Graduate Opportunities

ARTHUR CHENG

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) graduate program

Arthur has a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in Social Science and Policy and Human Resource Management (HRM) from the University of New South Wales. He is currently completing Honours in HRM on a part-time basis.

When were you selected for the CBA graduate program? What is your current position with CBA?
I was selected for the 2007 intake of the CBA GradConnect graduate program. I joined CBA first as a summer intern in 2005, then worked part-time for the following year before starting on GradConnect on a full-time basis. I’m currently Manager Strategic Programs in Mortgage Services, Retail Banking Services. There are 4 key parts to my role – people engagement and development; process improvement; change and quality management; and improving customer experience.

What attracted you to CBA?
Frankly, when I first applied to the CBA summer program, it was one of the few programs with an HR stream around, so that was fairly simple! The fact that CBA offers such a program, however, is testimony to its people focus. CBA is a big organisation that can provide a diverse career and many opportunities to learn and grow. It’s a well-known brand name, is well connected to the community and touches many people’s lives in different ways. The organisation has great breadth and depth across a wide spectrum of financial services. It’s an organisation that strives to improve all the time, and together with the great people we have, makes CBA an exciting and dynamic place to work.

What were the main benefits of the Summer internship you did with CBA?
The key benefit is getting a sense of what working in HR in a full-time professional capacity is all about. I had the opportunity to rotate throughout different parts of the business unit and got my hands dirty on some mini-projects. It was an ideal way to “trial” whether a career in HR was for me, experience CBA and the workplace culture, get to know the excellent people around, and learn more broadly about the corporate world. The fact that there were early graduate offers up for grabs was, of course, very welcomed!

As a recent graduate, what are you looking for from an employer? What conditions/aspects are most important to you when it comes to your working life?
The opportunity to develop both professionally and personally is most important to me. This includes access and support for appropriate education, experience and exposure, and crucially, that there is good leadership. An organisation that is progressive and open to new ideas, provides challenging and engaging work, and readily recognises and reward individual and team contributions. The ability to work flexibly and maintain good work/life balance are also key. If you ever feel work is taking over your life, alarm bells should be ringing!!

Where do you see yourself in five years time?
I see myself working in a HR business partnership role. I’m going to study counselling next year, so I better have completed it by then! Also would be completing or have completed a postgraduate degree, and probably had a stint working overseas. Success to me is about making a positive difference to the people around me and beyond, so I’ll be doing something that contributes to it. Hopefully have toured Europe by then, found the love of my life and think about starting a family?? Things change so quickly nowadays, so while it’s crucial to think ahead, we should also be flexible about it!