Jason currently works as an Account Manager at Provoke Solutions.

He holds BSc (Science) with Honours in Computer Science.

1. When you were 7 years old you wanted to be... a doctor. 

2. Name of the educational institution(s) you graduated from
University of Otago.

3. Why did you choose your major(s) or specialisation?
I majored in Computer Science and made this choice after trying an introductory programming paper and absolutely loving it. I guess the problem solver in me really enjoyed tackling tough challenges and I could definitely see that IT offered massive opportunities for the future, both in the corporate world and the entrepreneurial world.

Being more of a generalist than a specialist, I also studied a number of other subjects such as Accounting, Biochemistry and Genetics.

4. How did you find your first job?
My first job was at Unisys New Zealand and I found out about their graduate recruitment programme through a presentation they were running at Otago Uni. I also had a couple of friends who had graduated the year before me and joined Unisys, so I had insider knowledge of what it was like to work there.

5. Describe the interview process you went through to obtain your first position after graduating
Unisys had a very structured recruitment process as follows:
1) Submission of your CV to their website, where you also had to answer 5 behavioural questions by filling in an online form
2) Telephone interview
3) Psychometric testing, where we had to complete a couple of timed tasks, including a problem solving exercise and a reading comprehension exercise, under the strict eye of a facilitator (just like high school but harder!)
4) Flight up to Wellington for a day where there were two one hour sessions:
- a case study where you had to read a stack of notes, solve a problem and then present your solution to two managers
- a more traditional interview with two more managers where they asked questions about my skills and experiences

The whole process took a couple of months to run and I was offered a job in May of my final year, which I later accepted. It was a tough decision to make as I had also been offered a job by another IT company called Synergy and I was also halfway through Vodafone's graduate recruitment process, however in the end I decided I was happy to join Unisys.

6. What training was made available to you by your employer in your first role?
Unisys had a structured graduate training programme, starting with a week-long induction programme in your first week. This was a fantastic way to kick off, as there were 12 graduates in my year and we had a great time getting to know each other. We also had the opportunity to meet past graduates and senior managers, as well as being taught how to use Unisys systems such as timesheets and expense claims.

Following the induction week, we were assigned both a buddy (a past graduate) and a mentor (a senior manager from a different area of the business than the one you are working in). To this day I am still good friends with my buddy and I found the mentor very useful in getting a wider perspective on life and my career.

We also attended a number of 3 day training courses over our first year, including a presentation skills workshop and a basic project management course among others.

7. Describe some of the roles you have held since your graduate level position
My first position was in a consulting team at Unisys, and this team had two major focus areas: creating sales proposals and improving internal processes.

I quickly found that I enjoyed selling and when the opportunity arose to join the specialist pre-sales team at Unisys I jumped at the chance. For the next couple of years I worked in an Asia-Pacific pre-sales team, chasing deals in exciting places like Shanghai, Singapore and Australia.

Following this I was offered a position as a Service Deliver Manager within Unisys, which decided to take as I wanted to build my client facing experience. This position saw me take full accountability in leading Unisys teams to deliver services for large clients like ACC, the Ministry of Justice and Vodafone. After a year in this role, I decided I had enough client facing experience to get into a front line sales role, which took me to Provoke.

8. Have you found your degree useful in your working career? Why (or why not)?
Yes I have definitely found my degree useful even though I have decided to pursue a sales rather than a technical path. Studying Computer Science has honed my problem solving skills and given me a solid background in technology which has been absolutely vital, even in a sales role. In hindsight, even all those essays and assignments helped - in sharpening my ability to craft killer sales proposals.

9. What are your plans for the next 5 years?

To cram in as much as I possibly can! At the moment I am working hard on getting lots of sales experience as I believe that strong sales skills are vital to any successful business leader, whether you are selling products, communicating ideas or influencing outcomes. Outside of my day job I am also actively building my property portfolio and in the next 5 years I intend to move from employee to entrepreneur, spending more time on property development, overseas travel and creating the next big IT startup!

9. What advice would you give to an upcoming graduate looking to kick off a successful career?

Make the most of your opportunities as a grad! I found that people are generally very very willing to help you out in whatever way they can, you only have to ask for it. The best way to learn is to ask lots of questions and grab every opportunity to try something new.

The other big piece of advice I would give is to learn as much as you can from your role models. When you come across someone that really inspires you, ask them if they would mind sharing some time with you to help you shape your career. I've never had anyone say no and the lessons you can learn are incredibly valuable - I usually start by asking them how they got to where they are today and that alone can take more than an hour!