The Career Development Services Team at ACPE highly recommend students undertake a voluntary internship. We believe it is a great opportunity not only to experience being part of the workforce but also to get a head start in their career.
Despite the difficulties we faced last year, life needed to go on for our students in terms of completing their Work Integrated Learning placements. This is where the ACPE CDS and ACPE lecturers who are also industry professionals play a vital role in making things happen for our students.
Youssif Maximos, ACPE lecturer and General Manager of Sydney United 58 FC competing in the men’s National Premier League’s 1 competition, has been putting together Internship Programs every semester. Youssif stated “I initiated this idea whilst at Football NSW leading performance analysis in the women’s elite program, granting the opportunity for junior analysts to gain a technical understanding of the game and to understand processes and standards in a high-performance environment. During the challenging times of 2020, it was a difficult time for ACPE students to gain industry experience and to complete their mandatory WIL placement. I decided to try and assist through using my own network to provide real-world learning opportunities for our students.”
Andrew Elias, Zainab Alhusaini and Louis Apostolopoulos- Sports Business (leadership) students completed an internship with Sydney United FC and here’s what they said:
Andrew said: “Working in operations with a semi-professional sports team has provided me not only with great knowledge and skills related to the day-to-day operations of the club but also allowed me to develop relationships with individuals across all areas of the club”.
While Louis went on to say: “Although my experience within the club is at its early stages, the opportunity to work within a sporting environment has been very exciting. Being able to view the roles played by each individual within the club has greatly expanded my understanding of sports business”.
Zainab added: “The internship with Sydney United has been a wonderful experience thus far. Working with the marketing department across various projects including website creation, digital marketing and dealing with various stakeholders across the club has been a great learning experience. Having the opportunity to oversee the online merchandise store and meet set key performance indicators is a major challenge I look forward to embarking on with the rest of the marketing team. As a marketing intern, I have been provided with extensive opportunities to generate and pitch ideas to board members. Managing the flow behind the scenes has been a wonderful opportunity, as I am able to bring my theoretical knowledge to life.”
Sunny Chang, also a Sports Business (Leadership) student, was very fortunate to have completed a Podcast internship with our very own Sports Commentator Simon Hill. He concluded by saying:
“Since the end of last year, Youssif, my lecturer, has been extremely considerate to give me the opportunity to work with famous sports commentator Simon Hill on his podcast. I have been editing Simon Hill’s podcast every Monday and sending it back to him so he can upload it to his platform and social media. I have been using iMovie to edit his podcast and while doing so I have enjoyed every second listening to Simon Hill, Zeljko Kalac, Craig Moore and all the other special guests he brings on his show. This has been an amazing experience so far as I have gotten trust from these high calibre people while working with them but most importantly, I am enjoying working on the podcast week in week out.”
Making the most of your internships will have lasting results on your career, so seize the day and take full advantage of the opportunity, and if you haven’t already met our amazing Careers Team, book an appointment today to introduce yourself, say hello or ask for advice. You never know where that would lead to.
