ProGrad Assessment Day, how to dress
March 16, 2010 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
Dress-code for the assessment day:
ProGrad recommend that you wear business dress for the assessment day. We have a number of Clients that we invite to attend the assessment day who will be viewing you in this interview situation. We would recommend you wear full business dress in order to appeal to any potential employers that might be present.
For the guys:
We would recommend a full business suit (if you have one) along with a tie. A lot of the businesses we work with are looking for a corporate/ professional image from our graduates. In order to maximize your appeal, we would recommend no facial hair, a good haircut and no facial piercing. If you don’t yet own a business suit, just give us a call and let us know prior to the day.
For the girls:
The general rule is to “dress for business, not for fashion”. Again, we recommend a clean, professional, corporate image. This is easy to achieve with a dark business suit and a plain white blouse. If you don’t have a business suit, simply ensure you are wearing a smart skirt/ trousers with a professional looking shirt. Approach this session exactly as you would an interview.
If you have any questions about what to wear at the ProGrad assessment day, please feel free to call our Graduate Management Team on 02 8235 8300. Alternatively, you can visit our website which also offers more information www.prograd.com.au
ProGrad Assessment Day Tips
March 11, 2010 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
Dress-code for the assessment day:
ProGrad recommend that you wear business dress for the assessment day. We have a number of Clients that we invite to attend the assessment day who will be viewing you in this interview situation. We would recommend you wear full business dress in order to appeal to any potential employers that might be present.
For the guys:
We would recommend a full business suit (if you have one) along with a tie. A lot of the businesses we work with are looking for a corporate/ professional image from our graduates. In order to maximize your appeal, we would recommend no facial hair, a good haircut and no facial piercing. If you don’t yet own a business suit, just give us a call and let us know prior to the day.
For the girls:
The general rule is to “dress for business, not for fashion”. Again, we recommend a clean, professional, corporate image. This is easy to achieve with a dark business suit and a plain white blouse. If you don’t have a business suit, simply ensure you are wearing a smart skirt/ trousers with a professional looking shirt. Approach this session exactly as you would an interview.
If you have any questions about what to wear at the ProGrad assessment day, please feel free to call our Graduate Management Team on 02 8235 8300. Alternatively, you can visit our website which also offers more information www.prograd.com.au
Module 1 Training - Melbourne 8th-10th February
February 17, 2010 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
“The material covered was extremly relevant and helpful. The training was very helpful and insightful as was the teacher. I really enjoyed the entire 3 days”
“I very much enjoyed the class. Given my role is not principally sales focussed, some of the material is not directly related, but generally all good stuff”
“While the subject matter was broad enough to encompass a veriety of industries, I still found it easy to apply key parts to my job and I look forward to applying it them. I liked the open discussions and workshop enviroment thyat was created”
“Great change to discuss ideas and concepts in an open forum. Content was extremely helpful and it gave us a good understanding of how we could apply it in the workplace. It was a fantastic 3 days, great content and enviroment to discuss our thoughts and ideas felt comfortable to discuss our ideas”
“Relevance was good, and applicable to my role. Very thorough and well guided. Excellent program, a good way to relate to people in similar situtations”
“Found all the material interesting and relevant to my role. Kingsley is a great trainer - very an informative and interesting person”
“Even though i have been in the role longer than I should have for this course, it has given me great insight for improvement”
ProGrad and Graduatejobs
February 5, 2010 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
ProGrad owns and maintains a graduate jobs board which can be found at www.graduatejobs.com.au
The intention of this website is to connect graduate job seekers with potential employers. The service is free to use for graduates and prospective employers and hopes to solve any issues around the difficulties currently experienced from job seekers at the entry-level.
ProGrad is a graduate recruitment company, however in launching a graduate jobs board we do hope to ensure that graduates have a variety of options regardless of their career objectives. At ProGrad, our core specialisation is in placing graduates into B2B sales roles. Clearly not all graduates are interested in that line of work, and therefore graduatejobs.com.au offers an alternative.
