ProGrad Brisbane

Assessment Day – Hints and Tips for success!

What is the Assessment Day?

ProGrad assessment days are by invitation only and competition is high between graduates wishing to secure their place on the day. At ProGrad, we assess your competencies to help you find a suitable graduate position that can offer you the support and development you will need to be a success. You will be at our assessment day for approximately 6 hours, during which time we will be evaluating your skills and attitude.

The assessment day also offers you the opportunity to gain access to our top graduate recruiters, careers advice and tips for successful interviews. We also provide you with feedback on your performance.

Becoming a ProGrad candidate will give you a head start over other graduates in the market place. We only represent candidates that have been selected at our assessment days, who have demonstrated a real focus to launch their graduate career with a leading company.

In attending the ProGrad assessment day, you will:

• Experience a graduate selection process

• Have access to top graduate employers

• Gain information regarding careers from our graduate recruitment team

• Feedback regarding your performance

If you’re successful through the process

• You will be represented by ProGrad for interviews with our Client partners

• Gain unlimited access to your graduate recruiter who will provide you with

assistance,training and feedback during the interview process

• You will be eligible to take part in certain personal development programs

• You will stand out from other less prepared graduates in the job hunting market

What to expect at the assessment day

• Psychometric testing

• Self introductions

• Group dynamic exercises

• Feedback sessions

• Business Case Study

• Feedback sessions

• Group Presentation

• One to one interviews

• Verbal and numerical reasoning tests

• Individual presentations

The exercises are designed to enable us to assess you against a competency based framework.

We are not concerned with whether you got the answers right, we’re more interested in how you deal with the challenges in front of you. We want to understand your drive, your motivation, how you respond to pressure and how you deal with people around you.

We also invite some of our Client partners to the assessment day who are looking for ProGrad candidates to start in their teams. This is often where many of our graduates are “scouted” by graduate employers.

What to wear at a ProGrad assessment day?

This is a formal interview process, and so you will be asked to attend our Assessment Day in “formal business dress”.

Remember: First impressions count.

General rules for “formal business dress”:

For men: wear a dark suit, with a plain shirt and tie

For women: try to keep your suit as conservative as possible. Dress for business, not for fashion.

Shoes must be polished and plain black or dark brown.

What are we looking for?

We will be measuring you against a competency based framework at the assessment day. We are looking for:

• Confidence

• Verbal Communication skills

• Drive/ Dynamism

• Ability to Influence and Persuade

• Structure and Logic

How to prepare for the assessment day:

“Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail!”

You must prepare a 3 minute presentation prior to the assessment day, titled “Why should we select you for a career in business to business sales?”

We are not only testing your presentation skills – we are testing your ability to prepare. Do not underestimate the importance of preparing for this!

General Guidelines for your presentation:

i. Keep to the 3 minute time-frame (you will be timed on the day).

ii. Answer the question posed in the title

iii. If you require notes, ensure they are tidy

iv. You are welcome to use visual aids or props to enhance your presentation

v. Practice makes perfect!

What is business-to-business sales?

Business to business sales, is the transaction from one business to another. Business to business sales involves building and maintaining high level business relationships with key decision makers. Your role may be a combination of dealing with existing Client relationships and forging new business contacts. High-level business to business sales can involve a number of activities to include:

• Managing key Client relationships

• Generating new business opportunities in new and existing accounts

• Booking business meetings

• Attending business meetings, generating requirements

• Assisting with pitches, marketing campaigns, exhibitions etc

• Assisting with proposals/ tender responses

• Forging strategic relationships with key decision makers

• Dealing with Clients both on the telephone and face to face

Why start my career in business to business sales?

There are 4 key things that all graduates want from their career:

• Training

• Autonomy

• Progression into Management

• A good salary

A business to business sales career is the only career where your hard work will be instantly rewarded with quick progress, increased earning ability and unrivalled training. ProGrad graduates are put into the most important part of any organisation, the business to business sales team. They are immediately part of the success and growth of the company and this forms a key part in their importance to the business.

Salary expectations are progressive with most candidates earning $40-60k in year one and moving that to the $50-90k mark in year two.

It has been reported that over 70% of Chief Executive Officers began their careers in business to business sales. The two most important facets of any organisation, are the strengths of its financial departments, and its ability to generate revenue through the business to business sales teams.

