ProGrad Brisbane

ProGrad is Australia’s largest graduate assessment, placement and training organisation.  We work with fast growing international companies across a variety of sectors such as FMCG, Media, Telecommunications and Information Technology. Successful ProGrad graduates are placed into graduate programs working in diverse roles within the business to business sales and marketing departments.

These varied roles enable graduates to gain a view of the entire organisation and industry they work in. Here at ProGrad we speak to many graduates that leave university with an ambition and motivation to work in an organisation which can lead to fast growth and progression into management.

70% of CEOs from Fortune 100 companies globally have started their career in business to business sales. B2B sales is a fast paced and dynamic place to start your career and give you exposure to every aspect of the business early in your career, which evidently will lead to progression into management.

ProGrad currently has a number of great B2B graduate opportunities, with positions as Territory Manager, Sales Representatives, Account Managers, Sales Executives, Marketing Coordinators and Administration style roles. For more information on ProGrad’s services, or to find out more about what business to business sales entails, please call the ProGrad Sydney office on 02 8235 8300 or visit ProGrad website on www.prograd.com.au

ProGrad are on Twitter and can be followed by visiting www.twitter.com/progradgraduate

We would love to hear from you – so feel free to add us!

ProGrad are a graduate assessment, placement and training company.  We specialise in placing graduates into fast paced and progressive organisations, across a variety of indsutries like FMCG, Media, IT, and Finance.

For more information, please contact the ProGrad Graduate Team on 02 8235 8300.  We look forward to hearing from you!

ProGrad is a graduate assessment, placement and training centre. Each week ProGrad will run assessment days in Sydney and Melbourne in order to select the top 4% of graduates to place into fast growing international organisations.

Unfortunately at each ProGrad assessment day, we have to turn away some great candidates, each for a completely different reason.  If you have been unsuccessful at a ProGrad assessment day, we urge you to call us for some detailed feedback.

Whether you have attended a Sydney or Melbourne assessment day, please call the ProGrad Sydney office on 02 8235 8300 to speak to someone in the graduate management team. Alternatively, if you are a recent university graduate looking to start full time work, please call ProGrad for more information on our services, or visit ProGrads website at www.prograd.com.au

ProGrad specializes in placing recent university graduates into business to busines sales departments of fast growing international organisations. ProGrad recognizes many recent graduates do not have any corporate experience and therefore provide them with 4 modules of sales training within their first year of employment to ensure their success.  

ProGrad’s fourth module of training is titled Key Account Management. The two day course is aimed at teach graduates about maximizing account penetration by analyzing your position and planning an effective strategy.

The topics covered in the course include:

·         Identifying the role of the Key Account Manager

·         Targeting and planning for success

·         Pipeline management and account development

·         Developing strategies

By the end of ProGrads training course participants will be able to:

·         outline the role and accountabilities of the key account manager

·         develop a strategic approach to managing your most important accounts

·         identify the key activities and added value that successful account managers must bring to a customer

For more information on ProGrads  future training courses please call the ProGrad office directly on 02 8235 8300 or visit ProGrads website at www.prograd.com.au for future training dates.

Sophie, is a great example of a recent university graduate who came through ProGrad less than 2 months ago.

After success at her assessment day, she was quickly snapped up and placed into a large organisation in Melbourne. Sophie has recently completed her first of 4 training modules through ProGrad. Module 1, an introduction to Professional Communications was held for 3 days last week. Over the 3 days the graduates were taken through a diverse range of topics covering the basics of business, time management, goal setting and how to communicate effectively.  

The 20 graduates that attended were asked to leave a ProGrad workshop feedback form after they had completed the 3 day course.

“I found the training awesome – it was an enlightening course which will inevitably prove paramount in growing as a sales person. The content was pitched at a great level and I found the real life examples used very helpful.” Sophie, ProGrad graduate. Sophie will return back to ProGrad in another few months time to take place in the Module 2 course, which focuses on educating the graduates on Spin Selling.

More information on our training courses can be found by visiting ProGrads webpage on www.prograd.com.au or by calling the ProGrad Sydney office on 02 8235 8300.

What were you doing before applying to ProGrad?

“I am originally from South Africa however completed by school and university degree in New Zealand. Before ProGrad I had 2 years corporate sales experience for an inline accommodation company in Queensland.”

