From stacking pallets in a Sunshine Coast warehouse to managing a major supply chain and a team of people for a national food company, Brandon Farquharson has made the most of his business degree from USC.

Not long after graduating from a Bachelor of Business (Management) at the end of 2018, Brandon was offered a role as a Production Planner with Soulfresh, a major Australian food company in Melbourne, and was soon promoted to Senior Supply Chain Planner.

“In this role I’m using things I learnt in my supply chain management subjects every day of the week,” he said.

“It’s such a complex role and I’m in charge of a lot of moving parts, so having a really strong foundation based on my degree from USC has given me a really big advantage in my career.

“I love this line of work and I’m focused on moving into an Operations Manager role in the next few years.”

Straight out of high school in Brisbane with a desire to live close to the beach, Brandon moved to the Sunshine Coast without any plans to undertake tertiary study.

“I got a job in a logistics warehouse in Yandina while considered I what my next steps might be and it was there that I started to take an interest in the corporate side of the company,” Brandon said.

“I wasn’t really sure what area of business I wanted to pursue but my employer encouraged me to think about university, so I applied to study at USC and was accepted not long after.”

Brandon held down his role at the warehouse while studying full-time and said it gave him an opportunity to put theory into practice immediately.

“It made things quite busy, and I didn’t have much of a social life, but I really enjoyed seeing what I was learning in lectures playing out in front of me in the industry I was working in,” he said.

“The commitment I made to studying allowed me to move into a Management Trainee role at work and then a Planning and Procurement Officer position, which wouldn’t have happened without the knowledge I was gaining through my degree. I really was getting on-the-job experience backed up by an education in real time.

“The business contacts our lecturers and tutors shared with us, coupled with the connections I was making at work, meant I graduated with a really solid network that helped open up some great opportunities when I finished my degree.”