Job Satisfaction at CSIRO

My role is in business development providing the business side of support so that scientists and their research can have impact. Day to day responsibilities vary as a graduate where I am gathering a blend of formal training and on the job learning. I am experiencing three different rotations, each lasting 6 months. I am also involved in various projects at the same time so I split my time between those projects which vary in difficulty, length and nature e.g. desktop research task

As a research technician, my responsibility is to help with whatever project I am assigned too. Due to the newness of my role, this is almost always supervised.

My work is primarily remote; my team live on the other side of the country. Thus it can get quite isolating and lonely, as well as anxiety inducing due to losing the human touch of working in a team. But this was part of the role I agreed to and so I have learned to find strategies to deal with it such as making special efforts to socialise and engage with the local staff.

I am a CERC Fellow who is completing my Masters of Philosophy. I am allocated 1 day per week to work on a CSIRO project and 4 days per week to work on my Masters project. I attend online meetings with needed, work in a PC2 laboratory and compile results. I am working towards completing a 50000 word thesis.

I work 1 day a week on a project the other 4 on my PhD.

my work is now dedicated to undertaking a research project for the sole purpose of giving me an honours degree qualification.

Changes according to my rotation, but at the moment as I'm with Commercial projects, my role involves updating Commercial items CSIRO use as the type especial Projects to show the work done against various Commercialisation Opportunities/Projects, in working with the RU team to progress technologies towards commercialisation outcomes.

Each rotation is different. In rotation 1, I oscillated between not enough work or work that was not meaningful to the team's objectives (largely due to under resourcing resulting in the team not having capacity to bring me in on the meaningful work) too much high-responsibility work due to increased understaffing. The work in rotation 2 has thus far, been more meaningful and exciting and directly relates to team objectives and tasks. There has been multiple instances of not having enough work, despite advising that I had capacity for more after completing tasks.

Joining meetings and taking notes Filling out forms and paperwork

Analysis and reporting of financial data, management accounting of company wide journals, ad hoc-analysis and commentary RE financial performance.

I went through a 3 month period of having little to no meaningful work. I was unable to participate in the operations of my team despite possessing the relevant clearances and checks. This improved when a new staff member arrived and he was able to get me involved in some of the more meaningful tasks and operational duties. However, he is ceasing employment and the team will be reduced to myself and one manager, limiting my ability to learn and develop.

Although I gave my satisfaction with work a 7 I am still satisfied with the work I do, however, it is difficult to fully grasp the impact and my own development on a day-to-day basis. When I first sat down with my supervisor, I was asked what I wanted out of this program and my answer was to develop skills that will make me a valuable team member/ employee and make a positive difference through my research. Because I only work two days a week on CSIRO projects and the other three days are dedicated to my Masters, my supervisor has me leading my own analysis on a project. This has been extremely challenging but I am gaining a lot of important analytical and problem-solving skills. So sometimes when I am going through a challenging time with the analysis I do not feel "satisfied" however, that is not necessarily a bad thing because I am being pushed outside of my comfort zone and learning new skills. Additionally, sometimes it is hard to see the positive impact my research is having on building resilient ecosystems when I feel like I am staring at a computer screen all day. But it is more a mindset thing that I need to overcome because Rome was not built in a day, and I need to reassure myself that research and positive outcomes from research take time. So overall, I may not feel satisfied with my day-to-day responsibilities all the time. When I step back and look at the bigger picture of the fact that I am developing meaningful skills and working towards making a positive difference I feel very satisfied with my work. Since I only have two days a week dedicated to CSIRO work, my role does not include field work at this stage but that is likely to change as I become involved in different projects as of next year.

My current role is working across two sub teams in the University Engagement Team. Some of the tasks I complete include market research and research into best practice / competitors, article writing, transcription, horizon scanning (identifying and summarising future trends in science / higher ed), interviewing. I also participate in team meetings and project meetings, offering input and suggestions as well as complete other smaller ad hoc tasks where I can to support the team.

I work in a home office where I mainly do desk top research and communicating with others.

I am satisfied with my current day-to-day responsibilities. Although it can be a little slow sometimes.

1. Project work with Indigenous partners, communities. 2. Working with CSIRO researchers to support Indigenous research needs and priorities.

Learning heaps

Student engineering vacation role. Ensuring our project is completed by the end of the vacation ship.

I try to get further in the overall goal, often this is difficult as the topic is very complex and I stumble on many minor issues. But do not have much assistance.

My research project is computer-based so I spend most of my time at my desk. Other than that I attend meetings and seminars.