Early career advice: maintain your work connections and play 'the mind game' if you want to get your ideas in front of senior staff

Be open about your ambitions (without being arrogant) and figure out what makes your superiors tick, a panel of young high achievers advise their colleagues.

It can be difficult as a junior public servant to figure out the best way to move up the food chain.

With this in mind, a group of (mostly) young high achievers came together to discuss what it takes to succeed at IPAA Victoria’s Public Sector Week.

Here’s what they had to say.

It’s all about relationships

While it’s drummed into young public servants that networking is important, making connections is about more than just pressing the flesh, says Steele Broderick, director for special tax regimes at the Commonwealth Treasury.