Patrick 4 P's Story 

I am very excited to attend the reunion today. I graduated from UOW in 2003, and actually I have attended quite a few reunions organised by AustCham in Shanghai since then, but usually the attendees were graduates from other Australian universities, including UNSW, Sydney University, Melbourne University, etc. This is the first time that I see so many UOW graduates in Shanghai, so I really want to thank Professor John Glynn, Associate Professor Gary Noble, and William Wang for organising this event. This is a good start and I want to have more interaction and communication with our alumni.

I graduated from UOW much earlier than most of the attendees today and have more working experience, so when William asked me to share the story of my life and career with everybody, I think maybe I can tell you the story of how I became a part of BlueScope Steel. I forgot to mention that currently I am working with BlueScope Steel (China) as the Vice President (Sales). I started my career with BlueScope Steel in 2003 before graduation. There was a bit of luck and ups and downs in the process of settling down with BlueScope. We all know the 4P’s of marketing, which are product, price, place and promotion. My 4 P’s story is about four people with the same first name ‘Peter’, who helped me to get the job with BlueScope Steel, which was my first corporate job after I took my  career change from Medicine to Business through my MBA course from UOW.

I went to UOW to study MBA in 2001, but my background before that was medicine. I knew in the job market I had no advantage over people who had some experience in business. My resume would have been thrown into the bin by recruiters in 3 seconds.  Therefore, I decided to gain some work experience in order to build up my resume before my graduation. I deliberately combined my lectures from business school together with lectures from commerce faculty to get a 3 months period with no lectures. I started my job hunting through standard processes such as the website, alumni networks, uni career service, etc. But I was very disappointed as there was no response to my job applications.
Then the first Peter, Peter Gibson came into my life. Peter was then the Dean of Graduate School of Business. After the failure with my job hunting, I had a chat with Peter. I asked if the School could help me to find a job, but Peter said that would be difficult. When I was about to leave his office, and I could still clearly remember that one of my feet was already out of his office, Peter said, “Hang on Patrick, I remember something. There is a guy called Peter Robertson, who is doing PhD at UOW. He is the VP (Operations Planning) of BlueScope Steel. He might be able to help you.”

This is the second Peter, Peter Robertson, and the most important one out of the 4P’s. I found his office number by calling 1224. Maybe everyone has the experience that when you are trying to talk to the person in a senior position, his or her executive assistant is almost impassable. And most of the people failed to get across the classic “secretary barrier”. When I called Peter’s office number, his assistant told me that he was in a meeting. I left a message, saying that I was his uni-mate, and Peter Gibson asked me to make an appointment with him to discuss some personal issues. I was ready to give up when I left the message. I thought this was going to be like all the job applications I had made, which had no response. However, one week later, I received a phone call from an unfamiliar number when I was having lunch in Wollongong. I still remember when he said on the phone: “this is Peter, I’m returning your call. “ and guess what, my first reaction was “Which Peter?” I told him that I had some thoughts about career development and wanted to talk to him when he was on campus. He agreed. I didn’t mention that I was looking for a job during the phone call, but I knew I would be able to sell myself successfully when I get to see him face to face. I knew I had no relevant experience or academic background, so during the meeting I tried to convince him that I had the potential to work in the business world. Peter said he would try to help. I was ready to give up again, but after one or two months, there were really a couple of opportunities. One was with BlueScope in Shanghai, and the other in Port Kembla. I had to pay for the air ticket if I chose to go to Shanghai, so I decided to stay in Wollongong. I was then formally interviewed at Port Kembla, and got a short-term internship opportunity. This was how I worked in the Strategic Accounts Management business developing the Australian building and manufacturing market of BlueScope Steel for a few months. When the internship ended, I asked Peter if there was any long-term opportunity. Again, life is showing its tough side, no response after Peter asked around for me.

In the last semester of my MBA study, I met the third Peter, Peter Massingham, who was the lecturer of the subject Innovation and Entrepreneurship. I went to see him before the lecture began to find out what this subject was about. During the meeting, he mentioned that he was working on a project with BlueScope Steel Asia. At that time, I was planning to go back to China after graduation, so I didn’t want to miss this opportunity. I decided to leverage this subject, as the name “entrepreneurship” indicated, to sell myself to BlueScope Steel Asia. I though I had a slightly bigger chance to win given I had gained some experience with BlueScope Steel by then. There was a group assignment in this subject for 4-5 students, and I insisted on doing it individually. I then designed a business plan that created a need of interview with BlueScope Steel Asia. I found out the VP (HR) of BlueScope Steel Asia was doing a project with Peter Massingham, but Peter couldn’t give me the VP’s contact details. Then I called 1224 and again got the information I wanted. This number just never failed me.
And that was how I knew the fourth Peter, Peter Wallace, who was the VP (HR) of BlueScope Steel Asia. Peter didn’t get my phone call at the beginning. I sent him an e-mail instead. He suggested a teleconference, but I knew I needed to see him face to face to “put foot in the door”. So I told him the story about the three Peter’s I knew and how they had helped me with my study and career, and said I believed  he would help me as well because Peter always brought me good luck. In the end, he gave me a 45-minute appointment. In the first 30 minutes of the meeting, we had a good discussion about the business plan I was doing for my subject. Then Peter said, he knew that the main reason I went to see him was for a job. “Tell me, why you are so interested in the steel industry since your background was in medicine.” And again, I succeeded in selling myself. I ended up becoming the first and the only Management Trainee at BlueScope Steel Asia, and that role didn’t actually exist within BlueScope Steel Asia before then and after. It was tailored made for me.
That was the story of my first corporate job with BlueScope Steel. Although my story is not a standard one and you may not find it helpful with your own job hunting and career development. However, there are some lessons in me reaching this destination that we each can take into our future as once Peter Robertson wrote to me:

(i) Don't be afraid to dream and don't be afraid to chase your dreams;
(ii) Want what you want badly enough to go chase it;
(iii) Work out the best strategy and who to influence/engage/involve;
(iv) Chase it until you get it... that is persistence and perseverance;
(v) Sometimes what you do has great ripple effects for others... both positive effects and negative effects. Be careful that your ripple effects are in favour of the positive ones (i.e. aim for positive effect surplus... people will then go out of their way to help you... and they will do it gladly!)

I hope you like this story about 4 P’s