Success for Student at Northern Beaches Council

An internship through ICMS landed Jessica Good a job at Northern Beaches Council where she has worked for the past two years. She shares how her stressful but rewarding events production coordinator role takes her right into the heart of the action.

Jessica Good, Australia

Bachelor of Business, 2015

Events Production Coordinator with the Events team, Northern Beaches Council, Australia

Q: What is your current role? Outline your professional experience.
I work on everything from New Year’s Eve events, Australia Day and Taste of Manly to Citizenship Ceremonies and Art Exhibitions. My role at the moment exposes me to all aspects of event production from logistics, marketing, sponsorships and dealing with stakeholders, contractors and performers.

Q: What career achievements are you especially proud of?
This year I was tasked with sourcing, programming and managing the entertainment for two of the stages at the Taste of Manly Food and Wine Festival along Manly beach. It was really exciting standing on the side of stage and seeing tens of thousands of people enjoy your months of hard work, late nights and stressful days and to see to all come together and know that you, personally, have contributed to a very successful two day event.

Another highlight was coordinating this year’s Anzac Day Dawn service. This wasn’t the most glamorous or exciting event I’ve worked on – starting work at 3am on the day wasn’t easy – but it was one of the most important and rewarding events I have coordinated. Organising hundreds of citizenship ceremonies a year is also pretty rewarding.

Q: How has your ICMS degree contributed to you achieving your professional goals?
I guess everyone’s professional goal is to have a job they generally enjoy going to every day. I’m lucky enough to have that and it’s through my internship at Manly council back in 2014 that I landed the job I’ve now been in for two years. ICMS encouraged me to get as much hands on experience throughout my degree which definitely helped in the beginning of my career. There were also little things, such as mock interviews and having to wear business attire throughout my course that definitely made the transition from ICMS to work a lot more natural. My career has progressed from being an Event Officer to my current role as Production Coordinator.

Q: What were the major contributing factors to your decision to study at ICMS?
I’ve always been set on studying Event Management and to live locally, so choosing to study at ICMS was a no brainer. The small class sizes and more personal teaching approach definitely appealed and made the choice a pretty easy one.

Q: What were your highlights during your time at ICMS?
My six month overseas exchange experience to ICMS’s sister university in San Francisco was amazing and something I’ll always be so happy I did. I also really enjoyed getting professional experience through my involvement in the Student Representative Council. Looking back, I’m so grateful that I got the best of both worlds at ICMS; I attended heaps of social events and made lifelong friends but then also got to the practice the corporate side to events through my lectures and internships.

Q: What would be your advice to someone considering studying at ICMS?
Look into the scholarships on offer before starting at ICMS. And if you do end up studying there then really try to get involved and get the most out of the whole experience.

Q: What is the best thing about working in your industry?
Not one day is the same as you are constantly exposed to different aspects of the job. Personally, I also love the wide range of events I get to be a part of.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone weighing up whether a role in hospitality/event management is the right career for them?
First of all, you have to love the industry and be willing to put in a lot in order to get a lot out of it. If you’re looking for a 9-5 job then it probably isn’t for you.