Career mobility within Wollongong City Council

Working with Wollongong City Council means that you can pursue a very diverse career path if you are prepared to be mobile and are looking to be constantly challenged, stimulated and want to broaden your experience base.  Following are the profiles of some employees who have successfully moved across into different areas of Council…and up into management roles!

Name: Kathleen
Current position: Acting Manager Recreation and Natural Resources (RNR)
Year started with Council:  2002

Career summary:

• Bachelor of Civil Engineering
• Technical Officer – consulting engineering company
• Business Admin officer (WCC – Works & Services)
• Asset Maintenance Engineer (WCC - Works & Services)
• Northern Divisional Engineer (WCC - Works & Services)
• Acting Manager Recreation and Natural Resources

What do you like about working at Wollongong City Council?
I like the diverse range and people I have worked with and projects I have worked on at WCC.  After 5 years at Council I can still meet new people and work on interesting exciting projects.  In most of my positions within Council, I get to visit sites and get outdoors and meet residents and user groups.

Current position responsibilites
Currently, I am acting in a Divisional Manager’s role with the Recreation and Natural Resources Division. RNR looks after parks (active and passive), beaches, pools, leisure centres and the Botanic Garden. The aim of the division is to work with our community in providing a range of programs and services that will sustain and improve the city’s recreation, lifestyle, biodiversity and natural assets. The division has over 250 staff and my primary role is to ensure the employees from RNR have a clear direction and deliver high quality work.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?
The most rewarding part of my role is working with good people that are working hard to make Wollongong a better place to live. Most of the people I work with take pride in the fact that they personally contribute to the enjoyment of others.

What is challenging about your role?
Managing a large number of staff can be difficult. Wollongong is changing and we need to step up and meet the changes head on. Sometimes people like the status quo and it can be difficult to persuade them to come along for the ride.

What have been your career highlights/proudest achievements at Council?
Being recognised as an Emerging Leader has been a highlight. WCC has invested time into helping me take a strategic approach to my career within Council. The biggest highlight to date is acting in the Divisional Manager’s role within the RNR division. It has been challenge, but one I am enjoying.

What skills, qualities and abilities would benefit someone interested in your field of work?
Good communication skills are extremely important. In any environment you will be working with other people and being able to set clear goals is important.  It is also important to keep a positive attitude. Sometimes when faced with difficult situations, it can be difficult to show enthusiasm, however maintaining this helps get through the work.

Name: Brenden
Current position: Marketing Manager 
Year started with Council: 1993

Career summary 

• Accounts Receivable Clerk (Finance)
• Advanced Diploma in Accounting
• Accounting Assistant (Finance)
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Assistant Accountant (Finance)
• Acting Assistant Manager (Windang Tourist Park)
• Administration Coordinator (Recreation & Natural Resources)
• Acting Assistant Manager Parks (Recreation and Natural Resources)
• Business Unit Manager – Marketing (Communication & Public Relations)

What do you like about working at Wollongong City Council?
I love the variety of work and working with talented and dedicated staff who take pride in their work. I enjoy the flexible working arrangements, the opportunities to move up into a variety of roles within Council and working with the community closely, engaging with them in the council decision making.

Current position responsibilities
As the Marketing Manager I look after the organisations marketing unit which produces all the marketing and promotional materials for council and our affiliated organisations. We have a diverse range of talented staff who look after graphic design, multi media, sign writing, advertising and market research.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?
Working with creative energetic staff to produce a huge range of marketing material, helping council and its many services and functions inform and educate our community. Working in a creative environment is a rewarding experience as every day is different with new challenges you have not encountered before.

What is challenging about your role?
Trying to fit every thing into the day, and making sure that council is presented in the best possible light to the community to satisfy their needs.

What have been your career highlights/proudest achievements at Council?
Being given to the opportunity to perform different roles in various divisions of Council such as managing the parks, sports fields and tree maintenance teams. My most recent achievement is being appointed to manage Council’s Marketing Unit by demonstrating the importance of a strong marketing unit and having Council embrace the work we do and value the importance of it to the community.

What skills, qualities and abilities would benefit someone interested in your field of work?
Experience in a variety of roles, the ability to think in someone else’s shoes, to absorb everything happening around you and use that to make an informed decision.

Name: Zoran
Current position: Acting Manager City Strategy 
Year started with Council: 2001

Career summary:

• Bachelor of Civil Engineering Hon(III)
• Drainage Engineer (Sutherland Shire Council)
• Subdivision Engineer (SSC)
• Traffic & Transport Engineer (SSC)
• Traffic/Development Enginee (Shellharbour City Council)
• Senior Development Engineer (SCC)
• Senior Development Engineer (Wollongong City Council)
• Section 94 Coordinator (WCC)
• Infrastructure Coordinator (WCC)
• Acting Manger City Strategy (WCC)

What do you like about working at Wollongong City Council?
Wollongong is a regional city and the nineth largest city in Australia. Council prides itself as being the City of Innovation. From a professional viewpoint, all of these factors mean that there are many diverse opportunities within the organisation…and you can sink your teeth into a wide range of exciting jobs and projects!

From a social viewpoint Wollongong is a unique location being both a large regional city and nestled between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Tasman Sea. The combination makes it a great place to work, rest and play. Although no much rest at work!

