That turning point in your career
Bonnie Cox has had a whirlwind 2022. When she applied for the inaugural Angus Foundation Cadetship, she wasn’t anticipating the journey she would be taken on and the change in her career it presented.
After taking the dive and applying for the inaugural AuctionsPlus Cadetship, as the successful recipient Bonnie spent four weeks working at with AuctionsPlus across various departments within their business.
While working within the organisation, Bonnie was exposed to their Market Operations team, the Regional Agency Sales team, the Marketing team and the Integrity team, and had the chance to take part in the AuctionsPlus Assessor School with a group of livestock agents.
“The cadetship was a month long, so there was a lot jampacked into it, which I really enjoyed and was given a good, versatile look at the entire company that is AuctionsPlus,” said Bonnie.
“The first week I spent a lot of time with the Market Operations team who are people that run the sales, they also answer the calls and are really sort of the backbone of the everyday operations of AuctionsPlus.”
“Week two I spent a little bit of time with the sales team who go out and are at sales. I did go to an Assessor School with them and that was fantastic. I got to do cattle and sheep assessment, which was awesome to get a broader perspective, and we also met a lot of agents within the industry.”
“Then I came back, and I did a lot of integrity work and that was great. That was getting in behind the scenes, seeing how they might deal with some conflict and then also how the social media runs, which was great because I’m a bit of a creative mind myself, and I got to help write a couple of articles, so I really enjoyed it.”
Following the month within AuctionsPlus, as part of cadetship Bonnie took part in the Marcus Oldham Rural Leadership Program, a leading program designed to develop the skills and knowledge of participants to enable them to undertake a leadership role in their industry or community, competently represent their industry or community in decision-making forums and understand and address the issues facing rural industries and rural communities.
On reflection of her time completing the course, Bonnie expressed the major impact that this experience had on her outlook professionally, but also personally.
“That was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. And to date, I think it was one of the most valuable weeks I’ve ever had,” said Bonnie.
“You don’t just learn about leadership, but you learn a lot about yourself. You do a lot of public speaking, but you’re in a big group. As I’ve been telling everyone, I feel like I have mentally aged five years since I came back from that.”
“I met a lot of lovely people and a lot of big people within the industry. It’s not just for young people, I’d say 80% of the people that were down there were over the age of 30, so a lot of people that have experience in the industry could give you a lot of advice and it was great to meet them.”
On her return from the Marcus Oldham program, Bonnie found herself at a crossroads in her career. She then decided to give AuctionsPlus a call.
Now a few months on, Bonnie is immersed as a team member at AuctionsPlus as a Market Operator.
“I’m only doing a casual position, as I’m still at Uni, but I absolutely love it,” said Bonnie.
“I love the office environment, I love the job, and I love the people. I’m a Market Operator, so I will help run the sales. I’ll also take some of the calls, and I’m on the phone with clients and the agents a lot of the day, and I’ll be in the sales that you might be trying to bid in. So, it’s a lot of good fun.”
In reflecting on her new role at AuctionsPlus, she credits what she learnt about herself and in turn the confidence built during her time completing her cadetship in assisting her to make the call to the company.
“I learnt to just take the leap. At AuctionsPlus I really wanted to leap in and learn as much as I could, even though I was going to be there for a month. I wanted to soak in as much as I could, put myself out there and ask a lot of questions.”
“I then picked that up and took it over to the Rural Leadership Program where I tried to jump in and ask a lot of questions and then also learn a lot about myself. Sometimes I might sit back and just see how things come and go, but now I feel like I should make the initiative and ask people more questions or say, hey, can I help you with that? Or, hey, can I learn that? Which was one of the big things,” she said.
“It’s given me a lot more confidence, mainly through learning about myself. Now that I know more, I can have the confidence to do things I do well. It was actually quite interesting.”
“So, when I finished my month with AuctionsPlus and then had a bit of trouble with the work I was going back into, I ended up calling AuctionsPlus and asking for a job, and they said, yes, please come back.”
When she cast her mind right back to the beginning when looking to apply for the program, Bonnie reflected on the application process, which took her through the stages of initially applying through a survey and then finally interviewing for the cadetship.
“It was at a time where I was coming back into the industry. I knew Angus Australia had a lot of sponsorship opportunities for young people coming into the industry and it was a new one that popped up and my mum and my aunt sent it to me and said, this looks great, put your name down.”
“I did and I thought, I’ll just see how I go. I’ll do the interview and just tell them that I’m keen to come back into the industry, learn a lot and just get more information about various parts of the industry. And I ended up getting it, which was fantastic. It was such a surprise to me.”
When she considers her time in the cadetship and how it has shaped parts of her life since, Bonnie was forthcoming with encouragement for other young people in the industry to apply for the cadetship opportunities offered by the Angus Foundation in the future.
“In myself, personally, I feel through doing the Marcus Oldham Rural Leadership Program I’ve got so many other skills in my toolbox that I can use, and I feel like I’ve got the confidence to go out into these new roles I’ve discovered. It’s been great.”
“It’s completely changed my life, really, in a sense. The cadetship has given me a new career, new peers around me that are different in the industry. I’ve got to network with a lot of really cool contacts, and my future just looks completely different to how it did before the cadetship.”
Feature Image: Bonnie Cox in action for AuctionsPlus at the NH Foods Australia Angus Youth national Roundup. Image: Showcase By Branded Ag
Bonnie Cox in action at the assessors course.
APPLY NOW FOR THE ANGUS FOUNDATION CADETSHIPS ON OFFER
Following the success of the launch for the Angus Foundation Industry Cadetship Program in 2022, Angus Australia is pleased to announce that applications are now open for Angus Youth members for three separate cadetship opportunities with:
- Specialist agricultural insurer, Achmea Australia,
- Australia’s Digital Ag Market, AuctionsPlus, and
- Producer of Australia’s premium beef range, NH Foods.
The Angus Foundation Industry Cadetship Program has been designed to encourage and assist the involvement of young people in the Australian beef industry and to provide a vast array of professional development opportunities for young beef breeders. LEARN MORE
