Always Travelling

I realised yesterday that I'm at one of those important moments in life - a turning point - where I'll take a new direction and start a new adventure.

I have accepted an offer of employment at Cooperative Bulk Handling as a graduate in their country operations division, and I'm really excited about it. What is CBH? Here's a spiel from their website:

The Western Australian based CBH Group stores, handles and markets grain. The WA harvest averages ten million tonnes annually, of which 95 per cent is exported, and represents up to 40 per cent of the nation’s average annual production. The CBH Group is a leading grains industry organisation, marketing grain to over 20 export destinations and with a total storage capacity in excess of 19 million tonnes. CBH is committed to maximising returns to its growers. CBH is controlled by over 5,500 grower-shareholders, who plant and harvest grain grown across some 320,000 square kilometres that comprise the Western Australian grainbelt.

And on the span of their operations, where I am headed:

The CBH Group receives, handles, stores and outloads bulk grain at almost 200 receival points throughout the state’s grain belt. The CBH Group's receival points are located across five management zones. Each zone is further divided into areas, with 28 areas throughout the state's grain belt. Administration offices servicing these areas exist at Albany, Corrigin, Esperance, Geraldton, Katanning, Koorda, Kwinana, Lake Grace, Merredin, Morawa, Northam and Wongan Hills. Grain from each receival point is transported to one of four strategically located CBH port terminals at Albany, Esperance, Geraldton and Kwinana, or to the Metro Grain Centre (MGC) located in Forrestfield.

Here's a screenshot of the admin office locations just mentioned; I was using google earth to get a good feel for the area. Click on the pic for a bigger version. Forrestfield is a suburb of Perth (for my international friends who aren't familiar with the layout of the south-western corner of Australia). To give you some idea of the distances between places on the map, Forrestfield and Albany are separated by a little over 400kms.

I start the Monday after exams finish (ie, the last week of November). The plan is for twelve months of rotations throughout the business, followed by a permanent placement. I'll probably have a couple of days orientation in the Perth office and then head straight down to Albany until January, come back to Perth for Jan-Feb, and then back to Albany again for perhaps another 3 months. Exciting, to say the least!

This job came out of the blue. The honest truth is that it is the only one I applied to, because it was the only one which didn't have an online application containing essay questions. (It was a busy period, I was focused on my uni work, and I thought I was going to teach English in Japan in 2008). This is funny, but I can see the sense in asking candidates questions face to face rather than gathering the same old copy-paste answers they provide in all grad program applications. The selection process was rigorous - online application (classes, grades & resume), phone interview, assessment centre, panel interview - and that makes me feel confident in the quality of the graduate development program. This company has a real focus on developing its people - I've already felt the real sense of community behind it - it's a coop, not a corporate.

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of the position however is that it's broad and operations management based. My qualifications are (or will be once I graduate) in HR, industrial relations, and psychology - and although those qualifications will certainly be an asset for me and the company, on paper I was probably not the logical choice for them. Most other candidates had backgrounds in agribusiness or agriculture. I'll be entering an area from which I can move in many directions - towards management, consultancy, workplace relations, or a HR advisory role. I'm thinking of getting accounting qualifications in the next few years to explore the management option further. Lets' face it, most people in operations management have technical (ie, engineering) backgrounds. It's rare for someone to move up from a company's HR division to an operations management role. In any case, making a start in operations was an opportunity I hadn't considered.

I'll need to quickly become knowledgeable in agriculture and the science behind the industry, as well as the political, social, and technological movements and trends in the area. This is a challenge I'm looking forward to - and it will give purpose to the copious amounts of news I read whenever I get the chance. I've decided to start a focus blog on the topic, and will post the url here once I do so.

Lastly, moving around to different locations will mean I will have to keep my 'outgoing' hat on - otherwise it could get a bit lonely! I love meeting new people and so I'm looking forward to it. If you happen to know anyone in Albany, please feel free to send them my email and mobile number - I'd be more than happy to meet up for beer or coffee, etc etc.

Only 9 weeks till I start!

posted by Nic  # 4:38 PM