Griffith economics grad banks a role at RBA

Young cricketers around the country dream of wearing the ‘baggy green’ while it’s a fair call to suggest budding economists similarly aspire to work for one of the nation’s financial bedrocks – the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

For Griffith Business School graduate Lorenzo Schofer, the call up to the RBA crease came after two unsuccessful applications to join the nation’s bank issuing authority.

“I had applied during my undergraduate year and then in my Honours year and finally this year went through the application role and was accepted which is a dream come true.

“They flew me down to Sydney for a five hour interview process in which I was assessed on a myriad of skills technically and also behavioural aspects and my writing ability – It was pretty gruelling,” Lorenzo said.

The road to the RBA though hasn’t been clearly paved for Lorenzo who began his career in the finance industry as a mortgage broker after leaving high school.

Roles as a Financial Planner and Lending Manager at Bankwest and Suncorp followed before a desire to enrol at Griffith Business School as a mature age student proved overwhelming.

“I began my Economics and Finance Degree in 2015 and finished with a GPA of 6.75 and on the way achieved academic excellence awards and citations in GBS’ Department of Accounting Finance and Economics (AFE)

First Class Honours (GPA: 7.0) and the awarding of the prestigious University Medal followed for the New Zealand-born 32 year-old who has now made lifelong personal and career connections with some of the nation’s sharpest economic minds.

Dr Craig Cameron

“I owe everything to AFE because I came to Griffith with an idea of what I wanted to do in but it really crystalised once I interacted with the academics, like Associate Professor Nicholas Rohde, Associate Professor Tarlok Singh and Dr Craig Cameron who helped me with direction especially when I decided I wanted to go down the academic path like economic policy.

“Working at the RBA you really have to know your economics back to front and my courses at Griffith particularly my honours year has given me the technical acumen needed to succeed.”

Lorenzo is the latest in a steady stream of AFE graduates who have found their way to RBA and Head of Economics and Business Statistics Discipline Dr Andreas Chai said the course is industry-aligned and relevant.

Dr Andreas Chai

“The Economics Major sets up students for success by focusing on teaching economics in a very applied, hands on way with students able to learn about the latest trends in big data analysis, which are in very high demand by industry,” Dr Chai said.

Griffith’s Economics Internship and honours program also came in for praise and played a major part in Lorenzo’s successful RBA application.

“We get hands-on work experience working with industry partners across the private and public sector before graduate. It’s a cliche but the course at Griffith leaves us ‘industry-ready'”.