DFKANZ PDP Conference 2024: Q&A Reflections

Run by DFK Australia New Zealand, the People Development Plan (PDP) offers a variety of opportunities for both Undergraduates and Postgraduates across DFK firms in Australia and New Zealand. The inaugural PDP conference was hosted in Brisbane for 2024. DFK Gooding Partners team members Mitchell Cross, Bernard Greyling, Tyler Hicks and Mitchell Matrenza attended as participants.

What is the People Development Plan (PDP)?

Launched in 2023, the People Development Plan (PDP) aims to support candidates with their post graduate professional studies (CA, CPA, TIA) while also offering formal training on the key areas of service like Taxation, Superannuation, Audit and Xero Accreditation. Participants have the opportunity to work with a large clientele across multiple industries and provide internal training workshops and seminars to continuously improve and provide up to date knowledge.

The first phase of the PDP is a two-year cadet program for undergraduates and postgraduates and will provide mentoring from managers and partners as well as opportunities to work and collaborate with experienced and like-minded professionals not only across Australia and New Zealand but throughout the world. The inaugural 2023 PDP cohort has 25 participants from the DFK firms across Australia and New Zealand.

The 2024 PDP Conference: Brisbane

Following successful completion of the first year, participants of the PDP Program enjoy an intensive two day conference to consolidate the skills and knowledge and meet other participants from DFK firms around Australian and New Zealand.

Mitchell, Bernard, Tyler and Mitchell are graduate accounts with DFK Gooding Partners, and provide some insights from the conference and PDP program below.

Most enjoyable session of the conference?

EQ vs IQ. It really displayed the importance of emotional intelligence and the importance of people skills within the workplace and how crucial they are for career progression. – Mitchell

Wendy’s discussions around resilience skills, plus the little games we played as a fun way of proving how important strong communication skills are. Interacting with Yolanda during the walk/talk discussion about her experience at DFK Everalls was also excellent. – Tyler

What knowledge / skills from the conference are you looking forward to developing further in the office?

Resilience skills and address ‘time-sucking’ habits to improve my efficiencies. The insights around approaching negative feedback from a growth mindset perspective rather than fixed mindset perspective were also super valuable. – Tyler

Best meal of the conference?

The butter chicken curry for day 1… just immense. – Mitchell

The butter chicken. No words can describe how elite this dish was. – Bernard

Thursday night dinner at Felons Brewing, the pizza was delicious and overall great venue. – Tyler

Any advice for graduates considering career development programs as part of an employment offer?

Career development programs are a fantastic opportunity for graduates – not just in a professional sense, but how these skills are important in your day-to-day life. Firms that offer well considered development programs prove they are invested in you and what you are/will bring to their firm over the longer term. So I think they should be viewed as a really important part of your employment offer. – Tyler

What areas of the PDP have you enjoyed in the first year?

The conference is definitely a standout, and meeting the rest of the DFK graduates/cadets from around Australia. It’s great to build networks with other people at the same point in their professional career. – Bernard

I have enjoyed the fact we have been able to meet other people in the same stage of their career as ourselves and that we have covered a vast range of topics to broaden our knowledge on the areas of accounting we don’t specialise in. – Mitchell

Download the DFKANZ PDP information booklet

If you’re a graduate and would like to know more about the PDP program, you can download the PDP booklet here.