Career Change
Are you contemplating a career change?
Our panel of alumni share their career journey from one industry to another. Find out what led them to make the decision and how they prepared for the big move.
Our panel provides tips on what to consider when making the change, insights on how they identified and met their skills gap for their new career and the challenges they faced along the way.
This event is part of Ask Alumni Live – a series of live-streamed career events developed specifically for our alumni community.
We hope this session will bring you insightful advice and resources.
PANELLISTS
Margaret Quixley | Host
(MIR 2013)
Margaret graduated in 2013 with a Masters of International Relations, which took her to the United Nations in New York. After returning in 2014, Margaret founded Young Opportunities Australia – a social enterprise connecting students and recent graduates with opportunities to make an impact.
Over the last 10 years, Margaret has worked in the environment sector as a campaigner and advocate. She is the Campaigns Director at Alliance for Gambling Reform and Chair of the University of Melbourne Alumni Council.
Andrew Hollo
(BA (Hons) 1988)
Andrew helps clients achieve complex goals across organisational boundaries. Andrew helps businesses and their employees willingly align their effort so they remain focused on their mission, despite the complexity and chaos. Andrew is Australia’s leader in creating synergies amongst disparate groups to solve complex and ambiguous problems. He has been extraordinarily successful in demanding, uncertain public sectors where change pressure is greatest: health, justice, human services, environment, infrastructure, regulation.
Cara Waters
(BA, LLB(Hons) 2002)
Cara Waters is a Melbourne based journalist and editor. She is the startups and technology editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Cara also writes about small business, food and travel. She has worked at Private Media, The Financial Times in London and the Sunday Times in London. Cara is a qualified lawyer and previously worked at King & Wood Mallesons and Linklaters in London.
Julie Walker
(BE(ElecEng)(Hons) 1990)
Julie Walker is passionate about marketing technology products. Initially trained as an engineer, she has a unique background in global marketing, leadership, strategic planning, building teams and bringing innovative products to market. Her "superpower" is translating technology into compelling and memorable stories – just ask her about the Fuzzy Yellow Chandelier. She firmly believes that the future of business leadership depends on creative, analytical and highly technical skills no matter what function you're in.
Julie currently heads the APAC Marketing team for Slack and has previously held leadership roles for tech companies including HP, Agilent Technologies, Cymer, and PaperCut Software.. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from The University of Melbourne, has completed post graduate studies at Harvard University, and sits on the board of Vic ICT for Women. When she's not working, she's spending time with her family and their labrador, Jake.