but yea, one of the most helpful subjects in my degree B.Com (Finance & Management).

Yes

Stephanie Flanagan

2013, 2015 final can be found in library

4.5 out of 5

No prescribed textbook, 2-3 readings assigned each week

1 x 2 hr lecture and 1 x 1 hr tutorial each week

Semester 1, 2016

H1