ProGrad Brisbane

Our client is looking for an energetic graduate who is motivated by a bonus package, backed with a detailed training and development program to ensure your success.

This technology organisation is a recognized market leader and is used by many leading architectural and construction companies both locally and internationally.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

- Acquiring a detailed knowledge of the Company.
- Possessing the ability to professionally demonstrate these offerings at all levels.
- Working with the sales team to promote and develop new business opportunities.
- Maintaining client satisfaction, ensuring growth within our current installed base.
- Consulting with clients on new projects and the subsequent set-up of these within the company.
- Customer training on all facets.
- Attend and participate in sales meetings, technical seminars and trade shows.
- Occasional local and international travel may be required.

The successful candidate will:

 -Be highly motivated, well organised, disciplined and self managed.
-Be an excellent communicator and strong listener, possessing outstanding relationship building skills.

The successful candidate is assured of a strong career path in our fast growing international business team.

In order to be considered for this opportunity (or any of Prograd’s roles) you must apply immediately. Once your application has been received you will be contacted by a member of the Prograd team to discuss your application further. If you are successful you will be invited to attend an assessment day.

To apply for this role, please click here

A key part of our offering is training.  Initially, it was simply training provided to graduates once they had been placed with our clients.  These days, we offer training to graduates who are looking for employment that need help with the application process. 

As someone that offers the training myself, I am keen to understand what makes a good trainer.  What is the best training style to ensure that an audience is engaged? 

I have seen some great trainers over the years, and my favourite style has always been a thought provoking, challenging style where the trainer gently coaxes the audience to think outside the square.  This works in a formal training environment which might take place over 1-2 days, but what about training around interview techniques and job hunting?

During our assessment days, we offer a “training session” which is titled, The Importance of First Impressions.  This training session lasts approximately 1.5 hours and covers the basics of:

1) How to write your resume

2) Covering Letters

3) Preparing for face to face interviews

4) Interview techniques to use

5) how to follow up from an interview

This session does not cost the graduates anything to view and is aimed to give something back to those graduates investing their time in attending.  It is the least we can do!

Whilst the feedback is generally good in this area, we could always do better.  So if you can recommend any ways to increase the engagement of our audience when training, we’re ready to listen!

ProGrad can be found on Twitter!  Although like many businesses, we’re not entirely sure what we’re supposed to do with it!  I’m guessing we will learn this skill over time and so please bear with us.  uor core activity is placing graduates; clearly not social media!

We welcome a new starter on board, Nicola who will join our operations department and assist with our online marketing strategy.  With the popularity of online media at an all time high, we have realised the need to have a dedicated resource internally to assist the team with our online presence.  Welcome Nicola!

Our Twitter page is www.twitter.com/progradgraduate and we are keen to utilise the page to alert job seekers about interesting articles which are available online.  The intention is that we can become a place for graduates to share their experiences in job hunting and where possible, we can make recommendations to assist them.  Job hunting is tough at the best of times, and if we’re able to make that process any easier then great.

We’re a specialist graduate recruitment company working with graduates looking to start their graduate career in B2B sales.  Naturally, this doesn’t suit the profile of every graduate job seeker out there, and so feel free to get involved even if the ProGrad model is not one of interest.  Thanks!

Telephone interviews are a large part of screening processes across Australia.  Organisations see this as a quick qualification tool to identify very quickly whether or not a candidate has strong communciation skills and has the ability to work well in their environment.

There are a few basic principles to keep in mind when thinking about telephone interviews, and here I have tried to list a few pointers to help you out.

1) Remember, every phone call from a prospective employer is a telephone interview.  They are listening for the way you respond under pressure and whether you have a professional phone manner.

2) Voicemail is a good idea when job seeking.  Switch your phone to voicemail to ensure that you’re not speaking to a prospective employer at a time which is inconvenient.  Don’t create a bad impression on the telephone simply because you’re distracted at the time they call.

3) When speaking to a prospective employer, try to do so in a quiet place where distractions are limited.  Aim to have a pen and paper in front of you to take notes if needs be.  Prior to starting that conversation, you should know who you are speaking to, and be able to articulate the role you have applied for.

4) The tone and pitch of your voice says a lot about the individual also. Whilst employers are naturally looking for up-beat, enthusiastic and vibrant people – they are not necessarily looking for giggly, or immature sounding people.  If in doubt about how your voice sounds to others, please record it and simply ask your friends and family.  They are more likely to give you some very honest feedback.

Outside of those basic tips, be yourself.  That is the key for any interview, whether it is on the telephone or face to face.  In pretending to be someone that you’re not, everyone will be disappointed with the outcome.  Be true to yourself and ensure that you answer any telephone interview questions honestly and truthfully.

