West Coast Eagles Sales Manager Rhys Anderton with former ECU student now employee Kate Diviney.
According to Rhys Anderton, West Coast Eagles Premium Sales Manager, the club feels fortunate to have such a great relationship with ECU. "Every year we get to meet a crop of people who are excited to learn and contribute to what we do," he says.
"When prac students are involved, it does make you look at how and why you do certain things from a process perspective, as elements of what we do need to be explained and demonstrated. This in turn helps us evaluate if we need to change or streamline how we do things."
In other words, it's a win-win.
Rhys says his hope for students at the end of their prac placement is that WCE have empowered them to not only get the most out of their time, but also provide them with real-life skills and learnings for when they enter the workforce.
"I hope it also validates their career aspirations and confirms they've made the right choice to pursue a career in the Events/Sport/Entertainment industry," he says.
Rhys's advice to other employers who might be considering offering prac placements to students is that it's a 2-way street.
"Employers need to ensure they are exposing prac students to as many experiences as possible, even mundane ones. If they have never seen a budget before or used a particular program, these are the type of things that hopefully plant the seed of what they need to upskill to make them more employable," he advises.
Those experiences have seen Sport, Recreation and Event Management students assisting with AFL and AFLW match days, as well as major events such as the Season Launch and Derby Lunch. Students also get involved in AFL match day sponsor activations and function room hosting.
Rhys says he's been surprised at the overall willingness of students to want to learn on the job and create a great WCE experience. "It's a great industry to work in and I feel our ECU prac students understand that and are extremely grateful for the opportunity."
Singling out ECU graduate, now WCE employee Kate Diviney (pictured with Rhys above), he calls Kate WCE’s 'quiet rising star'.
"Kate quickly identified areas where WCE could make improvements and immediately took them on as projects. The improvements we've shown in these areas has been huge. What we saw in Kate was a classic Events skillset; calm under pressure and the ability to solve issues quickly!"
Asked what makes ECU students employable, Rhys says they have developed ready-made skillsets that can be applied almost immediately.
Hear from the coach
In this short video, West Coast's senior coach Adam Simpson talks about how the club benefits from this successful partnership with ECU.
