Case Study, Nick 0
I studied Bachelor of Arts at Sydney Uni, majoring in Philosophy and Sociology. Naturally when my study was coming to the end I was asking myself “What am I going to do with that?!” The work experience I had didn’t make things any clearer, I had worked as a cleaner, a bartender and a pool man; so I was struggling to see where my first foothold would be for my career.
I then stumbled on ProGrad’s website and was hooked by the focus they placed on personality traits rather than just the title of the degree. There was a quick phone interview and all of a sudden I was in my dressed up in my suit at the ProGrad office. The assessment day was quite daunting at first, not knowing what we were being judged on, staring around the room looking at our competition and truly, I wasn’t sure what it was that got me selected, I was just my normal self; seemed like a breeze in the end! On the Monday following I had five calls and three interviews all organised before lunch time, as good as it was I kept thinking to myself, how am I going to have time to write three proposals, finish my Uni assessments and prepare for three interviews! It all happened so fast.
The interview process lasted approx two weeks; I started my first ‘real’ job immediately on the third Monday after the assessment day and handed in my last assessment simultaneously. I took up a role at Hasbro, a leading global toy company; I mean who could say no to a fun environment with exposure to national and global business experience, not to mention a desk covered in Transformers, Nerf Guns and other toys which definitely have the potential for distraction. Since starting in November 2007 I’ve been promoted twice to be the account executive for one of our major accounts. The knowledge I gained from the four Modules of ProGrad training gave me the head start and confidence to challenge my peers into taking on these new opportunities for promotion. However, not only the content of the courses is beneficial, it was a great opportunity to learn from the experiences of other people within their different roles and companies developing strong professional and social relationships. The drinks after each course weren’t too bad either…
To anyone in the same position as me approaching the end of my degree, my advice is don’t hesitate, ProGrad helped me to gain my first foot hold so quickly and developed my skills to assist in quick promotions. I am sad that I don’t have any more training modules to attend.
If you would like to apply for a ProGrad opportunity, please call our Graduate Management Team on 02 8235 8300, or apply online using the ProGrad application form. To open the ProGrad Application Form please click on this link.
