UTS student named most employable IT graduate in Australia

Final-year UTS Bachelor of Information Technology student, Krystle Jayne Ng, has been awarded The Deloitte Information Technology Top 100 Award 2014 and the title of most employable IT graduate in Australia at the recent GradConnection Top 100 Awards.

According to employer judging panel members from Deloitte Australia, SMS Management & Technology, Suncorp Group and Telstra Australia, Ng's professional and confident manner, hunger for success, down to earth attitude, and impressive track record put her head and shoulders above the other 2,500 applicants.

"I guess what got me here is my determination and hunger to succeed by taking advantage of every opportunity," Ng said. "I've seen how IT can change the world. As a student you see the change, as an intern or employee you are part of the change, but as a leader, you make that change happen. And that's where I want to be."

The award itself, however, is not the only reason Ng applied. "I want to be a female role model and show current students that your life is what you make it. Even if you're an ordinary student, who doesn't come from a privileged background and never had anything handed to you on a silver platter, you can still succeed in life through hard work."

"Krystle has been an outstanding student – a real go-getter. She has really made the most of our networking opportunities and industry-partnered events," said Des Saunders, Industry Liaison Manager for the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT Industry Partnering Unit.

"In fact, thanks to Krystle's involvement in setting up Big Day In with our partner, ACS Foundation, she has managed to link up with Microsoft, where she has accepted an unadvertised graduate position," said Saunders.

In addition to her co-operative scholarship as part of the Bachelor of Information Technology, Ng has led a very active university career these past three years, including stints as the President for the UTS IT Society, BiG, a Peer Networker helping new UTS students to acclimatise, an executive member of the BUiLD Student Society, a Student Promotional Representative for the Faculty of Engineering and IT, and a representative on the UTS Faculty Board, UTS Academic Board and UTS Industry Sponsor Steering Committee.

She has also completed two full-time internships with IBM and Macquarie Group, two summer internships at Deloitte and over in Shanghai, a casual role as Google Australia Student Ambassador, summer school in France, and is finishing up her global exchange at San Diego State University.

This is the first year GradConnection has run the competition, supported by employers seeking to attract high calibre graduates for their businesses. For the Awards sponsors, employability is about much more than just academic results. It's also about the leadership, volunteering, sports, travel and work experiences students undertake during their degrees.

The process to determine the Top 100 most employable graduates in Australia involved an online application, online assessment for problem solving and ethical behaviour, a video interview, another online assessment for emotional intelligence, an in-person assessment working in pairs as well as in a group, and finally a panel interview. Three of the four IT finalists were UTS students.