“Aristocrat is people oriented… and I’m a people person.” That’s what Danielle Connelly enjoys most about her job. And what she enjoys most about the company is the diversity of skills and people around her. “Different talents and different cultures are respected here and everyone works really well together,” she says.

Aristocrat Technologies, a leading global provider of innovative gaming solutions, started as a family business and that family feeling is still very much a part of the culture. “The people are hard working, we work toward a common goal and we always help each other out,” Danielle says. The industry focuses on entertainment and gaming, it also focuses on fun, and that feeling permeates the culture.

The family theme is common throughout Aristocrat. In fact, Danielle’s brother, Paul, works for the company as an audio manager creating the music and sounds you hear on the gaming machines. “He is a fantastic musician and composer and just loves computers,” she says. “He gets to merge all three passions together into one job. He absolutely loves it.”

Paul’s inspiration together with her aim to work with a booming, global company led Danielle to search Aristocrat’s career website. Her search proved successful and she was soon employed as a sales contractor on a six-month term.

Three months into her new job, Danielle was offered a place on Aristocrat’s Graduate Program in Human Resources. That was 12 months ago. She is now halfway through the program.

Straight out of uni, having earned a Bachelor of Science Degree majoring in Psychology but with no relevant industry qualifications, Danielle wasn’t sure she had what it took to work in Human Resources. Her managers very quickly saw her dedication, her passion to learn and her ambition and knew she had
what it took.

Each year Aristocrat recruits around 30 graduates to join its two-year accelerated development program. The program offers graduates scope to make a personal impact where ideas are valued and autonomy is encouraged. It is delivered through a blended learning approach of Study & Training, Coaching & Feedback and Projects & Experience with three key focus areas including Our Business & Industry, Personal Development and Technical & Domain
Development.

Depending on business needs, graduates are recruited into any one of a number of areas within Aristocrat and may come from an array of disciplines including Commerce, Business, Engineering, IT, Supply Chain Management and Mathematics.

In addition to their on-job training and coaching, the graduate group attends five major training workshops throughout the program focusing on areas such as presentation, communication and team-building skills. The graduates also become involved in the Graduate Business Challenge, where they form teams to come up with project ideas that will add value to the business and have the opportunity to present these ideas to the executives.

During the program, all graduates also spend a total of two months on organisational rotations outside
of their home base. “We spend one week in each department – finance, sales and marketing, games design, IT etc,” Danielle says. “It is a great networking opportunity and we get to see how each department works, how they liaise with one another and how they depend on one another.”

After these organisational rotations, graduates concentrate on moving around the different areas of their own department. In Danielle’s HR rotations, she has so far learnt about recruitment, program management, learning and development, and an HR generalist role in regional sales where she was dealing
with employees in offices around Australia and Asia Pacific.

Like all graduates, Danielle was assigned a mentor, a manager from her department to whom she can talk to
about any work-related issues and who can guide and advise her. She also has a ‘buddy’, a colleague who has
helped to show her the ropes and settle in.

After the Graduate Program is over, Danielle can look forward to a journey of growth and continued career development. “I’d like to become a specialist in the HR department,” she says. “I had thought about recruitment
or maybe project management, but I’m not quite sure yet. Until I have to make that decision I will continue to learn, grow and be inspired.”