Meet John: Transitioning into a cybersecurity career with carsales.com Ltd
Carsales and Digital Jobs
[Digital Jobs. Your time is now. Victoria State Government]
[Vision: View of John walking through office]
John Austin - Studied cyber security and data privacy. Now works at carsales.com as a Cyber Security Specialist
My name is John Austin and my current role here at carsales.com is a Security Analyst.
[Vision: View of John working at computer]
For about the last 30 years I’ve been working in the IT industry and I was finding it difficult to get a job so I thought one way that I would be able to find employment was to maybe pursue a different career.
Anthea Corridon - General Manager - People Partnering, Carsales
[Vision: View of Anthea and John walking through office and talking to each other]
Finding digital talent in Australia in particular is extremely challenging.
Australia doesn’t have enough skilled digital professionals to meet the demand of industry.
I’m Anthea Corridon, I’m General Manager of People Partnering at Carsales.
We have seen our team double, triple in size and the demand for digital skills has really increased within our organisation.
John
[Vision: View of John working at computer]
From the Digital Jobs program I chose a short course with RMIT and doing the data privacy and the cyber security program.
So my typical learning day was sort of stretched out over a week, a couple of hours each day.
[Vision: View of Anthea and John talking to each other in the office]
Sometimes on the weekend I would spend some time doing project work etcetera, but I was fortunate enough to be able to take my time with the course.
Anthea
[Vision: View of Anthea and John talking to each other in the office]
Short-term I think for the candidates, the real opportunity is getting that industry experience, so trying to put some of those skills you learned in the course into practice.
Long-term the program sets them up really well to evolve and build their digital career.
[Vision: View of Anthea and John talking to each other in the office]
I think for other businesses getting involved it would be go in with an open mind, be open to looking at people who don’t have that traditional education in STEM or digital skills, look at the experiences that they can bring from their previous work, from their previous life. Their maturity and their general willingness to start a new career in digital has been really beneficial.
John
[Vision: View of John working at computer in the office]
Over the program I feel that I’ve changed in a positive way, I have a lot more confidence in my abilities to take on new skills, to take on especially in the digital workspace, and it just gave me an overall confidence and a new lease on my career.
[Vision: View of John posing in front of computer in the office]
[Digital Jobs. Your time is now - vic.gov.au/digitaljobs. Victoria State Government.
Since its inception in 1997, carsales.com Ltd has grown to employ 1,700 people across 9 countries. With that growth has come an increased need for workers with digital skills.
As General Manager of People Partnering, Anthea Corridon, explains, “I think it's well documented that Australia doesn't have enough skilled digital professionals to meet demand so we're all competing for the same small pool of talent.”
Digital Jobs has provided carsales.com Ltd with an alternative pipeline of talent to that of traditional recruitment avenues.
“What really appealed to us was the diversity of candidates and accessing a new talent pool who are really passionate about their new career opportunities,” says Anthea.
“The people we've had through the program so far have brought their maturity, life skills, previous work experiences and a real passion to learn and to grow their career in a digital space. They’ve also been able to contribute to our business in ways we didn’t expect. It means they’re able to jump into a project and be a part of the team from day one.”
"John was able to make a valuable contribution from day one thanks to his training and previous experience. He helped build our new framework, processes and procedures for our global cybersecurity system.
After spending many years working in sales roles in the IT industry, John found stepping into a cyber security role a great opportunity to apply his experience in a new career direction".
“I think it was skills like stakeholder management and running workplace activities that you don’t get taught but just pick up, that helped me. I’ve definitely made the right decision in choosing cybersecurity and taking up the opportunity here at carsales.”
Anthea sees the value of the Digital Jobs program to businesses looking to recruit workers for upskilling in digital roles.
“carsales.com Ltd would 100 percent recommend the program to other businesses. We've had an overwhelmingly positive experience. The candidates have been really high quality, and I think for us, it's opened up a whole new talent pool that we're really excited to have access to.”
Page last updated: 3 October 2022