From Finance Degree To Business Sales Career at Aussie Logistics Company
How University of Sydney graduate, Harry Oates, found his dream sales industry 12 months into being a graduate consultant.
Uni Grad?
Yes
Prior Sales Experience?
No
Professional Background
Consulting
I had geared all of my studies to break into finance and consulting. When I found out it wasn’t for me, I was confused on where to head next.
The Challenge
In 2020, Harry started his university degree in economics at the University of Sydney.
Alongside university, Harry picked up relevant industry experience with internships at KPMG, Macquarie Group and Challenger Limited.
After graduating from university in 2023, he accepted a graduate consultant position at KPMG.
He had come to enjoy the client-facing aspect of his role rather than the project-based work, however, he started to feel drained by the corporate red-tape and the feeling of being a cog in the KPMG machine.
Despite the long and hard hours, his work wasn’t sufficiently rewarded and started to doubt the long-term prospects of the corporate world.
Harry began asking closing friends and family about new career paths for him and was recommended sales due to his friendly and chatty nature.
He was on the fence about a sales role, however, as he believed that sales was like the “Wolf of Wall Street” stereotype.
Commission only roles. High volume calling. No work life balance.
But he continued exploring sales amongst other options.
The Solution
Harry learned about Earlywork through a high school friend that worked in business sales.
After attending a Business Sales Group Interview, Harry knew that business sales was for him.
His biggest reason?
Being fairly compensated for the effort and quality of his work, unlike in corporate.
Here’s more context.
In Australia, entry level business sales roles earn an average of $95k per year*.
Within 4-5 years of starting in business sales, you could be selling to 1000+ employee companies and have a total package north of $250k+ per year.
But why are packages in business sales so high?
It all comes down to what you’re selling - business-to-business software tools (ie: UberEats).
Sales is the second most in-demand role for most companies with clients that are businesses (behind product specialists) as reps are responsible for finding new business customers to adopt their tools.
Yet, there’s a distinct skill shortage as many job seekers think they require a business background or previous sales experience to get started - which simply isn’t true.
The Results
After attending a Business Sales Group Interview, Harry was shortlisted for his engagement with the session activities.
Harry was introduced to Shippit, an Aussie logistics software company that was part of our Employer Network and started his business sales career.