We hope that the jobs board will start to grow organically over forthcoming months and years and we hope to leave it as a free service to utilise. If ever you have any questions about the service, for job seekers or for employers - please contact our office on 02 8235 8300.
Job Hunting over Christmas
December 18, 2009 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
Hints for graduate job seekers
For any recent graduates looking for employment opportunities, why not take advantage of the holiday season to refine your job hunting skills.
Here are some tips from ProGrad to help you over the festive season!
1) Start off with re-writing your resume. It shouldn’t be more than 2 pages long and should be filled with RELEVANT and concise information. Ensure your career objective highlights specifically what you’re looking to achieve with your graduate career. Ensure that your language is not too generic. Your work experience needs to discuss the skills you have generated, not just the tasks that you completed.
2) Don’t take a machine-gun approach to job applications. Take your time to really research the type of job you want. Get some knowledge about the type of role that would satisfy your personality. Don’t limit yourself in the industry, but do be specific about the role (job) you would want.
3) Then start to apply, slowly and carefully to roles that appeal to you. Keep a note of the roles you have applied for and which companies they’re with. It is also worth tracking the company phone numbers too, as this will ensure you can make follow-up calls in January about your application.
4) Start to research information about job interviews and types of questions you can expect. Ensure that in the New Year, you are well researched, well prepared and well rehearsed for interviews. This will all help in your job applications in January 2010.
More than anything, don’t be lazy. Don’t expect that your degree is enough to land you your dream job. Be proactive, and contact people directly. Speak to humans on the telephone, not through the internet. This is such a simple skill, and yet massively under-utilised by graduate job seekers.
Last Melbourne Assessment Day in 2009
December 14, 2009 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
ProGrad will be once again in Melbourne tomorrow, Tuesday 15th December 2009 for our last Melbourne assessment day this year.
In 2009, we have run over 100 Assessment days in Australia and this day will conclude the Victoria assessments for recent graduates.
2009 has been a difficult year to predict for graduate vacancies, however we are confident that moving forward in 2010 we will see a definite increase in the need for graduates for B2B sales and marketing roles.
We have over 12 clients attending the Melbourne assessment day tomorrow and we’re looking forward to seeing the outcome. Melbourne has historically been a great location for graduates, who continue to impress the assessment team with their excellent attitude and strong presentation ability.
For any candidates that have not yet confirmed their attendance tomorrow, please do so at your earliest convenience by contacting ProGrad on 02 8235 8300. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!
From everyone at Prograd!
Are you thinking of travelling after Uni?
December 8, 2009 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
It is graduate season and certainly a time when most graduates are weighing up their options. Are they to stay and enter the work force, or is it time to see the world?
If travel is something that appeals to you, then our recommendation is to get that out of your system before engaging in full-time work! Employers have spent the last few years bowing to the demands of GenerationY and keeping roles open for those that suddenly decided to go travelling for a few months. The reality is, that in the current economic climate it should be “all hands on deck”.
Now is not the time to be starting full time work, and have an employer invest in your training and development if there is even a small HINT of you wanting to leave to go travelling.
If you’re feeling the travel bug now, and you havent commited to full-time work…then get it out of your system and just go! If you need to save money then take on a casual/ temporary job to assist you in putting money aside. Whatever you do, do not take a role unless you know that hand on heart you can be commited to it for at least 3 years.
Companies will only start to see a return on their “graduate” investment after approximately 18 months of being in a role (sometimes longer) and so it is essential that their investment is recognised by candidates.
Over the last 12 months, in a tight economy we have seen a huge decrease in candidates wanting to go travelling, and certainly and increase in the average tenure in a role. The job market has been tighter and hasn’t provided the same opportunities as it had several years previously.
