Two OPAIC students had the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the project management industry and to network with professionals recently.
Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Management students Fabianna Cinelli and Anastasia Timoshkina attended the Project Management Institute of New Zealand (PMINZ) conference at SkyCity in Auckland last week.
Fabianna, who comes from Brazil, says she was introduced to the PMINZ during her project management paper. She came across the conference while researching the institute.
She noticed that students could apply to have their attendance at the conference sponsored by writing a letter about why they thought the event would be useful for their career.
Fabianna, who already has degrees in communications and psychology, says she oversaw projects in her former HR role back in Brazil, so already had some interest in the project management area. She decided to apply for sponsorship and was successful.
She says the conference on Thursday and Friday was “awesome”. She met a lot of nice people and listened to talks about topics such as soft skills for project management, technology, general project management and construction.
Fabianna was particularly impressed by her sponsor, an Australian project management expert who has written two best-selling books.
Students also had the opportunity to attend welcome drinks and a dinner at the conference.
Anastasia, from Russia, heard about the conference through her friend and classmate Fabianna.
Anastasia has a degree in linguistics and worked as a Personal Assistant to a General Director for five years back home.
She says she had a little bit of knowledge about project management before she came to New Zealand and started her project management paper.
Like Fabianna, Anastasia wrote a letter explaining her eagerness to learn about project management and was successful in getting sponsorship.
At the conference Anastasia met her sponsor, the director of Project Box, who explained that project management needs good young professionals more than ever before. That’s why he gave this opportunity to Anastasia as a beginner.
Anastasia says she saw the two-day conference as an “amazing opportunity to meet the right people in the right place”.
Fabianna and Anastasia were two of just seven students selected for sponsorship.