Graduates entering into either of these divisions, are exposed rapidly into the business world, and are able to add tangible value to a company’s growth and development. It is due to this, that Graduates statistically speaking, enter senior management quicker than their peers – because they understand the mechanics of the organisation.

What kind of company could I work in?

ProGrad has become the partner of choice for not only the best graduates in the country but also the best companies. We work across a variety of sectors to include:

• Information Technology

• Telecommunication

• Media

• Publishing

• Advertising

• Finance

• Industrial

• Events

All of our roles are in the business to business sales teams of our Client partners.  For more information about ProGrad and our positions, please contact one of the ProGrad Graduate Management Team on 02 8235 8300.  Alternatively, you can view our website for more informaton.

Today is “Super Tuesday” at the ProGrad offices in Sydney, which means we’re conducting a day of high sales activity. 

In order to introduce our business concept to new organisations, it is essential that we initially make contact on the telephone with a view to book a business meeting.  As a team, we aim to exceed internal KPI’s in order to attend hundreds of new business meetings each month.  Every business developer at ProGrad works hard in order to build and maintain relationships with high level decision makers and this is initially driven through out-bound calling.

And so, with Super Tuesday about to kick off, I am confident there will be many meetings booked today.  Managing Directors….stand by your phones.

Davinia

When I’m looking to fill senior roles, we naturally look to recruit experienced people who can bring an established skill set, with a proven track record. 

And so we do the same as many companies, and we advertise online, receive lots of resumes, conduct telephone screening and invite people in for interviews.  With experienced people there is an expectation particularly in interviews that they will perform in a more superior manner to graduates.  The good news for graduate job seekers, is that this isn’t always the case.  With experience, comes confidence and sometimes laziness around preparation and performance in interviews. 

The common mistakes that experienced people make are as follows:

1) A lack of preparation which they are quite often honest about.  They might be “experienced professionals” but they miss the basics of preparation and research.  It comes across as lazy.  If this is how they approach an interview, how will they approach the role?

2) A lack of questionning ability.  This is one of the saddest things to see from an experienced person as it is a fundamental part of any interview, regardless of your experience.

3) Talking too much.  Perhaps this one is more prevalent with experienced people as they have so much more to say.  Talking too much is a crucial error for anyone in interviews. 

The bottom line is that no one is perfect in interviews…but there are some fundamental principles to be aware of when you’re meeting someone in this environment.  Regardless of your experience levels, always research the company and be sure to articulate this knowledge.  Such a basic thing to remember, and yet so rarely so we see it in a face to face interview.

If you’re a recent graduate who is new to job hunting and interviews, take some comfort in what is being revealed here.  Experience doesn’t necessarily lead to a great interview, trust me.  Even with a lack of experience, just stick to the basics and you’re likely to outperform even those with 15-20 years in the industry! 

Davinia

Davinia is the Sales Director of ProGrad Pty Ltd, and is responsible for the sales division within the organisation.  ProGrad is a graduate assessment, placement and training company and specialises in the placement of graduates into B2B sales careers across a number of industry sectors.  For more information about our unique model, please call 02 8235 8300 or visit www.prograd.com.au

For many graduates leaving University, applying for jobs is a new experience and fraught with difficulties.  The first place we all look, is online.  Immediately we are drawn to online job boards where we approach the job advertisements with the impatience we use for every website.  Click, click, browse, skim read, attach, click, send.  After a few applications, we play the waiting game. 

Some of those applications may have gone to a recruitment agency, some to organisations directly.  In my mind, there are no right or wrong ways to approach the task of finding employment.  My simple recommendation is to open as many doors as possible.  This ensures that as a job seeker you have more to choose from and can assess your situation more logically.

There is a key for success when you are applying for jobs online. 

1) Firstly, be sure to keep a record of what you’re applying for and the companies you are applying to. 

2) Then, ensure that you take a proactive approach in chasing these applications up!  You never know what may have happened to your email…so be sure to follow it up with a courtesy call.

3) If ever you are called back by a company and they leave you a voicemail, please do the courteous thing and return the call.  Never expect that they will “chase” you on the phone, as they may have hundreds of applications to get through.

