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As Senior Finance Manager, Projects and Transformation, Andrew provides financial expertise for a variety of projects.

"My role involves establishing the costs, risks and benefits of projects to the organisation. I also have a voluntary role as Treasurer of the Wellington Chinese Sports and Cultural Centre."

"I have been involved in some big projects with ANZ in Melbourne and these have required a lot of change in finance. This has been challenging but exciting and fun all in the same breath."

"I have two boys who are six and eight years old and a beautiful young daughter who is two. ANZ is great at giving me time off to go to my kids' sports, drama or art presentations."

"If I take time off during the day I can work later or work from home. I have been working one day at home since my daughter was born."

"I've got a great job but it's the people that make it a fantastic place to work. There is a real culture of openness and sharing here."

"Although I got my job through my qualifications and experience in finance, I can definitely see opportunities for working outside that area. That's the great thing about ANZ - there are endless directions that your career can go in."

 

Sue's Maintenance team provides administrative support to ANZ's network of branches: "We do things like changing addresses, looking after solicitors' funds and organising the bank accounts of people that have died."

"I have had one of the branches call me and say their toilet was broken though" laughs Sue.

"I joined ANZ in 1997 and I've worked my way up since. I never dreamt that I would one day have a job like I do now. In a big organisation like ANZ there are lots of opportunities. There's always somewhere else you can take your career."

"ANZ continues to help me develop as a person. There's a real culture of 'the whole self' and I find everything I learn on the job enriches my home life too. Training around communications skills, coaching skills, having difficult conversations and working in a performance culture has developed my thinking and understanding of situations both at work and at home."

"There are so many opportunities at ANZ. However, right now I am comfortable where I am. I enjoy my job and am incredibly energised by working as part of a team. I also love that ANZ commits to its communities. Last year some other managers and I spent a day at Ronald McDonald House cooking and baking. We probably made 250 meals that day, which was really hard work but incredibly rewarding."

"When I first start a job, I always outline to my manager that my husband and two children are my number one priority. On the odd occasion when I've had an emergency call to pick up one of the kids, it's never been a problem to drop everything and go."

"I've also been trying to get to the gym more, and I now start later in the day so I can drop the kids off and go to the gym before work. I do my work then finish later. It's great to have that flexibility around when I work."

"I'm really proud to work at ANZ. They really look after me and I'm very loyal to them."

 

Arshini Damodaran
Personal Manager

"I joined ANZ 18 years ago when my children started kindergarten. I became a casual part-time Teller, working during the school term and having the school holidays off. A couple of years later, I took a permanent part-time position at ANZ, and then when my children started school I took up a full-time position."

"In 1995 I changed roles to become an Information Officer. Being in this role expanded my knowledge to the point where I had the confidence to take on the challenge of being a Sales Officer. From here I took on an even greater challenge as a Personal Manager."

"It's been a fantastic 18 years with a great organisation. ANZ has given as much to me as I have given back. It has been a productive partnership where my personal and professional goals have synchronised in harmony."

 

"I joined the organisation in 1998. Today I am the General Manager Operations and Call Centre and I have a team of over 1,000 staff reporting to me."

Leanne and Hugh now have a six-year-old son, Jordan. "Even before I had my son, the organisation offered great flexibility around my working hours. I could go to the gym in the morning, start later and then work late. As I have progressed in my career, I have continued to have this flexibility which means that I am able to drop my son off at school in the morning and then work later in the evening."

"My career is important to me and I am passionate about my role in supporting the organisation achieve its vision of becoming New Zealand's leading bank through quality people, quality service and quality performance."

"Good people, good relationships, good leadership and great opportunities make this organisation a great place to work" says Leanne. "We value our people and we want them to succeed."

"I've found many opportunities for my team and myself at ANZ. If you have the drive and determination, and you are proactive, you will succeed."

Since that time I've worked in the various branch roles before entering the bank's Graduate Programme in 2007. During that year I relished the opportunity to discover the various businesses that comprise ANZ, spending time in those teams to learn more about what they do.

After the Grad Programme, I returned to retail banking, where I worked as Assistant Manager in two larger branches. This was a good grounding for my present challenge of Branch Manager at Waiheke Island. I love the variety and challenge in my job as no two days are the same. On top of that I have a fantastic team who embrace the personal and professional development focus our organisation has for its people, something which has motivated me from the start."

 

One such opportunity was Go Week in Melbourne with 49 other New Zealand grads and 300-odd Australian grads. There were plenty of networking opportunities (other grads, senior New Zealand and Australian managers and Group CEO Mike Smith) and I can honestly say that I have made some close friends through the Grad Programme.

