Coles Myer (IBL)

As part of the (then) Business Systems undergraduate course, a scholarship program was offered to students whereby they would receive two six-month industry work experience placements with a sponsor company.

For Nic’s first placement, he was assigned to Coles Myer, as the company was then known. Assigned to the Voice & Infrastructure team, he quickly learnt to appreciate the team’s responsibilities for managing the company’s telephone equipment, telephone equipment maintenance contracts and carrier service contracts. Another business function the team covered included consultancy in the application of telephony solutions to retail business processes.

The six-month placement provided a variety of work for Nic in:

1. Brand-based activities — Coles call traffic analysis, implementation processes and telephony strategies
2. Tender/procurement processes
3. Exposure to voice recognition technology
4. Strategy and operations for the team

Some of the key highlights and memories held to this day include visits to Tooronga (this was during the final days of Dennis Eck’s CEO term) and gaining a glimpse into the Level 6 executive refurbishment.

The office building / data centre where the team was housed was located at the corner of Langridge and Hoddle Streets – this building would later be sold and converted into a Honda showroom… Even back then, you could see the beginnings of Nic’s work ethic – the early train ride to Richmond, followed by bus journey up Hoddle St. Some of the team lunches included a short walk to near-by Smith Street, where both Nic and the other IBL student fostered ongoing relations that have been maintained for a few years beyond the initial work/IBL experience.

The 22-week experience had a journaling requirement. At the time, when blogging was at its infancy, the original content was loaded onto my first website effort, hosted on the now defunct provider – DezzaNet. The migration of that content was completed in 2014.

1. Week 1 (6 – 13 July 2001); republished 2 September 2014
2. Week 2 (16 – 20 July 2001); republished 10 April 2017
3. Week 3 (23 – 27 July 2001); republished 10 April 2017
4. Week 4 (30 July – 3 August 2001); republished 10 April 2017
5. Week 5 (6 – 10 August 2001); republished 10 April 2017
6. Week 6 (13 – 17 August 2001); republished 10 April 2017
7. Week 7 (20 – 24 August 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
8. Week 8 (27 August – 1 September 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
9. Week 9 (4 – 8 September 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
10. Week 10 (11 – 15 September 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
11. Week 11 (18 – 22 September 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
12. Week 12 (25 – 29 September 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
13. Week 13 (2 – 6 October 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
14. Week 14 (9 – 13 October 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
15. Week 15 (16 – 20 October 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
16. Week 16 (23 – 27 October 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
17. Week 17 (30 October – 3 November 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
18. Week 18 (6 – 10 November 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
19. Week 19 (13 – 17 November 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
20. Week 20 (20 – 24 November 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
21. Week 21 (27 November – 1 December 2001); last edited 14 November 2002
22. Week 22 (4 – 8 December 2001); last edited 14 November 2002