Current position responsibilities
I am currently managing the City Strategy Division of Council which is a diverse group of Strategic Planners as well as Traffic and Transport Engineers and GIS staff. The Division sets the role and direction for Council both now and into the future in terms of land uses, housing strategies, retail strategies, commercial strategies and economic strategies.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?
I have the pleasure of working with a team that is incredibly talented and dedicated to what they do. Local government is grass roots government and is about improving the quality of life for all our residents. Working with this team to try and make Wollongong a better place is very rewarding and we take pride in what we do and deliver.

What is challenging about your role?
Planning for the future so that new populations and residents can continue to enjoy the same levels of service, access to facilities and have good job prospects is very challenging. We often take for granted the things we did and the opportunities we had growing up. Continuing that legacy for our children despite the continued growth of the city is both complex and difficult.

What have been your career highlights/proudest achievements at Council?
Being picked as one of the inaugural Emerging Leaders was personally very satisfying. To be considered by your peers as being a potential leader is humbling. From a professional position I have always tried to promote the interests of pedestrians and cyclists, the hidden road users we often forget in our reverence of the car. I would like to think I have made a difference in providing better facilities for these groups as a consequence of my work.

What skills, qualities and abilities would benefit someone interested in your field of work?
I think the position of Manager City Strategy can be undertaken by a range of people, but the common thread would need to be a person with vision. It could be an engineer, planner, economist or someone with managerial skills. But most of all it needs someone with vision and drive to achieve that vision.

Name: Pier
Current position: Development Manger Building

Year started with Council: 1999

Career summary

• Year 12
• Trade Qualifications
• Tradesman
• Building Supervision qualifications
• Assistant Building Surveyor
• Diploma in Management
• Building Surveyor
• Graduate diploma urban and regional planning
• Development Manager

What do you like about working at Wollongong City Council?
I enjoy the daily interaction with colleagues and working in an environment where I can contribute to providing improved services to the public. Of course I also like the conditions of employment.

What do you do in your current role?
I manage a team of 13 building surveyors and one building cadet. This involves interacting with staff about the best to handle development and construction assessment matters including complaints. It also involves handling staffing issues like determining leave applications and discipline.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?
Meeting the goals set by our various council plans like our divisional business plan.

What is challenging about your role?
Managing the balance between public expectation and what we can practically deliver.

What have been your career highlights/proudest achievements at Council?
My career highlight was getting the job I currently hold because I was an internal applicant competing with external applicants. In my opinion, a positive attitude makes all the difference.

My proudest achievement has been the introduction of our fast track approval system in which we have reduced approval times of about 15% of all development applications to under seven days.

What skills, qualities and abilities would benefit someone interested in your field of work?
Qualifications help you get your foot through the door but you need to have a positive outlook and always try to find solutions rather than create obstacles. You also need to listern and relate well to people.

Name: Kerry
Current position: Strategic Business Manager
Year started with Council: 1993

Career summary:

• Bachelor of Arts (Psychology Major) 1992
• Youth Worker
• Community Development Worker
• Social Planner
• Master of Policy (Social) 1997
• Coordinator (various community services, Youth Services, Community Development etc)
• Australian Youth Ambassador for Development  - Mongolia (June 2000- January 2001)
• Acting Assistant Manager- (various community services eg AM Community Development and Planning, Community Projects and Facilities Manager)
• Strategic Business Manager
• Currently doing a Graduate Certificate in Business Excellence.

What do you like about working at Wollongong City Council?
I thought I would be here for three years- max- and yet I’ve been here for about 14! I’ve been able to change roles every couple of years as well as act in a variety of higher grade positions so building both specialist skills, knowledge and management experience over time. I’ve also had a few lots of time out, with six months overseas and maternity leave. That flexibility has generally kept me here, as well as the diversity, opportunities to move around the organisation, continuously learn, and the opportunities to be involved in some incredibly creative and interesting projects.

Current position responsibilites
Support and resource the organisation to undertake corporate planning and development requirements such as strategic, corporate and business planning. Part of my role includes a focus on Business Improvement which provides opportunities to look at what we’re doing and how we can improve on it. I’m also involved in developing an integrated planning and reporting model for Council and facilitating an organisational wide service review project.

What do you find most rewarding about your role?
Constant learning and being able to contribute to improvements which lead to better outcomes for the community.

What is challenging about your role?
Managing peak work times and the diverse needs of the organisation and various stakeholders within a small team. Learning some of the new ‘technical’ details that go with the role in a relatively short period of time.

What have been your career highlights/proudest achievements at Council?
In the early days, being a part of a new team and the newly opened Wollongong Youth Centre (1993) when there was no other youth facility like it in the country.  Have been plenty of highlights along the way though. More recently for me the move from community services to corporate was an exciting and positive move.

What skills, qualities and abilities would benefit someone interested in your field of work?

• An ability to think big picture whilst having the ability to design processes and build the detail to deliver
• A ‘desire’ to listen, learn, critically analyse and decipher information from an incredibly diverse range of people and do something constructive with it
• Time management!
• Report writing skills
• Research, planning and analysis skills
• Team work
• An ability to work under scrutiny in a fairly competitive and changing environment.

Last Modified: 18/06/2008