Lachlan Jamieson believes carrying out a student vacation placement at Powerlink is a great way to understand how a large, regulated business works and the importance of teams pulling together.
Studying a Bachelor of Economics and Arts with a major in psychology and political science at UQ, the 19-year-old who prefers to be called Lachie, is revelling in what he describes as “a really interesting industry.”
“I’m working in Powerlink’s Business Strategy and Improvement team and liaising with different parts of the business including Finance, mapping business processes and helping to enable process improvement,” he said.
"I am also helping my team create and implement a strategic initiative governance framework.
“While what I’m doing doesn’t directly relate to my degree, economics can be applied in so many ways and I’m benefitting from working in a team environment where everyone works together to lend their expertise to each other’s projects.”
Lachie said he has been charged with a degree of independence in what he is doing which is giving him an even greater sense of ownership of the small part he’s playing in the program of work.
“I’m being supervised and provided with lots of guidance and assistance, but I’m also being challenged to think about things – to tackle problems and work through them,” Lachie said.
“Through my vacation placement I was expecting to experience a practical introduction to an office environment however Powerlink has provided me with so much more.”
Lachie said the vacation work placement is the first he has undertaken and he’s keen to return to Powerlink.
“This is a big business that serves a critical function and I’ve really enjoyed talking to so many people with different skills and specialist knowledge,” he said.
“I would love to come back and work in network regulation.”
