Hadeel Al-Hakeem

written by Alicia Byrne

When it comes to family traditions, Hadeel Al-Hakeem’s is on track to be one of the more unusual – and life changing.

“When we arrived from Iraq in 2015, my dad had trouble finding engineering work because he didn’t have Australian experience,” she says. “He signed up to CareerSeekers which led him to an internship as a construction engineer with Regional Rail Revival.

“When the time came for me to start uni, he suggested I give CareerSeekers a shot too, so I did, following in his footsteps!”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Hadeel, whose family settled in Melbourne as part of our humanitarian program, now combines her Urban Planning studies at RMIT with an RPV internship which is giving her real-life, practical experience.

“CareerSeekers was great. I learnt a lot about how to put together a CV, how to present myself during interviews. It really boosted my confidence so that I was well prepared when I went for my internship interview at Rail Projects Victoria.”

What started as a 12-week internship has been extended twice, showing just how valuable Hadeel is to her immediate team and to RPV more broadly.

Working in Urban Design and Strategy, she has been able to utilise the skills and information she’s been taught at university.

“It’s mainly architecture, urban design, landscape architecture and creative strategy that we’re working on in my team. I really appreciate being part of a project that develops a city, making it more accessible for people, making Melbourne better linked for travel.

“I can see that my experience at RPV has given me an advanced knowledge compared with everyone else in my course because I’m involved in a real-life project. It’s inspirational and we’re dealing with advanced design and it’s very real!”

Hadeel’s work has been varied in her time at RPV, ranging from writing case studies for the selection of public art to collaborating with project partners and alliances to come up with practical, creative designs.

Now there’s another parallel with her dad, Omar – while he works for V/Line, she’s working on a rail corridor serviced by V/Line, through the Geelong Fast Rail Project.

As she spends her time between RMIT and a project team she loves being part of, Hadeel has nothing but encouragement for people who might want to follow her on the path to CareerSeekers and an internship.

“Go for it!” she says. “It’s a window of opportunity and it’s a valuable experience.

“CareerSeekers will help you with your CV and interview prep. An internship will change your approach to study and enhance what you are learning at uni.

“I love how supportive my team is. They have helped me grow during my eight-month professional journey. I’m being mentored and guided on how to review design strategies and documents and have been given a lot of opportunities to expand my skills and learn new ones.

“The experience of seeing real life projects being delivered is more than I expected – and I’m really grateful for it!”