4) Finally, like anything in life you need to be the one to drive your own success.  Never expect that things will just drop into your lap just because you have a University degree.  You’re not alone in that.

In this day and age, it is obvious that job seekers will rely on the internet when applying for jobs and this is something that all employers are accutely aware of.  Just because it’s the expectation, it doesn’t stop you from exceeding that expectation and speaking to a human on the telephone.  Nothing can replace that.

All the best with your job hunting, Davinia

Assessment days are becoming more and more common as a screening tool utilised by a number of employers across a number of indsutries.  It seems these days that many HR departments are implementing assessment days as a key part of an internal screening process.

I will share some insights here about our assessment day, which might help to prepare for other assessment days you encounter along the way.

Self Introduction session

1) Assessment Days are about competencies.  Suddenly, you academic qualifications are no longer important, this is all about you and the competencies you possess.

2) They are designed to bring out the best and the worst in you.  In pushing you outside of your comfort zone, you are likely to shine yet also you might make mistakes and feel nervous due to the pressure.  This is completely natural and something that employers make allowances for.

3) Assessment Days are an interview process and should be treated as such.  Please ensure that a strong level of research and preparation is conducted prior to attending to ensure you maximise your opportunity to be successful.  Speak to the assessment team prior to the session and ask them for some insights.  They want you to be

 

Group Dynamic Exercise

successful and they want you to do well.  It is likely they will tell you what is required!

If you’d like to attend an assessment day with ProGrad, you must firstly apply online and then pass a telephone interview.  Following this, if you are invited to attend a session then you will be briefed about what to expect and how to prepare.  And yes, you do need to prepare for our sessions.

For more information, please visit www.prograd.com.au or contact our team on 02 8235 8300.

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

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!

• Psychometric testing
• Self introductions
• Group dynamic exercises
• Feedback sessions
• Business Case Study
• Feedback sessions
• Group Presentation
• One to one interviews
• Verbal and numerical reasoning tests
• Individual presentations

Every placement includes four programmes designed to give candidates the basic skills right the way up to more advanced account Management. For more information about the ProGrad concept, please contact us on 02 8235 8300.  Or visit our website on www.prograd.com.au

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 themselves are a sales engine and we require sales activity in order to generate new business.  Our core activity is assessing, placing and training graduates into B2B sales careers, and naturally we recruit using our own methods for these roles.

ProGrad have over 20 recent graduates working hard in our office to drive sales activity and cold calling is a fundamental part of that process.  As a result, we aim to run a structured cold calling session each week (normally on a Tuesday) during which time the entire ProGrad team stay in the office and hit the phones. 

Their primary objective is to book business meetings and having everyone in the office can make this process so much easier.  Employees don’t suffer any feelings of anxiety speaking on the telephone in an environment where they are the only ones doing so.  Over time, as their confidence increases in this area, it becomes less important to have that comfort blanket of people around them cold calling. 

ProGrad have found this method to be very successful and have even seen employees drive themed cold calling days which incorporate more fun themes such as dress-ups and prizes.

ProGrad are also a full sales training organisation and train many companies in this area, coaching sales managers to drive more activity from their teams.  If you would like more information about how this is done, please contact the ProGrad team on 02 8235 8300.  Alternatively, you could email us info@prograd.com.au

Phone interviews are becoming more and more popular for employers as a quick and cost effective way to screen candidates before inviting them for a face to face interview.

When applying for a role, candidates should always be prepared for a phone interview, as you never know when a recruiter or organization will contact you wanting to know more information and ask you questions regarding your application.

When applying for possible opportunities it’s also essential to consider your current voice mail message and ensure you voice is clear and sounds professional. It is recommended to keep a copy of your resume, as well as a pen and paper with you where ever you go, just incase you need to refer to it or take notes down.

During a phone interview, remember this is not a casual conversation. It is critical that you don’t eat, drink or chew gum – the interviewer will be able to pick up on this straight away. It is also recommended to stand up while speaking and smile as much as possible to project a positive imagine and tone in your voice.

Finally remember to thank the interview for their time and consideration in your application!

Sophie

ProGrad is an assessment, placing and training centre that assists recent graduates to find entry level sales roles within fast growing international organisations. For more information on our services, please call us on 02 8235 8300 or visit our website at www.prograd.com.au