From PR Professional to ICT Business Analyst: How Lowee Found Her Path Forward

Lowelyn "Lowee" Ramos sits in a University of Canberra lecture hall, her laptop open to a group project on business requirements documentation. To an outside observer, she's just another graduate student working through her Master of Business Informatics. But inside, Lowee carries a weight familiar to countless international students navigating career transitions: the uncertainty of whether she's building the right capabilities for her dream role.

"My dream is to be an ICT Business Analyst, but I struggle to understand what I need to do in order to better align myself to industry needs and be ready for workforce demands."

Lowee's journey isn't unusual. She grew up between the Philippines and UAE, building a successful career in public relations before deciding to pivot into her true passion; technology. She chose the University of Canberra for its strong business informatics programme, believing it would bridge her communication strengths with technical skills. Yet like so many career-transitioning students, she faced a fundamental challenge: translating her diverse experiences into the specific capabilities employers seek in ICT roles.

Lowee struggled with traditional career planning in a dynamic and AI-first world. Generic job descriptions listed requirements without showing how her PR background, her group projects, or her cross-cultural experiences actually mapped to professional competencies. The gap between "complete your degree" and "land your dream job" felt impossibly wide.

More than 50% of international graduates working in Australia are employed well below their skill level and many are working outside the field of their qualification.

Source: International Students Outcomes and Pathways Study by Jobs and Skills Australia (August 2025)

Lowee doesn't want to be another statistic

When Evidence Becomes Capability

This is where VelvetGrowth changed everything for Lowee.

Rather than treating her as a blank slate, VelvetGrowth started with what she'd already accomplished. Her group project Business Requirements Document wasn't just coursework to be graded and forgotten. Our platform analysed the evidence, recognising her demonstrated capability in stakeholder communication, requirements elicitation, and business process documentation - core competencies for ICT Business Analysts listed for ANZSCO 261111.

For the first time, Lowee could see her progress visualised against two frameworks simultaneously: the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) competencies for ICT Business Analysts, and the University of Canberra's Graduate Attributes. Her PR background? It directly mapped to professional communication and stakeholder engagement capabilities. Her cross-cultural experience? Evidence of adaptability and global citizenship.

The platform didn't focus on what Lowee lacked. Instead, it showed her foundation: areas where she already demonstrated strong capability, skills growing steadily, and capabilities just beginning to emerge. No deficit language. No gaps to fill. Just a clear picture of her current capabilities and opportunities for development.

Pathways Built on Evidence

The true power of VelvetGrowth emerged when Lowee explored her personalised pathways. The platform connected her to specific opportunities that would build that capability:

• A microcredential in Business Analytics offered by UC's partnership with industry, explicitly showing how it would strengthen her data interpretation and systems thinking skills.

• A mentorship connection with an ICT Business Analyst at a local tech firm who had also transitioned from a non-technical background.

• A student society focused on emerging technologies where she could build her AI literacy alongside peers.

Each suggestion came with clear evidence of how it would develop specific capabilities. Lowee could see exactly why the Business Analytics Society would strengthen her technical acumen, or how volunteering with the Digital Inclusion Project would build her stakeholder engagement skills in technology contexts.

For someone who had struggled to know what steps to take, VelvetGrowth offered something revolutionary: a roadmap built on her actual experiences, aligned to industry frameworks, and personalised to her unique journey.

Finding Her Community

Perhaps the most unexpected benefit came from connection. Through VelvetGrowth, Lowee discovered Nikita, a Master of Human Resource Management student who shared a similar growth area: building confidence with AI systems in workplace contexts.

"We didn't know each other. We just had the same growth area."

That shared development opportunity became a collaboration point. When both were recommended the same upskilling workshop on AI skills for workplace readiness, they attended together. Weeks later, they co-hosted a campus session sharing their learning journey with other students.

Growth areas became connection points. Individual pathways transformed into collaborative learning communities.

The Path Forward

Today, Lowee doesn't just hope she's building the right capabilities - she knows she is. She can articulate exactly how her PR experience translates to stakeholder communication in ICT contexts. She tracks her growing technical competencies against industry frameworks. She sees her evidence validated as recognised skills.

VelvetGrowth didn't give Lowee a path. It helped her see the path she was already building, gave her the language to articulate her capabilities, and connected her with the resources and community to strengthen her journey.

When students see their evidence as recognised capabilities, career pathways become clear and achievable. That's not just a platform feature. For students like Lowee, it's the difference between uncertainty and confidence, between hoping and knowing, between walking alone and finding your community.

Skills in demand and frameworks change. But the underlying VelvetGrowth platform does not. We help drive awareness and action from students from the day they enrol to a journey of lifelong learning.

If anything in Lowee's story resonates, please reach out and say hello: partners@theredvelvet.ai