Defence

Defence Support Group

Meeting Defence’s needs – the Graduate Development Program

You have probably seen the various DEFGRAMs that come out each year about graduates in Defence. You may even have worked alongside a graduate as they have cycled through a rotation in your area. But just what is the Graduate Development Program all about? Don Sewell provides the answers.

Employing graduates – a growth industry

Defence competes each year with an ever-increasing number of private and public sector organisations for a scant resource – high calibre graduates from universities around Australia. Defence now runs six different graduate intake programs, and in excess of 400 graduates will start with the department this year. The Graduate Development Program (GDP), while no longer the largest of the Department’s graduate intake programs, remains the only one which offers graduates who complete the program the chance to be employed in a final placement in Defence.

Winning a place on the GDP is very competitive. In 2007 a total of 85 places have been offered, from over 1200 applications received. These were rationalised to approximately 400 who were invited to a day-long assessment centre – and from there offers were made.

Who are the graduates?

If you thought the graduates participating in the GDP would all be 20 years old and fresh out of university – think again. While there are some who fit this mould, the average age on the 2006 GDP was 27, and the oldest participant was 40. The graduates come from all walks of life, and bring to the program a wide variety of life experience. Each year the program has participants who have followed other careers, some who have travelled extensively before returning to Australia to ‘settle down’, some who have families and some who serve in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Reserves. The only thing they really have in common is that they have proved their worth through a rigorous assessment process; they can communicate, they can work as part of a team, they can take on a leadership role and they have a genuine desire to work in Defence.

The 10-month long GDP equips graduates with skills and experiences to enable them to succeed in a public service career. Each graduate completes three rotations in widely diverse work places, to gain a broad knowledge of the work of Defence. The knowledge and skills gained in these rotations is enhanced by a training program which familiarises graduates with such things as Defence and ministerial writing, effective presentation skills and Australia’s strategic environment. The graduates also spend a week in the Northern Territory experiencing the reality of the sharp end of the ADF. A highlight of the program for many is their time at sea with the Royal Australian Navy – in 2006 the graduates embarked in HMAS Tobruk for 48 hours, and shared with the ship’s company some rough weather off the New South Wales coast as they sailed from Sydney to Jervis Bay.

What’s in it for Defence?

Defence puts a lot of resources into the GDP and the other graduate programs – and gets a lot back. On completion of the program the participants are guaranteed promotion to a final placement as an APS Level 4. Not many remain at this level for long, and with graduate retention from the GDP running at better than 80 per cent after five years, graduates are soon diffused throughout Defence.

Wherever they end up, the Defence workplace benefits from the achievements of high quality, enthusiastic, well educated graduates, who have in common a keen interest in the work of Defence.

Does the GDP sound like a program that might be of interest to you – or to someone you know? Applications for the 2007 program open in April 2007. Visit our website at http://www.defence.gov.au/dpe/gdp/ for more details.

Don Sewell works at the Directorate of Career Enhancement, Defence Education, Training and Development, DSG.

[ top of page ]