Career summary

Will Zhong graduated from a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Chinese Studies, and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) in 2016. He currently works as a manager for the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. He is the Co-Founder of Goodie, a platform that matches young people with volunteering opportunities in Australia – something he says he would have really appreciated to be able to use while he was at University. During his studies, Will was a Mentor Leader in the Access Monash Ambassador program, and a Mentor in the Monash Law Students’ Society.

Career pathway

2021 – Manager, Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
2021 – Principal Policy Officer, Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
2020 – Senior Policy Officer, Strategy, Policy and Planning - COVID-19 Public Health, Victorian Department of Health and Human Services
2020 – Aide to the Governor of Victoria, Government House
2018 – Co-Founder, Goodie
2018 – Business Development Manager, Cardly
2017 – Lawyer, Ashurst
2016 – Graduated from Bachelor of Arts + Bachelor of Laws (Hons), majoring in Chinese Studies

Why did you choose to study Arts at Monash?

I always had my eyes set on the Monash Arts/Law double degree...but just couldn’t get the ATAR score for it! So I opted for the straight Arts degree in hope I could eventually transfer into the double degree. It was a competitive environment but I was doing subjects that I enjoyed which helped me get the marks to transfer in my second year.

Also being of Chinese heritage – and having not studied the language in high school – I wanted to learn about the language and also understand about the history and my roots through the Chinese studies units that Monash offered.

I always had a liking to history and learning about the lives of historical figures, as well an interest in war and global affairs. I enjoyed learning about different parts of history that have made us who we are today. I knew Monash Arts offered a wide variety of different subjects, which is why I knew it’d be a perfect fit.

What were some of the highlights at Monash?

Monash has such a unique community and makes it easy to meet people across all faculties, not just within Arts. I really enjoyed that component of Monash and believe it’s a great way to meet new people and make lifelong friends.

I was also fortunate enough to meet my wife at Monash, who was also studying an Arts/Law degree

Other highlights included the fantastic academic and social supports the law students’ society offered and opportunities to get involved in social impact clubs such as Monash SEED.

Travelling overseas to study at the University of Hong Kong and Monash Prato were also memorable experiences – definitely worth travelling to study if you have the opportunity!

Tell us a little about your career journey

Most of my career journey after graduating has been focused on law. I was fortunate enough to get a couple of clerkships and was able to do these at some big law firms.

A key to my success in getting these clerkships was thanks to my Arts degree and ability to speak Chinese as well as having a more global approach to things.

After my clerkships, I received a graduate role at a top tier law firm. After I had secured my graduate role I began to look towards the future and attended a number of start-up and social Impact events but didn’t pursue them at that time.

The firm I was working with paid for my legal training so that I could become a practising lawyer.

The motivation behind me quitting that role was so that I could pursue the idea of my app “Goodie”. This idea was a volunteering platform that just made it super easy to volunteer in something you’re passionate about.

This idea stemmed from frustration as a uni student where I would struggle to find opportunities to volunteer.

I developed “Goodie” with a few friends, including a fellow Monash student who completed a Commerce and IT degree. It was great to have that contact as he was a key part in developing the app, as we helped focus Goodie to help university students.

I was heavily involved with Goodie for a year and a half but ended up stepping back as it wasn’t going to be compatible with my future goals.

From there I moved into policy, and was able to land a job with the Victorian Government. My first role was being appointed as an Aide to the Governor of Victoria. The role opened my eyes up to how key decision makers think.

Then COVID-19 hit and there was a sudden need for policy makers to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, which led me to the role of Senior Policy Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The role was fast-paced and regularly involved recommending policies affecting how the State managed its contact tracing and public health measures.

I’m currently working as a Principal Policy Officer at the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and am developing strategies to improve how the State supports Victoria’s most vulnerable during the pandemic and beyond.

What are the main values or skills that you learned from your arts degree that you think you still apply to your job?

The overwhelming number of reading materials assigned to each Arts unit taught me the skill of synthesising resources to determine what information is most relevant to help with the tasks at hand.

This skill was particularly important in my legal and policy roles, as both roles require me to decipher complex information and to distil it into short briefs to influence decision-making. So being able to synthesise big pieces of information to solve a question is a key take-away from my course, something I especially learnt in my history units.

My Arts degree also often took me outside of my intellectual comfort zone and challenged me in various ways on topics I wasn’t familiar with!

What advice would you give to current students?

My advice would be to put your hand up for everything and to step outside of your comfort zone.  It’s also important to make a conscious effort to invest in new relationships and new friends at university. I would also recommend joining university clubs and societies, even if it’s something you normally wouldn’t do or consider.

If you have the opportunity to go overseas then do it, it was one of the highlights for me during my time at Monash.

Written by Journalism intern, Oscar Manning, 2021.