Life beyond Radford
Hamish Gordon
- Senior Enterprise Relationship Manager
What does life look for you now?
After four years in Singapore my family and I moved back to Australia and living in Sydney.
Tell us what you are passionate about?
I really enjoy Australian sports, spending time with my friends and current affairs. I am also pretty handy in the kitchen and enjoy cooking up a storm
What is your favourite Radford moment?
The last few weeks of year 12 was really special. There was this wonderful combination of something finishing and beginning at the same time. The sense of new found freedom will never again exist in your life. I was very fortunate to be able to share it withe a group of people who are still very important in my life.
Do you have a particular role model or inspirational figure from Radford or now?
There were a number of really high quality teachers at Radford during my tenure. My two older brothers completed their schooling there as well, and were fortunate enough to have teachers like George Huitker, Pat Craddock and Graeme Wigg involved with all of our schooling.
How easy was it to decide what to do in life?
I was never of the opinion that you decided what you were going to do in life, rather it seemed to happen. I would say spending time overseas before going to University was the best decision I ever made. I was forced to do some growing up and learnt a lot of valuable life lessons.
Did your further study or career go exactly as you'd planned?
I had an idea of where my strengths lay in terms of work. It involved talking to and being involved with people, managing relationships and the social side of things. This lead me to sales roles and then into strategic functions I've enjoyed over the last five or so years.
Very few people have a black and white career plan that is set in stone. Not saying it doesn't happen, but spend time looking at academic qualifications and actual role titles and you'll see people develop careers themselves.
The best advice I've heard about career is that it's a sprint not a marathon, so relax.
What advice do you have for current students?
Get out experience the world. Get a job, any job, learn to work hard and build new networks. Enjoy the last couple years of your schooling it's great time in your life.
Skills. Learn skills. Don't worry about degrees so much and try not to put to much pressure on yourself to smash it and get straight into University. No other generation is going to deal with the amount of change in your working life so be cautious of those selling you a path steeped in old thinking. Our universities are learning about this as quickly as you are so feel free to back yourself.
Anything else that you would like to share?
I work at LinkedIn so pretty happy to discuss this stuff if anyone's interested