Age: 27

Where and what type of degree did you read for:
University of Johannesburg, Bcomm Economics and Econometrics

Why did you choose the Standard Bank Graduate Program:
What was offered to me and what I could learn was unparalleled. Out of all the major graduate programs I have not heard of any beside the Leadership Development Program that invests as much effort and resources into their graduates.The opportunity for growth into the rest of Africa and the rest of the world is best supported by Standard Bank out of the big four banks in South Africa.

How do you feel the program has helped you become a better individual:
I have become a lot more self aware of myself and what I would like to accomplish in my life. The quality of individuals that I have met have added a lot of value to my life. (FirstStep.me says: awesome!)

Age: 22

Qualification: Bcom Investment Management, Bcom (Hons) Financial Management (FirstStep.me says: Good Stuff!)

Why work at Standard Bank?
Apart from my passion for finance and investments, I chose Standard Bank because I believe in associating myself with a winning team/ organisation which I can relate back to my own values and beliefs.

Age: 27

Where on the planet are you currently located: Adelaide, Australia.

So what exactly is your job and how did you go about achieve that career path:  Once I finished school I was not 100% sure what I was going to do so I enrolled in a Bachelor of Business, Majoring in Financial Risk Management, at Victoria University in Melbourne. This course turned out to be completely different to what I thought! Determined not to become a banker, I took a year off to work full time at my then casual job at Nando’s.  At this point I was a Duty Manager but did not take the job too seriously (basic beer money).  After a few months my store was bought by the National Operations Manager of the Country! It was basically a case of shape up or ship out. Luckily I choose the later and developed a strong work ethic and eye for detail in the process. After the year off I went back to University part time and did a Bachelor of Business in Human Resources Management.  Once this was completed I worked for Head Office in various roles including Operations, New Store Openings and HR.  2 years ago an opportunity opened up to relocate to Adelaide and take on the South Australian market with 7 stores and a lot of growth potential.  I relocated with my wife and a lot of Nando’s partners from Melbourne. 24 months on we are all living the dream.

What’s a typical working day for you: Wake up at 6:30am, hit the road at 7am to go to my 1st meeting or to the store that I will be based in for the morning.  Go through my schedule for the day and get the most important tasks out of the way before starting to get ready for the lunch rush from 11am in store. After the lunch rush has calmed down, get ready to catch up on Lease Deals, Regional Operations, Suppliers Issues and catch up with the Restaurant General Managers and Business Development Manager about any pressing issues. After this I either have a couple more meetings or other Regional Issues to deal with.  Then from 5pm till 6pm help the guys out with preparing for the Dinner rush. After having dinner I finish off any tasks that need to be completed before the next day, rewrite my “to do list” for the next day and finish up around 9pm. (FirstStep.me says, Hectic!)

Age: 28

Where on the planet are you currently located: Dubai, UAE

So what exactly is your job and how did you go about achieve that career path:
I’m a Business Class Air hostess, working for Emirates Airlines on the Big Airbus 380. I have been living in Dubai for two years now. I have the responsibility of looking after the safety and security of the Aircraft along with dealing with passengers (some difficult at times) and of course serve a delightful meal.

I came about this career from a totally ninety degree direction! I was working in Cape Town in a small animal veterinary hospital and I am highly allergic which didn’t help my job. After three years I finally decided that it is time for a career change. And yes I am good at what I do and I am really good with the animals but I wanted to fly and see the world. Whilst chatting with some friends we came up with an idea about a career as an air hostess. A career where one can travel and get paid to do it! My sister’s boyfriend told me about Emirates Airlines, so I went online, that night, found the Emirates website, sent in the application and within a week I got a response. Two weeks after that I was at the first interview, I got through all three rounds and within two months I was in Dubai.

Once in Dubai, it was six weeks of training which was a lot of fun!

2009 FirstStep.me Interview of the Year!

By Yashivan Govender

“I don’t consider myself a brand, I am just living life”-Martin Bengtsson

Dreams, they drive many young individuals to achieving successful careers, we dream of becoming astronauts, pilots, doctors, sporting icons and celebrity personas. Sometimes those dreams are reached and often they turn out to be not as desirable as we had once dreamt. Turning that disappointment into something more desirable becomes a massive challenge but when one does then you have to acknowledge it and give credit where credit is due.

Age: 28 (well almost)

Where on the planet are you currently located: Melbourne, Australia

So what exactly is your job and why did you choose this field:

I work for the National Australia Bank – in the Credit Card Department.
My role is to design strategies to maximize customer profitability.
I got into this role because I enjoy the business aspect of retail banking (the concept of lending money to make money). Credit Cards have a lot more going on and its very interesting to see how people use them. There is a lot to making money in the credit card business which keeps it very challenging.

What’s a typical working day for you:

In at 8h30, typically meetings until 12. Then analyzing customer data and recommending solutions to problems. Helping people with customer strategies and pricing decisions. Leave by 6. (FirstStep.me says, that’s a good solid days work).

Age: 23

Where on the planet are you currently located: Johannesburg, South Africa

So you are an Art Director, how did you go about achieving that career path:

I have always had a keen interest in art and the communication of messages through visual mediums. After matriculating in 2004 I was like many 18 year olds - at a bit of a loose end as to what to do next with my life and which career path to take (FirstStep.me says as a lot of us are when we finish high school!). I decided to take a gap year and use the time to soul-search and experience life. Whilst looking through some of my old storage boxes I found an aptitude test I did many years before and had completely forgotten about.  It stated that my top career choice for my strengths and interests would be that of an art director.  So I took this as a sign and researched the various institutions offering this course. Loving the idea of living in Cape Town I found The Red and Yellow school of Magic and Logic. After stepping into the building for my interview I knew that it was where I was meant to be. So after 3 months working on a summer camp in the USA and a further 4 months working in various jobs in England, I made the move to the Mother city and never looked back. (FirstStep.me says: Sweet!)

Ernst and Young’s grads for 2009 give us the lowdown of working at a top notch firm and how their careers are heading in a cool direction!

 Sean Correia              Aaliyah Ameer

 Deliwe Mthembu                    Mathew Lines

 Bronwyn Shand                    

"...what studying teaches you, is to work hard and apply yourself in different and usually foreign circumstances."

Age: 28

Where on the planet are you currently located:  Earth (I think)! (FirstStep.me say's, we said where not what!)

So what exactly is your job and how did you go about achieve that career path, (talk about where you studied and what motivated you to choose this career):

I’m Regional Chief System Architect for GijimaAST, looking after all IT related projects on the East Coast, from the Mozambique border to George and all of KZN and Eastern Cape.  I’ve always been interested in Computer Science. I start tinkering at age 5, then matriculated with Computer Science and Advance Maths as my 7th and 8th subjects, the others being English, Afrikaans, Maths, Biology, Physics and History.  After that I was a Rotary Youth Exchange student to the USA where I truly fell in love with the art of Computer Science.  I later went on to complete a Bachelor of Science Honors in Computer Science at the University of Cape Town.

What’s a typical working day for you:

I usually get into the office at about 8am.  Have meetings and check my emails before setting tasks for my teams then I’m usually out the office by 5pm.  I often work after hours 3-5 days a week and usually every other weekend.  However I get to work from home, which is convenient especially with deadlines.  This is a 356-24/7 job, computers don’t sleep and never take holidays, and so neither do you. (FirstStep.me notes: Well put!)