Bayley Quin

Bayley Quin chose to study a Bachelor of Business at the University of Waikato after googling how he could turn an interest in numbers and the New Zealand stock market into a job.

Living close to the Triple Crown-accredited Waikato Management School in Hamilton was an added bonus, says the former Te Awamutu College head boy, and a Te Paewai o te Rangi Scholarship meant he could focus fully on his studies.

“I loved my supply chain classes with Dr Cécile L’Hermitte, she was very inspirational," he says. "My double majors in Finance and Supply Chain Management worked well together and turned out to be the perfect combination.”

After finishing his business degree, Bayley was able to stand out in a competitive job market thanks to his strong academic results, a part-time accounting job during university, and tutoring first-year papers.

He secured a sought-after graduate role at Heineken New Zealand in Auckland, and is now working as a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) financial analyst. Both his majors are put to good use as he keeps departments accountable to their budgets, costs the manufacturing of new products, and handles export pricing.

“Someone in the office will say, for example, 'Our warehouse needs to improve our FIFO system’, or ‘What current macroeconomic factors are affecting sales?’ and I know exactly what they’re talking about. For finance it’s a lot of learning on the job, but it’s good to be familiar with the theories and contexts.”

With finance jobs in high demand, Bayley is a big fan of early career planning. If you haven’t started thinking about what you want to do after university, he encourages you to do so – even if you’re only just deciding what to major in.

“Many places want both straight A grades and experience now. University is important, but what’s equally important is how you differentiate yourself from your classmates. You need to start preparing for university during your final two years at high school.”