Canberra-based change management mentor, Alicia Lillington, aims to change the world “one conversation at a time”.

Across the ACT’s repertoire of high-profile organisations, Alicia has trained over 27,000 workers on how to keep up with the increasingly fluid, diverse, and ‘tech-ified’ world.

At The Ivy*, a members’ club where she once turned down a waitressing role and now herself frequents, Alicia explained how she had to adapt to the modernising workforce.

“As a Canberra girl, everyone always told me ‘You would be a great public servant’.

“DFAT was the dream. I watched a lot of Madeline growing up, and the neighbour, Pepito, was the Spanish ambassador’s son. That seemed like such a cool place to be.”

2013’s tight job market saw Alicia, and many other graduates of international relations, unable to get through DFAT’s front door.

“I was walking around Yarralumla, looking at all the embassies when I found The Ivy.

“I applied a few times, and they kept asking me to be a waitress. I’d worked in customer service since I was 14, making $6.50 an hour, but I had my degrees now and I really wanted a career. So, I kept saying no.”

Six months later, she got a message from the club manager on LinkedIn.

“I worked here in communications for a couple of years, still trying to get into the public service, and found a way in as a contractor.

“I worked on big tech programs and found that sometimes I was the only girl in a room of 30 guys. When there were one or two women, they were more in communication roles, they weren’t developing and testing.

“I thought, ‘how are we making the best systems if they’re all made by the same people, same age, same cultural background?’

“I found that when it came to communicating a system, they wouldn’t liaise with me unless I could speak their language, unless I could understand code, which led to a career in tech.

“I did end up working at DFAT, among other departments. It was somewhere I’d always wanted to be, but I came in through the side door.”

Alicia shared her top three tips for those looking to snag a corporate role in 2022.

#1: There’s no longer such thing as ‘Not a Tech Person’

“A big thing that I see working in tech is people saying, ‘I’m no good with this, I’m no good with tech.’ It’s the first thing people say!

“As a career mentor, I encourage people to get involved in tech – you can learn it on the job, especially since the education system has a long way to catch up to where we are. You’re carrying a powerful computer in your pocket 24/7.”

From Audible books to LinkedIn networking, Alicia unapologetically surrounds herself with tech, saying that if done right, it can go hand in hand with human connection.

“Tech is all around us, and it’s an enabler of everything. You don’t have to be hard coding to be in tech.

“I’m concerned that we don’t have enough humanitarians designing our systems, not enough diversity in development teams, because it’s not an attractive industry from an outsider’s view.

“Tech is so broad that there’s a place for everyone. We need to reframe our lens on tech, because if we’re not part of that conversation, and we don’t bring that human lens, where will our future be?”

For those making a career switch later in life, Alicia notes that not a single generation is exempt from ‘technological literacy’.

“It’s less a special skill and more a willingness to learn,” she said.

“There is a phenomenon known as ‘learned technological helplessness’. Everyone should know how to ‘Google it’.  It’s an old joke between colleagues, but everyone has a responsibility to try to find the answers, because they are there. It’s just a question of being open to learning.”

#2: A responsible workplace keeps up with the times

“A good workplace gives individuals the space and the tools to enable them to do their job effectively. Today, that means making sure you’re able to have meetings online, rather than always having to go face-to-face. It means encouraging new platforms, and not being wedded to a 20-year-old solution.

“Everyone should be actively trying to listen to diverse voices. It’s so much easier now to find diverse perspectives, when we can just look up, for example, what our First Nations people are saying about this topic.

“We see a lot of communications and marketing out there saying, ‘we have diversity, we have women in these spaces,’ but in the world I’m in, I often hear, ‘oh hey, can you take the notes’ when I’m leading a team of eight.

“I’d encourage young people to speak up for what they believe in, because you can make incremental change.”

#3: You may have a portfolio career

“My immediate family spans four generations; Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z. When I got into contracting, they said, ‘Oh my gosh, how can you do this? Don’t you just want to stay in the same career path?’

“With today’s side hustle economy, work won’t be traditional. You won’t be locked into one career. My career has spanned communications, tech, change management – and I didn’t even know change management existed when I was in uni!

“I first learnt about portfolio careers from my uni careers advisor.” A portfolio career refers to a career that spans several related, or unrelated jobs. The term used to be commonly applied to creatives, but that may be changing. 

“When they picked ‘portfolio career’ for me, I didn’t like that. I thought, ‘No, I’m loyal. I’m going to do the same thing for 20 years,’ but they were right, that’s exactly what I ended up doing.

“Lastly, be creative, be individual, but don’t be afraid of ‘traditional’ things. We don’t all have to be influencers and entrepreneurs. There’s a lot of workplaces out there that are dying for that innovation.”

*The Ivy is a private club; a pseudonym was used for the purposes of this story.

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