Staff Spotlight: Georgina Baumann

Georgie is and enthusiastic, passionate and objective Manager. When she isn't looking after the AI Office, she is taking popping and locking classes, going to the gym, exploring the natural beauty around South East Queensland or playing softball.

My favourite travel memory is Budapest. I've had many perfect timings in Budapest. My first time at Budapet I was on a tour and was about to leave the location when I spotted a familiar face. I checked with him and he was with his brothers, who were from Brisbane! I asked if they by any chance were going to see Flume two days later (my favourite DJ) and they were! We met up at the concert and actually have ran into each other a few random times in Brisbane since then. I still don't remember where I had recognised him from.

Another time in Budapest, I was walking to get some breakfast when this cab pulled up in front of me. My New Zealand friend who I used to work with in London and I had not seen in over a year jumped out, looked up and was stunned to see me!

Another time I went to the ATM and it ate my Australian bank card. I was outside the bank quite upset, calling my bank and trying to get in contact with my mother. I could hear this car beeping and beeping at me. I finally looked up and it was a friend I had met in Vienna who had drove to Budapest for an overnight stay. He is such a positive person! I jumped in his car, we were stuck in traffic for quite some time, I told him my problem, we sang some songs, we caught up and my day turned right around!

Another time was I went to Sziget Music Festival and kept trying to plan to meet a friend I made in Slovenia. Our timings were just terrible and we could never meet up with all the people, limited phone coverage and different music tastes. On the last night, my friends wanted to stop to get food before leaving the festival and who was there but my friend from Slovenia. We actually plan to meet up again in Australia soon!

Being in this role, I have a responsibility to help achieve solutions to problems that occur. I have grown by not taking issues personally and understanding the bigger picture. I try to tackle issues efficiently before the issue can grow. I also manage people, and have learnt that each difficult conversation has to be approached differently depending on the personality of the person I'm having the conversation with.

In previous years, I was an Internship Program Supervisor and looked after the Hospitality Portfolio. I would receive wonderful news about some of my Interns given the opportunity to be sponsored by their Host Company and securing a job. After some time I heard of an Intern that worked so hard and excelled to then be given a Supervisor role. This previous Intern actually went on to supervise more Australian Internships Interns through our Program.

I would choose the Hospitality Program and advise the Australian Internships staff that my preference would be on one of the Islands or a remote location. Knowing that they cannot guarantee this. I understand I would be working in a smaller team, but this would be an advantage because I would have more time with my supervisor, therefore learn and grow my skills faster. I would develop stronger friendships with work colleagues because there would be more opportunity to hang out after work. Being away from the city, I wouldn't have to worry about my commute to work and I know that I will see the natural beauty of Australia every day.

I believe our company is unique because we are an extremely diverse company. We come from different backgrounds, different countries, have different religions and beliefs, but we are all open to learn and grow our understanding of this. We all respect where our fellow team member is from and respect that our Interns have different beliefs as well.

I believe the biggest factor in a successful company is the people. Hire people who fit the type of personality for that specific role. Know the people you work with and understand how to communicate effectively with them. A successful company will have different personality types who respect each other, can work well together and communicate effectively.