It’s a common school of thought that university graduates need to head to the big city to get ahead in their career.
But a Toowoomba-based marketing agency is flipping that narrative on its head.
CoBright, a marketing and web design agency specialising in local, national and international agribusiness, is targeting home-grown talent direct from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ).
Caitlin McManus, who earned her Bachelor of Communication and Media at UniSQ, has quickly excelled in her role as CoBright Marketing Account Manager since graduating in 2021.
“I never expected to find this kind of role in Toowoomba,” Ms McManus said.
“Like many people, I assumed that to find this sort of role I’d have to move to a bigger city.
“Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and because of this location, I’ve been able to work with some major ag businesses I would never have had the opportunity to work with in a major city.”
CoBright’s business model is proving that UniSQ graduates can gain national and international marketing experience and accelerate their careers without ever leaving the region.
The Toowoomba agency employs a team of eight – four of whom are UniSQ graduates.
Ms McManus said her study at UniSQ helped open the door to a thriving professional network in southern Queensland.
“The UniSQ placements are a fantastic experience because it means you get to sink your teeth into the real world and that just translates so much better than sitting in lectures all day,” she said.
“Toowoomba has a great network of professionals and if you can get within that network, you can start to unlock the keys to regional development,” she said.
CoBright Managing Director, Brendan McDonald, completed a Post Graduate Degree of Business with UniSQ and said CoBright had continued to benefit from its close relationship with the University.
“We’re always interested in taking placements and looking at graduates to fill the roles here, and there’s a constant stream of talent to choose from as they graduate from UniSQ,” Mr McDonald said.
UniSQ graduates are well known for being job ready, with many securing jobs before graduation. This was reflected in The Good Universities Guide’s recent rankings, where UniSQ received five stars for graduate median starting salaries and full-time undergraduate employment.
Getting a career edge can be a huge advantage in a competitive jobs market and that’s why the University of Southern Queensland offers workplace skills and experience opportunities through its Careers and Employability team.
