What it’s like with boots on the ground at AuctionsPlus
The 2023 Angus Foundation AuctionsPlus Cadetship recipient Josie Cox recently wound up her cadetship experience, completing four weeks with the digital marketplace working across the business and developing an understanding of their day-to-day operations.
Additional to her time spent with AuctionsPlus, as part of the cadetship Josie also completed the five-day Marcus Oldham Rural Leadership Program, which saw her take part in the intensive developmental workshop.
Josie has provided an overview of her experience of both her time during her cadetship with Achmea Australia and of the Rural Leadership Program, reporting on the experience and what she took from it.
Read her report here:
First Week
My first week of placement in North Sydney with the AuctionsPlus team is with the Market Operators Team and the Market Insights Teams. This was an excellent insight into the hard work of creating and designing the ability for online bidding with integrated and continuous sales. Learning the ins and outs of the creation and building of the catalogues and sales of the auctions online was a lot more process and consumer interaction than I expected, and it is a great way to see how the AuctionsPlus team are very customer based and always wanting to improve the customer experience.
Second Week
Throughout the second week of my placement at AuctionsPlus, I had seen that 60% of the business is the basic idea of selling livestock on the web. Still, a percentage of the company is expanding beyond that and ensuring a whole customer experience throughout the website. I spent three days with the Marketing team in Sydney. I had the pleasure of working on projects to help understand what the typical AuctionsPlus user wants to view and how effective the different types of communication and platforms are for the user. In the latter part of the week, I got the pleasure of working with the Network team, which are the forefront of the communication between the business and the hundreds and hundreds of stock agents who engage in our platform for their clients and all the stud and large commercial sales. This is an essential role as they are the people who attend events and represent the company throughout Australia.
Third Week
Most of my placement was over, and it has been a fantastic experience for my overall learning of the corporate side of agribusiness; I did not expect to love working in an office as much as I do now. This week I have been able to experience the scenes of projects which are taken on by the Product team. The Product Team are three men who evaluate and help process the products of the business, which include the user experience and the upkeeping of the website in an effort with the Dev team. I spent a bit more time with Market Operations and Network, helping run sales and understanding the process in the Network team to attract and keep clients within their regions, what events they run, and the selection process.
Fourth Week
One of the Network team, Hugh, was kind enough to let me jump into the car and travel down to Dubbo National Shorthorn Show and Sale with him for two days where we visited the Show and were able to meet the auctioneers and agents whilst also seeing vendors from all around the Shorthorn Society. We also visited Nutrien Dubbo and talked to the agents within the company about updated programs throughout the AuctionsPlus platform. Sale Day on Wednesday the 14th was a fantastic day, with the top price bull selling at an international record of $106 000, which was Lot 77 “Ronelle Park Slurpie S29” and sold to Malton Shorthorns; it was a fantastic experience to learn the behind the scenes AuctionsPlus programming for sales on the ground and behind the scenes in Sydney. Being able to bid on the ground at the sale was a great way to understand the platform’s presence at the sale’s importance.
I want to thank the whole team at AuctionsPlus for being so welcoming and understanding for my placement within their company and the range of teams I was fortunate to work with. I would also like to thank Angus Australia for the fantastic experiences they offer for the youth within the society and the range of ways people can make an impact in the agricultural community, from the city offices to the ground on the farm.
