Jonathan

Jonathan Millen has 25 years' experience in business, 12 of which have been in learning and development and coaching.

He had reached a point in his career where he was boxed in, unable to take that next step up. Too young and ambitious to accept this fate, Jonathan made the decision to up-skill with Swinburne, smashing his way out of the box and onto a new and exciting career path.   

Jonathan Millen – Graduate Certificate of Business

“What led me to Swinburne was I’d reached a point in my previous organisation where my managers didn’t believe I had the capability to get to that next level of seniority; rightly or wrongly they had a perception that I couldn’t do it. This fuelled a limiting self-belief in me, where I thought maybe I’m not ready for it; maybe I’m not capable.”

In hindsight, Jonathan will tell you that the decision to undertake further study was easy: he had a goal and he knew how he was going to achieve it. However, just because the decision to start was easy, doesn’t mean that it was easy achieving his goal.

As Jonathan explains, he was initially unsure how he would cope with the demands of study. “Normally there is work life, and then there is family life, and adding study life to the mix isn’t easy.”

But Jonathan was driven, and well supported both at home and by Swinburne, and these factors meant he was in the best possible position to succeed.   

“Coming to Swinburne for the first time in 2013, I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was an industry-based qualification, from a well-recognised and respected university, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to walk into days of solid lectures where you have to take truck loads of notes and then figure out the rest by yourself. In actuality, my experience was the polar opposite to that.

“Swinburne is genuinely interested in helping you understand what it is that you’re learning and how to apply it in the workplace. I was supported the whole way through; the ongoing availability of the facilitators and the support staff was brilliant. They really made sure that I was set up for success.”   

Jonathan enrolled in Swinburne's Graduate Certificate of Business (now renamed Graduate Certificate in Applied Business) which he completed over a 12-month period. During this time, he grew: achieving an inspiring level of results and self-realisation which transformed him and gave him the confidence and skills to start thinking bigger. It helped him smash his way out of the box that he’d been put in. Today, he is seven weeks into a new job as head of learning which he loves, and is utilising all "the new tools in the tool belt" that Swinburne helped him gain.

“This program gave me the confidence to back myself, to have the courage to apply for those roles that were at a more senior level than where I was at.  It helped me come to the realisation that I couldn’t let others decide for me what was going to happen in my future. So once I’d finished the post-graduate with Swinburne, I thought, right, it's game on now, I’m going to back myself here because I know I can do it. And that’s why I’m in the role I’m in now. If I hadn't completed this course, I don’t believe I would have been appointed to the role I am in today.” 

To others thinking about up-skilling, Jonathan’s advice is, “Do it! If you’re serious about wanting to improve your skills and capabilities, if you’re keen to be able to apply your skills in a very tangible way in the workplace, then Swinburne's courses will definitely give you the ability to do that.”