What type of job are you looking for?
Teaching Position or any posiion that assists communities.
What nationality are you?
Australian
What languages do you speak (and at what level)?
First language English and Spanish (semi-fluent)
What country or area are you looking to work in and why?
PNG, because my partner was born in PNG and she has family there.
What countries have you worked in?
Australia, Ireland, England, Spain and Peru.
What countries do you have a visa to work in?
Australia
What field do you currently work in?
Teaching
What fields have you worked in before?
Architecture
What qualifications do you hold?
Bachelor in Architecture, Graduate Diploma of Education, Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
Which do you consider more valuable? Formal education or skills and why?
Skills and knowledge that allow one to actively participate in work, community, etc. Formal education is a broad topic, extremely important but sometimes not relevant to the lives of the learner and dependant on the learning context.
Describe the benefits of working with others
Working with others allows far more productive outcomes as one can share and test their skills, weaknesses, knowledge with others to learn from each other and as a group. One can also develop interpersonal skills such as compromise, debate, listening and communication by discussing and resolving personal roles, group decisions and challenges that may arise. A sense of community is a positive benefit of working with others.
Describe the benefits of working alone
Working alone allows one to take on their own direction, make their own decisions and not have to compromise.
What was your worst working experience?
Working as an Architect for a small firm in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, where the boss had no passion for Architecture and was churning out very, very poor buildings. My role was to spend at least 10hrs a day in front of a computer and document these designs as fast as humanly possible working overtime on a regular bases without remuneration in the name of supposed architecture.
What is the most important lesson you have learnt throughout your career?
Work is easy when your passion and desires are being fulfilled.
What unique skills do you have?
Life skills. Growing up in commission flats and mixing with culturally and linguistically diverse people from a very young age and throughout my childhood. Living abroad for 3 and 1/2 years in Europe and South America. My personal skills and ability to confidently mix with a number of people from various backgrounds, demographic is a product of the environment I grew up in.
What would you consider as your 'dream job'?
Working within a community that advances the community, myself within the community and the lives of the individuals within the community.
What are the most interesting aspects of your field?
The people. Moving from Architecture fulltime to teaching has enabled me to interact with a diverse number of people as opposed to a computer.
What are the least interesting aspects of your field?
The politics among some teachers who can be very precious about their space. I believe my personal agenda is far less important than the agenda of my students.
How can potential employers contact you?
Aaron McKay aaronmck@bigpond.com
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