Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

Placement organization

Name of organization: Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority
Town/city: Sydney
Country: Australië
Website: http://www.shfa.nsw.gov.au/

Student

Name of student: Tim Manders

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Government Agency
Organization’s activities: The main role of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority is the management of the land significant cultural heritage resources that fall under their jurisdiction
Target group of the organization: Residents and tourists (Domestic and International)
Company culture: The company is quite informal in terms of internal communications and interactions. There is a set hierarchy but everyone seems to be on one level, including the interns, which is nice.
Number of employees: Around 164
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing and Partnerships: Precinct, Product and Event Marketing.
On the Darling Harbour marketing team.
Brief description of your daily activities: Make the What’s On Poster. Assist in the marketing process for events and projects. Ad hoc tasks as required. Coordinating projects with different departments. There are a lot of different responsibilities while working at SHFA, every day is different.
Brief description of your company assignment: Creation of a Visitor Satisfaction Report:
– Background research of several comparable destinations regarding methods of feedback collection, benchmarking, visitor drivers.
– Questionnaire results aimed at defining what drives someone to visit Darling Harbour, what they enjoy most and what detracts from the experience.
– In precinct qualitative interviews aimed at discovering key visitor insights into what drives visitation to the precinct, the key positives and negatives that encourage/discourage visitation.
– Analysis of results, and recommendations which can be made to assist the authority in capitalising on strengths and managing weaknesses.
– Research summary presentation to the Darling Harbour marketing team
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Very friendly and helpful supervisor.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Stress proof, sociable, creative, team player and independent.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Paint
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet
How did you go to work every day? Public Transport (Train)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, working holiday visa
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Viathe website of the Australian government.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? One day
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Only if you feel that it would be necessary

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € approx. 1000
Accommodation (monthly): € 620
Local transport (monthly): € 80
General costs of living (monthly): € 180
Costs of visa: € 270
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Nothing, occasionally a free lunch or drink.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I used to live in Sydney so i was well prepared in terms of what to expect. Sydney’s culture is quite relaxed and laid back in most cases.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? no

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: timmanders@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: – Do not wear jeans to work (except maybe on Friday)

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is a lot of things to do in and around the city, there is something for everyone.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link