PEER PODCAST

Tess Lawley owes much of her career to a decision she made while completing her university degree; the decision to volunteer with SYN Media. Tess completed her Bachelor of Communication (Professional Communication) degree at RMIT, with a third year so jam packed it is hard to believe she survived it all. Tess used her final year as a way to gain as much experience and as many skills as possible. She held three different jobs and multiple volunteering opportunities, as well as attending her classes and lectures to finalise her degree.

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Tess held a position as a casual radio trainer at SYN, a community media organisation, during her final year, and was lucky enough to be offered a part time project coordinator position just after her graduation. Throughout her time at SYN, as well as through her other volunteering opportunities, Tess was able to test out all sorts of different roles, and it was doing this that helped her gain perspective and realise what she was really passionate about and interested in continuing as a job.

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"The advice that I always give young people at SYN and young people who want to go into the media industry is because it is such a competitive industry you have got to find something you really love, so trying a little bit of everything is actually a really good way to work out what you're super passionate about and then that's the kind of road to go down because that passion is what puts you ahead of other applicants".

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Having stuck with SYN Media, Tess Lawley is now the General Manager of the organisation. Besides her role at SYN, she is also the Youth Representative Director of Community Broadcasting Association Australia, and sits on the boards of PBS 106.7FM, one of Melbourne's prestigious broadcasters.