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Our Graduates Don’t just take it from us. Hear what some of our existing graduates have to say about our programme, and find out just how it has made a difference in their lives. Dominie
My last boss pointed the BOC program out to me as she’d heard great things about it, and I’m glad she did. If I hadn’t have come to BOC, I wouldn’t have had the same opportunities to work on big projects and I wouldn’t be on an accelerated career path. You build a lot of skills here. They never slot you into a role doing data entry. After starting, you are immediately learning, and that’s great. The program at BOC is different to and better than, I thought. I wasn’t expected to be brilliant from day one, which relaxed me a bit. I expected more pressure, but they understand here that it takes you a little while to become comfortable and up to speed, especially if you are straight out of university. The people I work with are nicer than I expected too. They never treated me like a beginner. I was accepted straight into the team. Even though it’s a big company, it doesn’t feel like one. We all get along really well. We go to dinners and social events together plus some cool teambuilding things. One of my favourites was when we even went out sailing on Sydney Harbour! I really like that my working time is flexible. I take time off for my family and they are really understanding of that. Everyone is encouraged to balance their work and home life so they don’t burn out. We even have health checks every now and then to make sure we’re all as happy and healthy as we can be. When I started, I went to a production site for a year, which was fun for me to test out my Mechanical Engineering background. I was exposed to all kinds of interesting technology like compressors, chemical scrubbers, and the only nitrous oxide generator in the south pacific! That generator was the only supplier to dentists, doctors, and hospitals across Australia and Asia. I have done a lot of project coordination, regulatory compliance to make sure our installations meet standards, construction work, heaps of stuff. I enjoy what I do. It’s different every day. Even if you’re not sure you have the necessary skills, I’d say apply anyway. BOC are more interested in who you are. They know you’re not going to be a specialist straight out of school. They expect you to have a learning curve. Just apply, be yourself, and you just might be surprised. Alex
My first role in BOC was within the process engineering team in Sydney. I was working with intelligent people, who really look after your development and help you learn the skills you need to become a great engineer capable of troubleshooting plant problems, designing engineering solutions and implementing them. With this role also came the opportunity to travel interstate to a site safety audit, to problem solve, to help optimise plant operations, to assist in a plant thaw and various other exciting jobs. With this opportunity also comes responsibility, because you are the one who can provide real input and use your degree to add real value to the company. In BOC you are given the power and the opportunity to make these kinds of changes in a carefully managed process to ensure that our high standard of safety is maintained. I was able to work on commissioning a new hydrogen plant in Melbourne, which, although was a lot of work, was also incredibly rewarding, because after less than a year out of university, I was able to take control of this new state-of-the-art plant, operate it, help optimise it and troubleshoot problems which gives you an in-depth knowledge of the plant. Being part of the graduate program means that your career will be fast tracked, and with your input, managed, to ensure you get a wide variety of work to give you enough breadth and understanding of the company to have a fruitful career in BOC. If you want to work in a supportive environment, with abundant opportunities to have real responsibility, apply for the BOC Graduate Program! Daniel
I've spent most of my time on the graduate programme working in a project management setting. Initially maintaining and upgrading an internal-customer designed CRM system, then taking on a role supporting/developing a South Pacific-wide pricing tool. I have spent a considerable amount of time furthering my skills in a range of areas, as BOC has been very supportive of additional training courses – particularly in the areas of presentation and project management skills. I don’t consider myself the type of person who likes to spend large amounts of time in the office – I need something to break-up my time. BOC has exceeded my expectations in this area. I work very closely with a 3rd party supplier and spend quite a bit of time at their offices in the city, I also have the flexibility to work from home when need be; which is often a great opportunity to power through large amounts of work in a short period of time. Finally, my current role requires high levels of interaction with the South Pacific Sales Force which has given me the opportunity to do a decent amount of travel around Australia and New Zealand. It’s great to work for a company where the managers are the kind of people that you can joke around with and who provide plenty of freedom & flexibility within the work environment Ria
I have learnt and experienced so many different things while being on the BOC graduate program already! Initially, I was not too aware of the opportunities that would be available with BOC and to be honest I only realised in my first few months that the opportunities here are as high as the sky. For me, this has been the best possible career start. One of the great benefits of being a graduate at BOC is that a lot of time and effort is spent on you, specifically through mentoring and graduate week. All the managers are also fantastic to work with and very encouraging. If I look back to being a student, I would have never imagined myself to have rolled out several training sessions to a variety of departments (Marketing, Engineering, Healthcare, Distribution and Legal) for an improved marketing process, or coordinate an in-house recruitment process for marketing summer interns 2009/2010. My role allows me to be involved in a mixture of tasks such as tender submissions, coordination of training programmes for new sales representative and project management which are all challenging specifically due to constant deadlines; however it is also part of the fun. BOC has allowed me to be involved in every opportunity that I have asked for! I feel like I can confidently overcome most challenges that come my way. The graduate programme at BOC has definitely exceeded my expectations and is a great opportunity. I’d definitely encourage you to apply! Ben
