How To Get Promoted In Your First Job Out Of University

Anesh Ravi graduated in 2014 and kicked off his job hunt straight away.

Within a month, he found himself interviewing at Qualtrics, just a month into launch here; the team had three people at the time.

He knew of the software as he’d used it in uni and now found himself interviewing for an Account Executive role.

“I got turned down; I wasn’t experienced enough and  for that role you need to have three to five years under your belt.” He explains.

Anesh then headed home to Canberra where he took a job in financial planning, but he soon realised he wanted to be back in Sales and so returned to Sydney with no job.

Within two weeks of being back, by chance Qualtrics had started to look at growing building an Opportunity Development team– a more junior role sourcing business for the AE’s.

They had remembered Anesh from his interview the year before, and in April 2015 he kicked off his software sales career.

“I  didn’t want to get into the grind of a normal 9-5 corporate, shirt and tie type job.

“I was so excited to start here, and be part of this launch. For seven months I was the only op dev person, trying to prove the role could impact growth.  The whole company was around 15 by that point. There was still very much a start-up vibe.”

When the time came to build out the team, Anesh put his hand up to help with the onboarding and training – he’d been killing all his targets and directly impacted revenue.

“ Within a few months, I helped onboard five new people into the team.”

Just a few months later another opportunity came up for Anesh, being a private company without red tape – Managing Director Bill McMurray was keen to pilot a new program he thought could work for the company.

Once again, Anesh put his hand up to drive the project.

“I had to make my schedule and plan what my day looks like. I had clear success metrics, and if I hit them, I progress. There’s no waiting for a new job to come up; it’s a very clear progression plan. It’s empowering.

“I made sure I didn’t miss any of my metrics, so once I finished the project, my hard work paid off, and I was promoted again to the Account Executive role.

“I’d made it to the position I got turned down for just two years ago.”

Anesh is now looking after the new Singapore expansion for the team and hopes to continue to hit his targets and progress through the company. He shared his 3 top tips for being successful in your first role out of university:

1. Learn from your team

We have a player-coach team here, one of the best parts of being in a growing start-up is that you have direct access to really senior people. From day one, you should be learning from the people around you, whether it’s your manager or your colleague – it’s a huge opportunity.

2. Stay hungry

The adjustment from uni to work is a big one, you graduate and feel invincible like you can do anything, but the business world is a learning curve. You don’t want to get on the phone and have no clue what you’re talking about. Put the hours in to do the extra study where you need to – cause it will pay off.

3. Put your hand up

Since day one, I’ve been focused on hitting my targets and moving forward, don’t shy away from a challenge. One of the great things about these types of companies are the endless opportunities to take on more responsibility.

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