Graduate job!

Got an offer for the 2014 Fonterra Accounting & Finance Graduate Programme!
pretty stoked.. until they told me that my first rotation is gonna be in Hamilton lol
sigh but beggars can't be choosers I guess and I know I should be grateful about such an amazing opportunity.

Fonterra is New Zealand's largest company, so working for them will definitely look good on my CV, and it'll open doors to international opportunities, since there are offices all around the world. Particularly in China, as it's such a big growth market, so maybe I'll even get to work in Shanghai for a bit in the future!

Anyways the programme is 2 years, and there are 4 6-month rotations in different areas of accounting & finance. I told them I was more interested in management accounting, so hopefully I'll get to do more in that area! They're also obviously a NZICA recognized company, and they told me they will provide lots of support for my CA (Chartered Accounting) exams, which is good. I actually didn't expect to get the job, cause they told me they were only taking 4 accounting & finance graduates so I guess I'm pretty lucky.

It's been a long and tiring process though. First it was the initial application, then the video assessment, then phone interview, followed by numerical, English and personality tests, and then finally the assessment centre, which was the most daunting. It was the first time I've ever been to an assessment centre so I was pretty nervous. They had it at Rydges Hotel, from 8am - 4pm so it was a looong day.

There were 3 main assessment rounds: interview, group work & individual presentation.
I thought the interview went pretty well; they basically gave me an overview of the company and the work I would be doing, and then asked me a bunch of behavioural questions which weren't too bad, cause I've had some interview experience already. The group assessment and individual presentation were harder in my opinion. For the group assessment, we had to work together as a group to analyze a case, and discuss recommendations, and we basically each had an assessor who would watch us during the whole thing, to see how we work in a group. Mine was sitting directly opposite me, so I kept trying to avoid eye contact with him haha, but I had actually already met him during the mix & mingling session before, and he was pretty nice!

Afterwards, it was the individual presentations. We were each given a case and one hour to read and prepare for it, and then we had to give a 10-minute presentation on it. 10 minutes is seriously so damn long; I doubt mine was anywhere near that but it went okay. They asked me some questions afterwards, and I just tried to bs my way out of it haha. My health science knowledge actually helped me heaps, since Fonterra is focused on nutrition and health and all that so yeah, I guess this job is pretty suitable for me!

My parents are pretty happy for me too, they keep telling me how proud they are of me haha, and they said they will come visit me in Hamilton regularly. Guess I still need some time to get used to the idea; I'm just scared that I'll be so lonely since I dunno anyone there and there's like nothing to do there! But I guess I can come back every weekend so maybe it won't be too bad. Maybe it's a good chance for me to learn to be more independent :)

And I'm very happy that I don't have to do anymore graduate applications! yay no more online tests!!! And now I can spend the rest of this year doing part-time work in non-accounting areas. I applied for a poker dealer job hahaha so let's see how that goes, hope I don't turn into a gambling addict if I get it LOL