Staff
Erin Old
Data Manager, University Partnerships Australasia
Erin joined Navitas in 2004 working on reception for our SAIBT college in Adelaide. In 20 years Erin has moved through a variety of administrative positions, to Student & Academic Services Manager, before more recently moving into a corporate role as Data Manager for our University Partnerships Australasia division.
“I have many wonderful memories having worked at Navitas for so long… I’ve been able to develop a career in higher education and I have been provided with many opportunities to work in various roles across the organisation and learn and grow from some really wonderful colleagues and mentors across the division. And so for me, that impact has allowed me to develop a really successful career.”
Transcript
It’s been really nice to be able to share milestones of marriages, children, travel, career development with the colleagues that I’ve developed relationships with at work.
Can you tell me when and how you came to be working with Navitas?
So, I joined Navitas working for SAIBT back in 2004 and I actually came in as part of a temp role into the reception desk. And I had actually decided to take a break from uni where I was studying to be a teacher and I’d found a love for education. So that fit of coming into a higher education provider was fantastic.
And SAIBT was in its really early days, having only just opened in 2001. And so it provided me with an opportunity to grow with the organisation and that was really exciting. And so I decided to stay!
I had the opportunity to really make a change in setting up the business because it was growing really rapidly. And that was really exciting. And there was a really great group of people that I got to work with and I really enjoyed the role that was being developed as I was able to kind of grow and build out the beginning years of my career.
What is one of your favorite memories working at Navitas?
So, I have many wonderful memories having worked at Navitas for so long. But I would say probably one of the biggest and greatest memories that I have was the opportunity to be proposed to in my office, in front of all of my work family. And so being able to share that excitement with them and having them cheering and jumping up and down as my husband got down on one knee was a really exciting time and opportunity. And it was great that that happened in the place that I work. And so, I guess I had that opportunity then to go and celebrate with my work family immediately afterwards.
And I guess that kind of stands in the place of a lot of my life memories are attached to my work relationships. So, it’s been really nice to be able to share milestones of marriages, children, travel, career development, with the colleagues that I’ve developed relationships with at work. It’s been really fantastic and I feel really lucky.
How has Navitas made an impact on your life?
So for me, Navitas has been where I’ve really been able to develop a career in higher education and I have been provided with many opportunities to work in various roles across the organisation and learn and grow from some really wonderful colleagues and mentors across the division. And so for me, that impact has allowed me to grow and to develop a really successful career.
So, part of some of those opportunities have been involved in projects. And I was able to do that from a fairly early stage in my time at SAIBT with the development of the movement of our ELICOS programs from BCAS into Maze and then once again moving all of our student data from Maze into Navigate. It was also really exciting to be able to not just do it for SAIBT, but to be able to support other UPA colleges as part of that transition. It allowed me to develop some of those opportunities within those colleges to learn about their processes and to build relationships with the staff there. And of course, that then moved to also being able to work on the project to transition all of the UPA colleges into StudyLink, which again was fantastic.
And so I feel like there’s been so many opportunities for me to grow and develop those skills around project and leadership, and that’s been really exciting.
Within the college space. I had wonderful opportunities in managing great teams across student academic services and admission teams and formed some of those really great bonds which are still really important to me today.
What are your key professional achievements during your time at Navitas?
So, I think what’s been key for me as part of my career at Navitas is the relationships that I’ve developed not only in the business units that I’ve specifically worked in, but across the entire division and in my new role from a global perspective across the group. And that’s provided me with a great level of job satisfaction and that real opportunity for growth, which I’ve loved.