Simon Cox - Business

I had previously worked in construction and hospitality, but had been out of the workforce for a while.

I really wanted to gain some skills and go onto university, and I found study at CIT a great way to do this.

I initially studied tourism, hospitality, and events, but I really wanted to challenge myself more so I decided to study business.

I was able to study courses concurrently, so I was able to fit six years' worth of study into only three years, which really saved me time.

While I was studying the Advanced Diploma of Business, we had to create a marketing plan as a project. We were able to choose who we based our marketing plan on, and after being given the brief and working through the project methodology, I decided to focus mine on a truffle farm.

I figured truffles were something that is very high end and exclusive, and even if you have a good product, unless you market it properly it's probably not going to be reaching the same target audience. I chose a specific company in Canberra, and wrote the marketing plan for them.

When I handed in the assignment, my teachers gave me really good feedback and suggested I contact the company and show them the plan. I contacted the owner, and he was really impressed. He said that he had been in the industry for 15 years, and that I had succinctly summarised his direction in only about two weeks' worth of work.

Since coming to CIT, I've really grown, developed and matured in terms of my approach to study, and CIT has given me a lot of resources and tools. I've also had some amazing teachers and I've been able to really learn and grow from them. Studying at CIT I've also learnt about my own strengths and how I can align these with different areas of study.

Now that I'm finished my business studies at CIT, I'd like to go on to study business at uni. Studying through CIT has given me a lot of confidence, and before I started I had no confidence at all. I had absolutely no education at all beforehand and I really had to start from scratch. Now I really feel like I'm ready to go to university whereas before I didn't feel ready at all.