(displays on homepage and search page)
Back to SearchHaving grown up in western Sydney, Jasmine was surrounded by her close and supportive family. Jasmine’s father moved to Australia from England as a young child with his immediate family, whereas Jasmine’s mother was born and raised in the Indigenous community spread widely throughout New South Wales, Australia. As one of the first in her family to graduate high school and the first to graduate university, Jasmine has worked hard to create a promising future and career for herself, she is currently part of GHD’s national Indigenous Services team. Jasmine has begun to pave the way for other Indigenous people to do the same. Here Jasmine shares details on her inspiring career journey.
How has your Indigenous heritage shaped who you are today?
My mother moved away from her family to avoid some of the negative experiences of her childhood repeating for her own children and my nan doesn’t talk much about her history due to past traumas. This led to me growing up knowing about my Indigenous heritage but not knowing much about my Indigenous culture. I have always been proud of my Indigenous heritage, high school gave me the opportunity to explore and learn more about my culture through experiences like joining the Indigenous Ensemble as part of the Sydney Catholic Schools Performing Arts group where I eventually became the group leader. Through being a part of this group and travelling to many external events and summer schools, I was able to learn more about Indigenous culture and my connection to it. Since then, I have continued on my cultural learning journey and I enjoy sharing everything I have learned, and continue to learn, with my family.
What advice do you have for new graduates entering the workforce?
Be open to new experiences that are outside your comfort zone. I never would have thought I would be in my current position at GHD today, working alongside all these amazing people, and it would not have happened if I hadn’t said yes to all the opportunities that came my way, even though they may have seemed daunting.
What led you to study human resources at university?
Family and friends would say that I was ‘good with kids’, so that first led me to study primary school teaching at Western Sydney University. After a year of studying and having a sister in primary school who needed help with her school work, I soon realised that teaching was not for me. At the time my mother owned a coffee shop where I helped with rosters, hiring, training, paying wages and business reporting. This sparked my interest in business and human resource management, an area I knew I could apply anywhere I chose to work. So, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Business Administration with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Human Resources at Macquarie University.
Jasmine as a child with her mother Jodie
Jasmine with friends at University
What was your pathway to university?
When I was in high school, studying at university really wasn’t something I wanted to do. My parents had always said that they wanted me and my siblings to study further after high school, so it was the pressure from them, combined with me wanting to make them proud that led me to enrol at university – in some ways, I didn’t really have any other choice but to enrol. I was camping with my family when I got my acceptance email for university. When I received my offer to university I felt so relieved, but finishing university was a very different story for me. My family saw how hard I worked and how difficult studying had been for me, so when I qualified to graduate there were tears of joy and congratulations from everyone around me – they were all so proud, even my nan who was cheering so loudly.
Describe your time at university
University was a time of great personal growth for me and I am so thankful for all the experiences I had. I was involved in many aspects of life at university – social sporting teams, student societies and on the executive board of a student association.
It was difficult being at university when my close support network didn’t understand the experiences I was having. I had no personal role models to look to for guidance, which made it difficult for me to believe I had the capability to see it through. My family is a key part of my life, and I had to sacrifice some time spent with them to study. This was difficult to explain to someone like my mother, who has no experience with further study and couldn’t understand how much effort was involved.
My first year at Macquarie University is when I came across the CareerTrackers program and I went on to start my first internship. Through this internship, I broadened my technical knowledge base and my overall life experiences, and I strengthened by networks by making friends and connections that I will carry through life. The professional networks I gained through university groups and CareerTrackers helped to guide the way for me through university.
Jasmine at a CareerTrackers event
What is your current role and responsibilities at GHD?
One of the things I love about my role is that each day is different as well as being able to interact with so many different people. I engage with my colleagues and external business, work with teams and service groups across GHD to support Indigenous procurement and participation (employment) on projects and coordinate GHD’s CareerTrackers interns nationally. I centralise communication between CareerTrackers and GHD’s regions in Australia, and offer support to both interns and their host team while they are engaged with GHD.
I assist with interviews, onboarding and I facilitate reviews with all interns and managers after each internship placement. Through this aspect of my role I can apply the human resources skills I learned from university and working with my mother’s business. This past summer (2019/2020) was largest cohort of CareerTrackers interns for GHD with 19 interns – and the first group I fully managed with GHD.
Where do you see your career in the future?
I focus on the kind of person I want to be, so I have absolutely no idea what I will be doing in five or 10 years, which both excites and terrifies me. My ultimate goal of working in Indigenous internships and recruitment now is so that one day in the future there isn’t a need for it, this would be a time when Indigenous people experience the same life and workplace opportunities as all other Australians.
I never thought I would be in a position now where I can work with so many amazing Indigenous women in STEM; and to now be one of them, supporting other young Indigenous women wanting to enter the world of STEM, I am truly honoured.
GHD is committed to a culturally supportive workplace that builds strong relationships and develops projects with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia, click here to learn about our Reconciliation Action Plan.
GHD’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is embodied within our strategy and includes: championing gender equality, cultural diversity, LGBTI inclusion, adapting work practices to capture the benefits of generational diversity, reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as flexible working arrangements for our people.
