Profiles

Mr Anthony Saliba
Graduate in Psychology

Anthony Saliba has never been one to follow the crowd. When he first went to Deakin his interest was in nutrition and naturopathy. His long-term thinking was to do something in the area of medicine, but he was always keen to take the holistic approach and thought nutrition would complement that. 'I chose Deakin because at the time it was the only place to do nutrition in Australia. But I thought nutrition is interesting, but I wonder how many careers there are?' He agrees that he took the opposite route to many. 'With all my friends, the naturopathy interest evolved later,' he says, but in 1990 “there were no jobs in nutrition, so I didn’t see the kind of future that's panned out now.'
This practical thinking led him to taking first year psychology and he soon found that his interest in that subject took precedence. 'I actually have a biological and chemical science degree, not a psychology degree, but I majored in psychology,' he explains. 'At that stage they had the most charismatic lecturers, which made me want to carry on studying psychology.'
'I wanted to do psychology on the side, but I got so passionate about it and had such excellent supervisors that I went on to do a PhD (at Essex University in the UK) and have basically worked in research type areas ever since.'
He speaks in particularly glowing terms of one lecturer in a first-year psychology stream during this period – Simon Oldfield. 'There were about 1000 people enrolled; there were so many they had to repeat the lecture. They had it on Monday and then again on Tuesday. Most lectures struggle to half fill the lecture theatre. You'd see the same faces on Monday and Tuesday...' And Anthony knows because he was one of them!
But it wasn't just Oldfield that captured Anthony's attention. All the teaching staff were impressive he says. 'They were very vibrant and active in research,' he explains.
He also got a great deal out of other aspects of university life. Having grown up in Rosebud and leaving home at 17, he was ready to embrace all that college had to offer. 'I lived on campus for three years,' he says. 'It was an amazing experience, [I loved] the diversity of cultures. I learned a lot about studying and life in general.'
He also loved the area. 'Geelong was a really nice place to study,' he says. 'It's big enough in that it has everything, but also has that small town feel. It wasn't like a city campus where you have hassles with parking and that sort of stuff.'
His younger brother clearly agreed with him. He came to visit while Anthony was studying and before too long had signed up to do a nursing degree.
And it wasn’t all study for Anthony. 'I played cricket and tennis, but had to work to pay for my accommodation.' This ranged from jobs at local wineries to installing irrigation systems.
Since leaving Deakin Anthony has again not followed the expected path.
'Most psychology graduates work as a psychologist, or in community health centres,' he says. For the last five years Anthony, on the other hand, has been working for Telstra. 'I basically work in industry, looking at consumer behaviour. I look at what they'll want in the future and then build that in an easy-to-use way that takes people into account, rather than just the technology.'
Recently though his job parameters have shifted. 'My role has changed; I used to do about 50 percent research and my current role doesn't have any. I'd like to get more of a research component back,' he explains, adding that this may involve looking elsewhere.
His personal circumstances have changed too. Like many men with young children long working hours have lost their appeal for him.
Married with two children (Cameron, three and Oliver, just six months), he says, 'Having a family has changed my perspective. At Telstra I've worked 50 and 70 hours a week and have done for four years. I think that's too long.

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