As a young person with limited experience, it is easy to overlook the company that first invested in you at the start of your graduate career. Try to keep in mind that your first employer has had to invest in you enormously, possibly more than any other employer. They will have invested time, effort and money on your training and development. Ensure that you treat them well as they are likely to assist in future career moves - going off travelling after a few short months of working for a company is not likely to assist in the form of a glowing reference!
So…if you’re considering a trip away and you havent started work yet…go for it! There has never been a better time. Besides, many employers make look more favourably upon you if this is “out of your system” prior to starting.
ProGrad work on behalf of over 600 employers across Australia and are specialists in the field of graduate recruitment. Feel free to follow us on Twitter by clicking www.twitter.com/progradgraduate
We can also be found on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168060&id=126475642525&saved#/pages/Sydney-Australia/ProGrad/126475642525
ProGrad sponsor “B&T’s Young Achiever Award”
December 8, 2009 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
ProGrad were proud sponsors of the B&T Awards ceremony, held at Randwick Race Course, Sydney on Friday 4th December 2009.
Bruce Mundell, from Mindshare won the award for his excellent contribution to new business and also his enthusiasm for charity work. He was presented the award on Friday by ProGrad.
ProGrad are specialists in graduate recruitment and actively encourage organisations to home-grow their own talent. Young people can achieve great things in the work place and their drive and determination enhances their success in any environment.
Bruce is a great example of a “young achiever” (sub-30) who has gone above and beyond the expectations
of his organisation to over-achieve.
The awards ceremony was a great evening for all, and we look forward to being a part of the event again next year.
If you’re looking to recruit your next “young achiever” please contact ProGrad on 02 8235 8300.Or email info@prograd.com.au
For more photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168060&id=126475642525&saved#/pages/Sydney-Australia/ProGrad/126475642525
You can also follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/progradgraduate
ProGrad Melbourne Assessment Day
December 7, 2009 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
Our next ProGrad Assessment Day in Melbourne is taking place on Tuesday 15th December and spaces are limited.
This is the last ProGrad assessment day of the year in Melbourne and will be sure to attract more candidates and employers than before.
We’re looking for recent University graduates with a keen interest to get involved in B2B sales and marketing careers with organisations in Media, FMCG, Pharmaceutical, IT, Telco, Finance and Events/ Entertainment.
No experience is required as ProGrad offer a full, comprehensive training program upon placement, which is funded by our employers and simply facilitated by ProGrad. We have over 600 employers that have engaged with ProGrad over the last few years and therefore are described as Australia’s leading recruiter in the graduate market.
If you’re interested in becoming a ProGrad graduate and learning more about our opportunities, please contact the Graduate Development team on 02 8235 8300. For some information about past placements and recent successes that we have had, please look at our website, by following this link: http://www.prograd.com.au/Case%20Studies/Case%20Studies-15.aspx
ProGrad are growing the team
December 7, 2009 by ProGrad · Leave a Comment
ProGrad are yet again looking to recruit for our own in-house graduate program in Sydney. We are looking to start a new group of graduates in the New Year and have already commenced the interview process.
We like to recruit through our own process, using recent graduates who have made it through the ProGrad assessment day. This ensures our selected graduates have been assessed for their capability in sales and our interview process is then about assessing a cultural fit for the business.
ProGrad has been in Australia since 2005, and have grown dramatically over recent years. This growth has been due to the efforts of our own graduate recruits who demonstrate genuine passion and flair for our business model.
As a Business Development Executive within ProGrad, the role combines a B2B sales component with the involvement of assessment days and telephone screening initially. The graduates have an intense induction period when joining ProGrad and are then on a career progression plan which ensures their ability to do all elements of the role within the first 12 months of joining. Graduates then embark on a Management development program to ensure their continual development within the business.
ProGrad are expanding into the US market in 2010, and will also be offering international travel to employees over the forthcoming years to ensure further development of their careers.
If you’re keen on knowing more about the ProGrad roles and our in-house graduate program, please contact us on 02 8235 8300 or email info@prograd.com.au