During my final year at university, I began looking for and considering jobs. Whilst I had heard of the BOC brand before, I first became aware of their graduate program when I saw their advertisement on my universities careers page. After reading about the company and the graduate profiles I was instantly interested and applied straight away. BOC was exactly the kind of employer I was looking for, a large company with plenty of opportunity and offering real experience and responsibility working on major projects. Upon starting in January this year one of the first things that struck me about the company was how accommodating and helpful everyone was. It’s such a friendly and collaborative working environment at BOC that you can’t help but feel like apart of the team from the get go. Since beginning the first block in my rotation, I have been working in Sales as an analyst. Whilst this wasn’t something I had ever pictured myself doing or even enjoying, I have been pleasantly surprised over the last six months. Since I started I’ve been working on 2 major projects but I’m constantly being thrown many smaller jobs to do which have all been great experience and help to keep you learning new things and make the day interesting. The projects have been; designing and implementing a system to gather and distribute leads to the sales force across the South Pacific RBU, and, use dashboard reporting software to design and maintain a sales report for the Sales Leadership Team. The things I have most enjoyed about working on these two projects have been the autonomy, responsibility and scope. Whilst there have been many meetings with management along the way both these projects are the direct result of my ideas, effort and input. The rotations are a great way to gain experience in a number of different areas and broaden you knowledge of the business. It’s really the only time in your career that you will get the opportunity to move so easily between completely different roles and is very helpful in determining what areas interest you the most. Throughout the past six months I have come to realise how much support you receive as a grade here at BOC, and how many doors are open to you. All of the former grads I have met have moved onto great jobs throughout the company and I can’t wait until I can do the same. Michael
Before starting at BOC, I worked for a well known bank for 18 months, working on a large project doing analyst type work. The work I did was great and gave me experience in the field of work I want to progress with further; however I was limited to what my role had initially defined me as. When I saw the description of the array of different roles you are involved in at BOC on the IS graduate rotation, I was very impressed! To be honest, at first I didn't think an employer would actually put a graduate into the drivers seat of such important pieces of work, especially after only being with the company for 6 months, but I was wrong. You're trusted and backed by your managers with significant opportunities throughout the company which really gives you a chance to prove who you are, and really kick start your career endeavours. The BOC culture is different to what I experienced while working at a bank as well. The first thing I noticed (and appreciated in summer especially) is that you don't have to wear a suit and tie every day to work. People are approachable and genuine, and always have their finger on the pulse. When people hear you're a graduate, they really endeavour to take you under their wing and give you any support you need. What also gave me great insight into the company and its culture was my relationship with my Mentor. They're always here to help and offer guidance or advice not only with your graduate program, but also with the company. People take pride in the company they work for and it definitely shows when you start to work here. The IS department are really in touch with the latest technological and industry standards to provide a complex and very different solution for the business needs. Recently we've been doing an Australian and New Zealand wide rollout of network changes, and I was given the ability to travel to Perth for a few days to actually run the show. Not only was it a great experience but gave me a great insight into the gas production side of the company that you sometimes feel distant from when coming into the office each day. I got to witness first hand all the work we had been doing being put into real life practice right in front of my eyes. That's an experience you don't usually get elsewhere where your only contact with your real life users is via email or phone. Another exciting factor about the BOC graduate program is the other grads in the graduate group. Although we all come from different streams, we're able to hang out and discuss the things we work on. We also had group exercises at the beginning of the program which was a day out about town, including rock climbing, the Sydney Skywalk tour, challenging tasks, kayaking, and parasailing. At the end of the day we were all tired, but for a good reason! There's a real sense of companionship between the grads, and it helps in case you ever need questions answered by someone else in the same boat as you. All in all I'm really happy with the way things are going at BOC, and I've only been here for 6 months. I can't wait to see what pops up over the coming years, and what I decide to tackle next. |
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