Hi Wasif,
After the 18 months, your title will change depending on what position you move into. You will no longer be titled a 'graduate'. In regards to graduate salaries, we pay between 50 - 60K per annum for graduates and once you exit the program in 18-24 months you may be getting paid anywhere between 65 - 80K. Hope this addresses your questions.
Also, Telecommunications is the 2nd highest paying industy behind Mining. So rememeber it's not what you can earn today, it is what you could be earning in 5-10 yrs time!!

Hi Wasif,
That is a good question! We are quite lucky at Telstra that a lot of graduates to stay on and carve out really successful careers. Of course we are going to loose some grads along the line which is inevitable in today's society! The way Telstra is able to hold on to it's grads is by offering so many opportunites that you can literally have different careers within the one company.

Hi Chris,

Firstly thanks for taking the time to talk to all of us.

I am currently an IT student on break until 2011 at QUT in Brisbane. I am studying networking. I spent the past year working on a HelpDesk at a company called SkyMesh. *EDIT* - I am a Networking Major

I am interested in working at telstra when I graduate. I have lots of customer interaction experience (I have worked as a waiter/bartender for 6 years as well as doing helpdesk part time while I was at uni earlier in my degree).

I really want to know what to expect from telstra when applying for a job. How are the interviews organised, how many rounds are there, things like that.

In the event that we get a position with the company, What is expected of us in the initial 18 months, what responsibilities do we have and what kind of formal training is avaliable in that time?

After the initial 18 months what kind of opportunities to be promoted, change departments, recieve further education, or apply for higher level positions would we expect to encounter and with what kind of time frame?

Sorry for so many questions, I hope to hear back from you,

Regards,

Paul Rosenow

Hi Paul,

A lot of thought has gone into your questions which is great.

If you apply for the Telstra Grad Program, you will go through a few stages of selection. Namely, application screening, online cognitive test, phone screen, assessment centre, ref checks and then final interview. It sounds daunting but it is not that bad I promise!

We expect our grads to hit the ground running and give them real responsibilities from day 1. You will be provided with on the job training and also additional qualifications/courses if necessary eg CCNA. You also receive a support network which consists of a buddy & mentor plus your manager.

All grads go through bimonthly group development workshops as well.

After the 18 months the opportunities are endless! It depends how high you want to aim and how determined you are to succeed. All Telstra vacancies are internally advertised so no one will hold you back. However, we like our employee’s to be in a position for 18 months before moving on. We also subsidise further training if it relates to your role eg we don’t subsidise dance or cooking classes!

Thanks Chris. I will give them an email and keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks Chris, I greatly appreciate the information you have provided today.

Regards,
Paul Rosenow

Thank you very much for the information chris.
It's very interesting reading other peoples questions being answered.