For more information about Interview tips and hints, ProGrad have a number of other websites such as www.progradsydney.com.au and www.progradmelbourne.com.au

ProGrad run weekly assssment days in Sydney to ensure a steady stream of graduate talent can be matched with our pool of graduate employers.  We aim to make these matches all year round, regardless of the graduate seasons.  This is because ProGrad are the primary conduit between graduates and getting a job in corporations.  There is no other graduate recruitment company has the same scope as we do, working on the level of opportunities that we are.

The assessment process is rigorous and only the top performers will make it through.  From over 500 applications received each week, we only invite the top 40 to attend an assessment day.  From that day, there is no set number of candidates that will make it through.  On average 30-40% of graduates that attend the session will make it through the assessment day.

After the assessment day, ProGrad starts to make introductions with our client partners for interviews.  We aim to align you to the roles you have specified you’re looking at, during your one to one interview at the ProGrad assessment day.

On average, graduates will attend 2-3 interviews to ensure they are able to find the right cultural fit for their career goals and aspirations.  Once a graduate is offered a role, they then consider whether it is the right opportunity for them.  We would recommend speaking to your family and friends about the position and ensure that it is with total confidence that you accept a role.  If for any reason it doesn’t feel 100% – it is probably not the role for you.

Once job offers have been made and accepted, ProGrad will then see you for training during your first year of employment.  Most employers have a very comprehensive training program internally, however the ProGrad training ensures that you have the basic business skill sets which will ensure a quick progression within an organisation.

If graduates are not successful at the end of the ProGrad assessment day then we urge them to contact us for feedback.  During the ProGrad assessment day, we will have made an assessment based on our competency based assessment framework and provide recommendations for future interviews or assessment days.  Typically, if a candidate doesn’t make it through the day, it could simply mean that they are not right for our roles.  We understand that every candidate has a different desire and drive for certain roles and we’re aslo fully aware that not everyone wants a career in B2B sales.

If you’ve attended an assessment day and didn’t make it through the process, please do not get disheartened.  We are simply one mechanism of many to help find a role.  Take the positives from the experience and aim to increase your skill set by taking on board feedback.

ProGrad can be contacted on 02 8235 8300.  Alternatively, more information about our graduate assessment model can be found on our website www.prograd.com.au

Our next assessment day in Sydney is taking place on Thursday 11th Feb 2010 at our offices in the CBD.

We have already invited our top 40 graduates to this assessment day and therefore all places are currently filled.  If you would like to attend an assessment day, please firstly apply on line at www.prograd.com.au and submit your resume.  In order to receive priority from our Graduate Management Team, please then call us on 02 8235 8300 and they will process your application.

Our assessment days run on a weekly basis at our offices in Sydney and therefore we will be able to place your name on a waiting list if necessary.

The assessment day is a 5 hour competency based assessment framework and assesses for five key competencies:

1) Confidence

2) Verbal Communication Skills

3) Drive and dynamism

4) Ability to influence and persuade

5) Structure and Logic

We have placed over 2,000 graduates in the last 4 years in Australia and our primary goal is matching graduates with prospective employers.

To find out more about the ProGrad model and how we can help graduate job seekers, please contact our graduate management team on 02 8235 8300.

Only yesterday, I was on the telephone to a candidate that recently attended the ProGrad assessment day.  Sadly, she didn’t make it through the day, and was feeling rather deflated at the prospect on continuing a difficult job hunt.

One of the reasons this candidate did not make it through the assessment day, was due to a lack of preparation on the day.  Despite knowing what to expect, and being advised accordingly – this candidate didn’t prepare and therefore struggled to compete with the other delegates present.

Outside of that, when I was running through some assessment day feedback, I asked the question “How are you getting on with other interviews?”

She explained that the process was hard, she had some decent experience yet was finding it hard to even get in front of employers for the face to face interview.  A few minutes spent looking at the resume was all that was required.  Very quickly, I noticed a few gleaming errors.  I will share these errors here as they might help demonstrate some of the common mistakes made from graduates when applying for jobs.

1) The Career Objective

This part of the resume (in this case) was poorly structured and didn’t explain what the actual career objective was.  The overall feel was generic and flaky and it lacked relevance for the jobs which the job seeker was applying for.

2) The Work Experience

In this case, the work experience was strong, and great roles had been held and maintained for long periods of time.  Under each employment section, came a long list of the duties completed in the position.  Which was fine, but there was absolutely no mention of the SKILLS gained in these roles.  Those skills would have been transferable to other organisations and other roles, however the duties may not.  SKILLS are essential to identify in the work experience.  It is not about “data entry”, or “cashier work”.  It is about the competencies developed in the role.  Competencies such as confidence, communication skills, drive and determination, negotiation skills, structure and logic.  These are far more relevant to mention.

Length

The resume was over 3 pages long, with a poor use of space.  Information was long, waffly and unlikley to be read.  It was too easy to skim over the resume in a matter of seconds, let alone minutes.

Format

The resume was badly formatted.  In short, there were spelling errors, grammatical errors and a mixture of different bullet points used in no particular fashion. It was screaming “poor attention to detail”.