What was your experience at the ProGrad assessment day?

“ It was pretty nerve racking but was a good introduction to performing under pressure in a business environment.”

What is the role ProGrad helped you to find?

“I prospect, cold call, set appointments, close and manage accounts that specialise in mobile advertising, billing and solutions.

What is your advice for other graduates thinking of applying to ProGrad?

“There is no better way to begin your career”

If you are a recent university graduate looking to begin a corporate career, please call us and ask for one of the ProGrad Account Managers at our ProGrad Sydney office on 02 8235 8300 or visit ProGrads website at www.prograd.com.au

ProGrad recently placed 20 university graduates into entry level roles within our client partner companies. The graduates spent their first month at work getting to know the companies products, services and key clients before coming back to the ProGrad offices for their Module 1 training course.

ProGrad Module 1: An introduction to professional sales and marketing, is designed to educate these graduates on a range of business basics including the different between profit and loss, how to manage your time effectively, how to set achievable objectives and the importance of building a strong pipeline.

“I really liked the course; I found it very applicable and relevant. I also enjoyed the interaction with other graduates. Kingsley was a great teacher as he listened as well as taught. He got the points across very well by using good examples.” Natasha, ProGrad graduate.

ProGrad values all of the feedback we receive from our graduates. If you have recently been involved in a ProGrad training course and would like to leave some feedback please call the Prograd office directly on 02 8235 8300 or visit the ProGrad website at www.prograd.com.au

Sophie

At ProGrad, we have a team of young, willing and able employees all willing to take part in any charity events.  Today, over our group lunch, we discussed the concept of working together to generate money for a good cause.

ProGrad is primarily made up of sales people..and enthusiastic ones at that.  Throw us a challenge, and we get on board.  We desperately want to make money, and this time we’d like to do it for a charity.

We’re still brainstorming ideas about how best to go about this…and would love your suggestions.  If you can recommend anything, please let us know.  We have just missed the opportunity to register for the Oxfam Trail Walk, however we have come up with a few other ideas to raise money.  If you would like to get involved with us in anyway, we’d love to hear from you.

Please contact the ProGrad Team on 02 8235 8300.  Alternatively, you can email us at info@prograd.com.au

We have always been small users of social media at ProGrad, but you may have noticed we’re taking a much more proactive stance of late.  We’re starting to track and monitor our “social media” and taking advantage of sites such as Facebook and Twitter in order to reach a wider demographic.

Our research has shown that Generation Y are heavy Blog users, and many of our graduates use Blogs as their primary news source.  Whilst it might not be the most accurate area to generate research, we can’t deny its popularity.

BuzzNews recently covered the McDonalds issues, surrounding some video footage posted on YouTube.  Even a global company like McDonalds were not monitoring their online presence, and didnt expect the damage that was to follow: http://www.buzznumbers.com.au/blog/2009/04/why-mcdonalds-should-be-tracking.html 

It goes to show that YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are becoming a force to be reckoned with for organisations.  This social media simply cannot be ignored any longer.  With this in mind, we are focused on listening to our graduates through these sites.  Gone are the days when candidates gave us feedback on the telephones….these are the days when they express their feedback in a more public forum, and we need to embrace that.

ProGrad will be making a large effort over the forthcoming months to maximise their online presence and embrace the online toold available.  We tried to ignore it, hoping it was simply a fad….it wasn’t.  It’s here to stay. 

For more information about ProGrad, please contact the ProGrad Graduate Management Team on 02 8235 8300.  To follow us on Twitter, please find ProGrad on; www.twitter.com/progradgraduate

There are a number of steps you need to make through in order to be classified as a ProGrad successful. Firstly there are a few basics:

-         A recent university or TAFE graduate

-         Looking for full time work with an immediate start date

-         Have strong verbal communication skills

-         Have an interest in business development or business to business sales.

The next step is to pass a telephone interview and then an assessment day. At the end of the day, ProGrad is looking for graduates who are confident, have great communication skills are well presented and who are driven and hungry to succeed.

If you are a recent university graduate who is looking to start your career, please apply online at the ProGrad website www.prograd.com.au or call out office directly to speak to one of the graduate managers 02 8235 8300.

Sophie