The International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) recently hosted its annual Career Insights event, designed to provide University of Technology Sydney (UTS) event management students with an opportunity to gain insight into the many potential career paths available – not only at ICC Sydney, but also in the broader business events industry.
ICC Sydney’s CEO, Geoff Donaghy, stated that such insight and training opportunities are essential to ensuring the sustained growth and success of the industry. “By nurturing emerging talent from all backgrounds, we’re ensuring our industry stays innovative and relevant in a rapidly changing world. We believe in empowering the next generation to build fulfilling careers that contribute to the progress and sustainability of our industry,” Donaghy said.
The event featured presentations by industry leaders and professionals, including ICC Sydney’s Director of Events Services, Malu Barrios, Director of Culinary Services, Lynell Peck, and Director of Human Resources, Luke Fleming.
Fleming emphasized that ICC Sydney provides more than just jobs, creating pathways for long-term careers. He said, “As part of our commitment to fostering new talent, it was fantastic to have this year’s UTS event management undergraduate students join us to hear about the avenues open to them, to learn new skills, and help pave their way into the dynamic business events industry. We can’t wait to see the pathways they’ll take.”
In addition to presentations from ICC leaders, the students also heard from UTS alumni about their experiences of building careers at ICC Sydney, as well as other opportunities to consider within the wider events and hospitality industry. These include careers in business development, communications, event services, culinary services, audiovisual services, information technology, human resources, finance, and administration, among others.
According to a press release, ICC offers “many professional development opportunities to equip young people with the knowledge and experience necessary to develop successful careers in the events industry” such as the AV Graduate Program, as well as the paid and certified Professional Growth Traineeship Program, both of which have reportedly been “effective in recruiting emerging talent and providing opportunities to thrive and grow in the industry, with many graduates being retained for casual and permanent roles at the venue”.
In 2022, ICC employed 14 new trainees, engaged in over 2,147 internal and external training courses, and invested in 3,441 training hours for its diverse in-house team of events professionals.
Looking ahead, ICC Sydney will host the UTS Startups Summit in June, which seeks to inspire Year 9 and 10 high school students to immerse themselves in the technology sector and to discover future career pathways.