Coming back to New Zealand it was straight into on-the-job training. This was a fantastic way to learn, members of my team and business unit were very patient and willing to help me out wherever they could. Given the way of the economic climate in 2008, their patience and teachings were very much appreciated! Training within Commercial also included getting exposure to other business units including transactional banking, trade and markets.

The Grad Programme was another way to get exposure across business units. Being confronted with a live business issue, my graduate team was charged with researching, networking and presenting our proposed solution to senior management.

As a graduate I attended several learning labs and training workshops throughout the year, guest facilitators would coach us on various disciplines - these were helpful for either our project or in the work environment. This was also a chance to network with other grads working in various locations around the country.

The Graduate Programme has provided me with opportunities that probably wouldn’t have arisen had I not joined; networking, learning labs, on the job training and of course Melbourne!

The learning curve in the first year is extremely steep, but it’s really rewarding when you get to see how far you have come. Joining such a large and diverse organisation means having an open mind and grasping whatever opportunities arise - whether they are given to you or from your own spotting. For these reasons, I would recommend joining the Graduate Programme."

 

I was eager to work in such a dynamic industry. I visited the ANZ stand at a career fair and was pleased to see that a marketing graduate position was offered within the Graduate Programme. I was excited about the potential opportunity to work in such a large organisation and being exposed to marketing for more than one brand. I was also attracted by the many career choices and the organisation's flexibility in finding the career that suits every individual.

When I met a past graduate and other marketing employees at an information day they seemed like the kind of people that I wanted to work with. They were really passionate about the marketing team and the type of work they did on a day-to-day basis. I was amazed at the number of different projects that were included in the wider Marketing business and was energised by the chance to be exposed to such a broad range of projects during my year as a graduate. It was the opportunities within the business and within the Graduate Programme that in my eyes really made the organisation a stand out employer.

As part of the Graduate Programme I went to Melbourne for GO Week where graduates from all over ANZ, including New Zealand, Australia, and Bangalore, got together. It was great to meet all the other graduates and be able to build relationships with people who were in the same position, starting out in a new job. It was also really interesting to gain an insight into other areas of the bank through the different graduates. I still keep in touch with many of the graduates; I think we all find it is very useful to have each other as friends and we often find we can use each other as contacts across the business.

On the Graduate Programme we were split into teams of five from across the business and we were assigned a coach who we met at GO Week. We met for learning labs throughout the year with all of the other graduates. Above this, I could contact my coach at any time. My graduate coach offered that extra support throughout my year on the Graduate Programme, it was great to be able to talk to someone who was outside my business unit yet had so much experience and knowledge within the organisation. My coach offered advice on my career and was a sounding board as I found my feet within the organisation.

In my year on the Graduate Programme I worked with many people within the wider Marketing Communications team. I was able to experience parts of many marketing campaigns; this was a great introduction into Marketing and the Bank. I was able to meet and network with many internal business units and advertising agencies.

Through the Graduate Programme I was also given an opportunity to go on a secondment to Group Strategy for a month. This was an extremely valuable experience where I had the chance to work with a different team in a different area of the bank. This opportunity demonstrates the scope of what the organisation has to offer, such a diverse range of jobs and a very supportive environment to participate in all areas of the Bank."

 

For a new grad, especially one without much practical experience, the programme provides a great base. It teaches you about dealing with both businesses and people. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.

One of the real highlights was the people I met through the programme. I'm still in touch with my 'buddy' from the programme - I was invited to her wedding in Australia last year. My Line Manager and mentor were fantastic. They really motivated me and I was able to bounce ideas off them, and pick up valuable lessons from them along the way. I also got to meet many senior leaders and was able to understand how they approached things from a more strategic point of view.

Another highlight was the opportunity to fast-track my career. After a year in the Graduate Programme, I was fortunate enough to become an ANZ Branch Manager, which was a terrific experience. It taught me to interact with staff and customers at a level that I hadn't previously been exposed to.

This is an exciting organisation to be working for, with an amazing range of opportunities. For example, so far I've worked in Retail, Institutional and Corporate, and because it's part of a global company there's also the chance to work overseas. The people are great and you're really encouraged to learn. At this stage of my career that's important - I want to learn as much as I can. At the same time, I've got a pretty good work/life balance. I feel like I've made a good decision joining the organisation – I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I'd say recent graduates should really consider joining the programme. There are so many opportunities to learn and develop your career. I'd also say the best approach in your interview is just to be yourself."