Isaac Tai

What's your job about?

Frequency offers project management services, from project delivery to project controls and commercial and procurement services. Since I joined the Frequency Graduate Programme in September 2023, I have been involved in one project so far, an infrastructure rail project. I was the Contracts Officer; I took care of the procurement contracts for the client – any external engagements would come through to us in the commercial/contracts team to handle.

In terms of what I do daily, this means that I handle contracts throughout their lifecycle.

I’ve included a brief overview of that below, as when I was a student, honestly, what a ‘contract lifecycle’ was would have gone over my head!

1. A Workstream Lead (Head of Dept) would let us know that they need to procure someone (another company/consultant to complete work for them).
2. I would create a procurement plan that would then need to be approved/signed off by the appropriate authority holder and create a contract.
3. The contract is sent to the external company for signing and then countersigned by us.
4. Once that paperwork is all signed, I then put it into the financial system which goes through another check by the finance team that all approvals are there, and funds can be used.
5. We record the paperwork in our tracker to monitor the contract up until its expiration date – sometimes contracts are extended and go through a similar process to the above.

That’s just a brief explanation, but there are other moving parts happening such as keeping an eye on budgets and coordinating funds, communicating with heads of departments and project managers to ensure all paperwork is appropriate / up to date, working closely with the finance team in the financial system, keeping track of contract timelines

What's your background?

I grew up in Christchurch. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2020 is a real highlight for me. I did not have a great schooling experience and ended up dropping out of high school when I was 14. I was the first in my family to gain a degree and the first out of my extended family too. Our family is tight-knit – and so big that we’re like our own little community (fun fact - I have 70 first cousins), so gaining a degree was a win for all of us.

In terms of ending up at Frequency, I applied for another role in the organisation, and going into the second interview, the managing partner saw that I could be a great fit for the Graduate Programme. It’s something I’ve come to appreciate about Frequency – that they were willing to think outside the box and be quite agile in their approach.

I’ve been in my role for about 6 months so far and it’s been great. After graduating in 2020, I worked in a couple of other offices and picked up a lot of admin and people skills – which have proven to be valuable in my role now.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, absolutely. I think a vast array of people can do project management. I think what you need to thrive in it is communication and people skills. Those are the most important. Having other administration skills and computer skills is helpful. The technical skills you can always learn, but having the right attitude and soft skills is really important.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

I think the coolest thing about the job is more so about the organisation because one thing I like at Frequency is the professional development plan (PDP). After all, that makes you think about what direction you want to go in for your career. It shows that your employer is supporting you through your employee lifecycle. They want to help you get to where you want to go. Even if you want to move into a different service line, they'll probably introduce you to the right people to do that. Frequency helps you on your pathway and takes you on that journey.  I’ve been in other organisations where they aren’t having those conversations with you and you don’t know how to move forward. But if you want to progress in your career, Frequency will support you. Everyone here is aware that you're learning and they will help you and make sure that you're growing, and that’s my favourite thing about the job.

What are the limitations of your job?

I think something that could be hard for people in this role, or they could find quite daunting, is that you are sometimes seconded into other offices or organisations. So you might have started at Frequency quite recently and are getting to know everyone here and how this workplace functions, and then you’ll need to go to work in a client’s office. Particularly for people newer to the workforce who maybe know less about team dynamics and how workplaces function, that could be quite scary for them. It’s a cool thing that you get exposed to lots of different environments, but it can be a lot for a brand-new person. But I think it pays to remember that everyone is just people, right? Being friendly and saying hello to people goes a long way, no matter who the person is. Just being cordial and trying to find one person you can connect with.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

• I would say take the communications classes seriously if you have them in your degree, and if not, it’s about taking opportunities to learn about communication and practise that and taking it seriously as an essential skill for the workplace. Communication should be heavy on your mind just as much as all of the technical abilities that you want to gain. The crux of any organization is the people and the interactions that you have.
• Secondly, I think work on your interview skills. I think when I first finished uni, I wasn’t very schooled up on how to do interviews. And remember when someone is interviewing you, they are trying to find out your skills, but they are also just gauging if you’d be an okay person to work with. They want to get a sense of who you are.
• My last piece of advice is to know and use your strengths. If you're a people person, then that's great, but if you're an introvert, probably you're a great listener and a deep thinker and all of that. Everyone just has to figure out their strengths work with them and find a place that appreciates them.