Susan Colliver

7.00 AM

I always start my day with a coffee and breakfast! I’m working from home today and before logging on, I take time to make sure my cat Boris is settled so he isn’t jumping on my desk.

8.00 AM

Time to log in! As soon as I’m logged on, I check my Outlook, and MS Teams messages from other team members and other Grads I’ve connected with. I ensure my to-do list in OneNote has everything on it and I’m organised for the day. For any meetings I check who is attending, so I can learn any new names and their role - I find this helps get to know people in our virtual environment.

I’m currently in my second rotation in the program, working in the Learning and Development (L&D) team. My first rotation was in the Workforce Management team where I learned the APS role classification levels, the structure of Job Family Architecture and how these are linked to each role’s Job Profile.

I’ve really enjoyed the tasks and stretch assignments I’ve been given; it’s helped me build my expertise with exposure to strategic HR thinking.

8.30 AM

I have a quick daily team catch-up where we discuss our work and progress of assigned tasks. My manager also goes over new work that has come through the day before and priorities are arranged accordingly. We always take the time to check in on how everyone is going each day; it’s really strengthened our team’s connection while working from home.

9.00 AM

I start with my priority work and use our online system called Jira to update my project work. I’m working on the strategy for ATO’s licenced training provider, and I check on staff participation reports for each course for the week.

9.30 AM

I attend a webinar for the Future of Work and prioritising Mental health. This is a key focus of the organisation to support staff through the pandemic and into the future.

10.30 AM

I attend a meeting with a team in the Superannuation area that my team is supporting to design a training program to assist staff who deal with building their resilience and improving their capabilities to deal with challenging client interactions.

Following this meeting, I send an email to all participants to summarise topics that were discussed, and action points for each. I also make sure our Jira board is updated with the progress.

12.30 PM

Lunch time! I make my lunch and make sure to take time away from my desk for 30 mins and get outside, if possible.

1.00 PM

I attend the weekly Branch meeting led by our team Director, it’s great to hear what the other L&D teams are working on with other areas of the ATO including IT and Data, Law and Practice and our Client Engagement Branch. This meeting includes an update by our Graduate Programs team and its need for L&D support. This is a high demand area for our teams with over 300 graduates each year in streams across the ATO!

2.00 PM

I have a meeting with my Graduate Program manager in one week, so I take time today to work on a task for the program which is to write a ‘STAR’ (Situation, Task, Action and Result) example of what I have learned in this rotation. This example aims to help develop our skills for writing job applications and I focus on demonstrating an example of my current role in this rotation. I then have my team leader review it, so I make sure I’ve allowed enough time for her to complete the review before next week. I also review and update the progress of my goals in the ATO’s performance system ‘Compass’.

3.00 PM

I keep working through my projects and make sure I’m on top of my to-do list for the day. I read any new emails or articles that have been published in our internal news from the leadership or staff. Today there was an article about ‘taking care of your mental health while working from home’. I also check to see if I’ve received any articles or news from my membership with the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI). This free membership is one of the perks of being part of the Australian Government Graduate Program HR stream!

5.00 PM

Time to log off for the day. I complete my timesheet and make sure I log out of all the work systems I let my team know that I’m heading off for the day and clear off my desk. Time to unwind for the day and give my cat Boris some attention.