She was also won over by the practical approach that the QUT MBA offered.
“When I spoke to the faculty staff, it was very much around ‘what you learn in the classroom one night, you should be able to take into your job the next morning’.”
And QUT delivered. “My salary increased significantly within 12 months of completing that degree. I had promotions. I leapfrogged other candidates and was able to be shortlisted very quickly for roles that I went for, and I directly attribute that all to the MBA.”
Harry McKeon
Pictured: Harry McKeon.
As a brand partnerships manager with TikTok in New York, 32-year-old Harry McKeon has spent the past three years working with some of the world’s largest companies to develop their social and media strategy for the platform. Before this, he worked in creative advertising agencies in Brisbane and San Francisco. It’s hard to believe that just nine years ago he was a student at QUT.
“I did a Bachelor of Business, majoring in marketing and advertising, which was great, because I was able to apply so much of what we learned at university to the real world,” he says.
“The subjects were as real-world as they possibly could be. In an advertising campaign subject, for example, we broke into groups and were each assigned the role of an agency department to work on a real client brief. We then got the opportunity to pitch our campaign ideas to the client live in a local agency. It was nerve-wracking at the time, but a really great experience.”
QUT presented some valuable networking opportunities. “There were regularly people coming in from different industry groups to speak to us.”
One of those groups was Youngbloods, a network for young people in the advertising industry. “I ended up joining the committee in my last semester of university. And then after university I was chairman for a couple of years.”
McKeon also took part in a QUT exchange program, spending an “amazing” six months at the University of Minnesota. And he got his first job at a creative agency while he was still at uni; he spent his last semester working and studying.
“My attitude at uni was to try to take up every opportunity I possibly could, and follow every single lead I got, which ultimately was helpful in finding a job.”
From there, his career has taken off. “I always wanted to live in the States,” he says, “and fortunately, there are so many great opportunities available through this career path.”
And he is far from the only QUT graduate to be enjoying success.
“QUT has produced a number of ad industry leaders. It’s always nice to see how well other people from the uni are doing.”
Explore the courses mentioned in this article or discover the full suite of QUT business courses here.
