Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti
12 mins ago
Hanna Stanford didn’t have to wait long for the perfect job.
Hanna Stanford has landed the job that many business graduates dream of. Yet, after three years of smooth sailing through her Bachelor of Business Studies at EIT, walking into the professional world was somewhat challenging. “I started my job at Tracta in Napier one day before lockdown. Everything I needed to learn, I had to learn via video conferences,” the 22-year old smiles. “It was rather intense, but I’m lucky that I have a great support team and we stayed well-connected thanks to regular virtual catch-ups.”
Hanna has been living in Taradale all her life. After graduating from Taradale High School, she initially wanted to take a gap year. After all, there were too many exciting opportunities waiting out there to be explored. But following a few career conversations with her father, the National Sales Manager of Mission Estate Winery, Hanna decided to swap a carefree gap year for serious business.
Studying locally at EIT had many benefits and helped to keep her student loan low: Hanna studied one year free thanks to an EIT Year Degree 13 scholarship and also earned some extra money as a Checkout Supervisor at New World – all while being able to live at home.
“I really enjoyed it and enriched myself throughout the entire journey,” she says. She established great relationships with her peers and lecturers and also put a lot of effort into creating professional connections. She participated in network evenings and also did an internship at Business Hawke’s Bay gaining valuable work experience.
Hanna finished her last exam in November 2019 and decided to take the summer off to recharge and travel. Then Covid-19 hit and Hanna applied just in time for the job that – after two interviews – was all hers.
Hanna started as a member of the account service team but was promoted only one month into the job. Now she is project managing one of Tracta’s largest clients. “This job couldn’t be more spot on. I always wanted to go into marketing and management and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
