Graduate Program Experience: Anne Sofie Brusendorff

For Anne Sofie Brusendorff, life as an Amcor sales graduate has been fast-paced, challenging and hugely enjoyable. Here, she tells us how the experience has built her into the salesperson she is today.

I woke up this morning in snowy Stockholm where I have two customer meetings before I fly back to Copenhagen tonight. As an Amcor graduate on a sales rotation, waking up in different cities is very much part and parcel of the Graduate Program experience. In recent weeks, I’ve travelled a lot. Recently I woke up in Copenhagen, where I’m based, travelled to Gothenburg for a meeting, then flew to Frankfurt, before driving to France, where I had a meeting scheduled the following morning. Four countries in one day!

I’m now a year and a half into the Amcor Graduate Program and will be moving into a permanent sales role soon. It’s a cliché, but no day is ever the same: you can plan for every meeting, but you never know exactly what will happen so being able to think on your feet is crucial.

Every interaction with a customer is important: when you’re sitting in front of the customer, you’re representing Amcor. Likewise, when you’re back in the office in Copenhagen or at our headquarters in Zurich, you’re representing the customer to your colleagues. It’s about working with these two important entities and striking the right balance between differing requirements.

The Amcor Graduate Program involves three rotations. My first was in supply chain at our site in Horsens in Denmark, which was great because it gave me a deep understanding of how Amcor works at every level. The team there is like a family, and takes great care of any new starters – I learnt how we produce the material we use in packaging and how it reaches our customers. As I come from a business school background where the focus is on business strategy, this level of granular, on-the-ground detail was fascinating.

For my second rotation I was based in Zurich, where I was given a bigger picture, a ‘helicopter view’ of the business. There, I worked with the Business Unit commercial team on some pretty big projects, including customer surveys and forecasting. In one year I’d gone from standing on the shop floor taking part in print approvals to being involved in top account reviews at the head office in Zurich.

I loved my third rotation – in sales – because it allowed me to work with big brands that I probably wouldn’t have been able to work with otherwise. And one of the great things about the Graduate Program is that you’re given a lot of responsibility from day one. On this rotation, for example, I book my own trips and manage my own customer meetings.
And one of my proudest moments has been working with an internationally recognised beverage brand on a project where my input had a direct impact on the work produced.

Another highlight of the Graduate Program has been the friends I’ve made over the past 18 months. Despite being based in different countries, we meet once every six months for training and we’ve become great friends as a result. If we ever find each other in the same location, we’ll try to grab dinner together and catch up.

I’ve had a pretty international upbringing and have travelled around a lot, so a sales role at Amcor suits me perfectly. The Graduate Program has stretched me at times, but it’s also given me a huge amount of confidence in my own abilities and taught me a lot about the way business works in different countries. It’s fair to say that the first two rotations have definitely built me into the strong salesperson I am today.

What advice would I have for graduates looking to join Amcor? If you’re looking for a challenge, professional as well as personal, then the Graduate Program is definitely for you.