And this was the document utilised as the first impression sent out to an organisation.  With some basic formatting and a bit of care and attention, it wouldn’t take long to turn this document around.

I have provided some basic guidance to the job seeker and fingers crossed, it starts to have an impact!

ProGrad can only work with candidates who are Citizens of Australia or who have permanent residency.

Unofrtunately we cannot work with you if you have any working restrictions and require an Employer to sponsor you.

This is really because our roles are typically very entry level and can prove to be difficult for companies to offer sponsorship for.  If you are looking for sponsorship, please speak to a specialist organisation in this area.

All the best with your job hunt!

ProGrad represent some of the largest, most well known technology brands in the world.  We are massive supporters of the IT industry and feel passionate about introducing more graduates to work in that space.  The reason we do this, is because we can see some really compelling reasons why graduates should consider working in IT sales.

Whislt for many graduates, the IT industry provides a concern of working alongside technical “geeks” and the worry of not fully understanding the technology landscape – the reality is often very different.

An intelligent, articulate individual can learn technology.  It’s not about understanding programming languages (that is for the in-house geeks), but you do need to understand the business benefits of technology.  After all, you’ll be having business conversations with people on the telephone or face to face if you are involved in IT sales.

Technology companies are fast moving, and evolve at a much higher rate than any other organisations.  Because of this, there are more opportunities created as companies grow so much quicker.  As the technology evolves, so does the skill set of the employees.  More importantly, so does the investment in training from an employer. 

Due to the profitability of companies in this space, there is also the added advantage of more lucrative roles available, stronger earning potential and quite often there is international travel opportunities to boot.  Imagine working for a US technology company; it will come as no surprise that it is highly likely they will need to send you to the States for training.

IT Sales in my humble opinion offers some of the most attractive opporunities for graduate job seekers, and certainly shouldnt be written off by graduates.  If you are thinking about your “street value” in years to come – then there is nowhere better to start your career.  You will always be in high demand and will naturally command greater salary offerings in years to come.

So, keep an open mind as you really never know when the IT sector might start calling your name.

For more information about ProGrad and our graduate opportunities, please contact the ProGrad team on 02 8235 8300 or visit www.prograd.com.au

ProGrad are currently recruiting for more graduates to join our growing team.

We currently have two vacancies for Business Development Executives in our Sydney office and are looking to fill the positions in Feb 2010. 

The roles combine looking for new business opportunities with the graduate assessment and selection on behalf of our clients.  We’re looking for recently qualified graduates who are fully focused on getting involved in this type of career.  If you would like to know more about our offering and the reasons why we feel we are a good employer of recent graduates, please contact us directly and ask for more information, info@prograd.com.au

At ProGrad, we’re primarily dealing with “generation Y” (yuk, I’m really starting to dislike that term).  Regardless, these are recently graduated individuals about to embark on their graduate career.  Great news!  Although…there are a few things to be aware of…

1) Voicemail:  expect that prospective employers will be calling you upon receipt of your resume.  With that in mind, REMOVE those “joke” voicemails.  Record a new, corporate sounding message.  If a potential employer calls your voicemail and is less than impressed, you can probably expect they won’t be a) leaving a message or b) calling back.

2) Email address: if your email address on your resume is that same one you registered in your school days, and represents something like sillychick1986, my professional recommendation is to CHANGE IT!  Goes without saying, right?  You’d be surprised…we see it all here.

3) Public Facebook/ Myspace profiles: just make them private.  Please! 

That should help for starters…assuming the rest of your resume is free from grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and photos.

For more information about structuring your resume, you are welcome to attend a ProGrad assessment day.  If you would like to find out more, please contact one of the ProGrad Graduate Management Team on 02 8235 8300.

Davinia

This might sound obvious, but we still hear stories which indicate that not everyone is educated about how to behave in an interview!  Here are some tips for success in interviews…

• ALWAYS arrive early
• ALWAYS greet the receptionist in a friendly manner, every member of the team plays a part in recruitment
• ALWAYS build rapport prior to the interview
• ALWAYS shake hands with a firm grip.
• ALWAYS wait until you are offered a chair before sitting
• ALWAYS allow the interviewer to talk, let them lead the interview
• ALWAYS smile and hold yourself in a positive and confident manner
• ALWAYS hold good eye contact, and be careful not to drift off…
• ALWAYS perform the best you can and display a positive interest in the role you are being interviewed for
• ALWAYS ensure you smell fresh. (Be aware that to a non-smoker, the smell of cigarettes is strong, we’d recommend not smoking prior to an interview)
• ALWAYS use specific examples that demonstrate your ability to do the role
• ALWAYS avoid making any negative remarks about your present or former employers.
• ALWAYS avoid enquiring about salary, holidays, bonuses etc during the initial interview unless you are specifically asked!
• ALWAYS avoid asking about hours that you can expect to be working
• ALWAYS discuss your enthusiasm for a role, if you truly are passionate about it
• ALWAYS accept an offer for a tour around the office

Davinia