Cargo aircraft flying above golden clouds

Application - ACS Cargo Trainee Broker

Byron Jones | Cargo Trainee Broker

B2B sales instinct, logistics discipline, and a finance background. I want the Cargo Trainee Broker seat because the earning ceiling is uncapped and the path to Director is real.

Case study - a business I built myself

PROPER Window Cleaning

I am not just applying as an employee. I have ran a small sales operation on weekends, on top of a full-time role and final-year study. PROPER Window Cleaning is proof I can build a client list from zero, not just perform inside a seat someone else built.

150+
Paying customers closed
~1,500
Doors knocked
~10%
Cold conversion rate
$400
Average job value (AUD)
$72k
Total revenue generated
22%
Repeat / referral customer rate

Built from zero

No warm list. No advertising spend. No brand recognition. I picked a postcode, knocked on the door, and closed on the spot. A paying customer base grew out of that grind, with repeat and referral demand once the finish quality spoke for itself.

Premium pricing, not cheapest

I was not the cheapest quote on the street and I did not try to be. The pitch was turnaround, finish quality and reliability - the same three things freight clients pay a premium for when a shipment is urgent. Winning on price was a race to the bottom; winning on service was repeatable.

About

Why I want the seat

I spent eight months at Real Knowledge Diverse Solutions, a boutique advisory firm selling premium property strategy. I worked a curated warm-lead list on the phone, closed a strong share of the ones that connected, and ran paid online webinars for 50+ attendees at $499 a seat. That is where I learned what a B2B client actually expects: fast responses, no wasted words, and someone who owns the outcome.

Alongside that, I now reconcile payroll at Downer Group. Different industry, same lesson: the client remembers how the last thirty seconds went, not the first thirty minutes. In freight, the last thirty seconds often decide whether a shipment makes the cutoff.

ACS is the natural next step. A Cargo Trainee Broker seat with a real training programme, a Director-level career path, and uncapped commission - that is a structure I want to work inside, not just show up to.

48%
Warm-lead close rate at Real Knowledge Diverse Solutions
150+
Paying customers closed door-to-door at PROPER Window Cleaning
6+
Years in customer-facing roles
30K+
Employees and contractors paid through the payroll I reconcile at Downer

Why Air Charter Service

Why ACS specifically

ACS is the largest charter broker in the world, and the cargo desk is built around the same model: one client, one broker, one solution from quote to wheels-up. Source, quote, book, fly - the four-stage process runs through a single point of contact. That is the job I want.

35,000+
Flights arranged per year
40+
Offices across 6 continents
50,000
Aircraft accessible globally
10%
Uncapped commission structure

Trainee to Director

The published progression - Trainee, Broker, Senior, Director - is one of the clearest career ladders in the industry. I want a role where output decides how fast I move.

Australian market

Sydney is a gateway for Asia-Pacific cargo, from FIFO mine parts to perishables and urgent freight. Local knowledge shortens the ramp-up.

24/7, consultant-led

A dedicated broker on every job, backed by a global ops desk. That is how freight clients want to be handled when a deadline is non-negotiable.

What I bring

The six things I would bring on day one

B2B client instinct

Eight months on the phone with business decision-makers at a boutique advisory. I know how these clients decide, and how quickly they walk if you waste their time.

Sales on the phone

Converted a strong share of the warm leads I got through to at RKDS. Direct, plain, no script-reading.

Logistics discipline

Payroll at Downer is a deadline factory. Every line has a statutory or client-facing cutoff. That same discipline applies to cargo quotes, routing, and customs windows.

Commission-driven

I want a seat where the ceiling is uncapped and the numbers are visible. Sales targets are the point, not a distraction from it.

Composure under pressure

Retail complaints, payroll cut-offs, and last-minute client changes have taught me to triage fast and keep the tone flat.

Ready to travel

Happy to relocate to London for the four-week training and to work whichever time zone the client is in.

Role requirements, matched

Their ad, my proof

Every line from the ACS Cargo Trainee Broker ad, matched to something already on this page.

B2B sales or customer-facing experience
8 months at RKDS advising business owners on premium property strategy, plus a self-built door-to-door sales operation
Building a client list from cold outreach
PROPER Window Cleaning: grew a paying customer base from zero with no warm list, no ad spend, and no brand recognition
Confident phone and email etiquette
Converted a strong share of warm-lead calls at RKDS - direct, plain, no script
KPI and sales-target orientation
Built PROPER Window Cleaning to $72k revenue tracking every knock and close against a weekly quota
Resilience and composure under pressure
Door-to-door rejection every weekend at PROPER Window Cleaning; escalations and payroll cut-offs at Downer
Willingness to travel at short notice
Happy to relocate to London for training; open to any client time zone
Organised, comfortable multitasking
Full-time Downer + final-year study + weekend PROPER Window Cleaning, all completed on track
Comfortable with a non-9-to-5 schedule
Already worked evenings, weekends and month-ends; the on-call rhythm suits me

Experience

Where I have worked

CURRENT

Downer Group

Junior Accountant

Jan 2024 - Present · North Ryde, NSW · Concurrent with final year of study

Payroll accounting for one of Australia's largest infrastructure services businesses, covering reconciliation, cashflow forecasting, payroll tax calculations and lodgement, superannuation payday payments and calculations, payslip deductions, and public liability legal cost provisioning for 30,000+ employees and contractors. Every one of those has a statutory or client-facing deadline that doesn't move - miss a line and you delay a close, short-pay someone, or miss a lodgement. That's the same standard I'd bring to a cargo quote, routing plan, or customs cutoff, where a mistake costs a client's trust, not an hour of rework.

Cashflow forecastingPayroll tax lodgementSuper payday calculationsStatutory complianceBlackLine close

PROPER Window Cleaning (self-employed)

Founder - Premium Home Services

Jan 2026 - June 2026 · Sydney, NSW · Weekends, alongside full-time work and study

Covered in detail in the case study above. Built from zero to $72k in revenue with a $400 average job value and a 22% repeat/referral rate.

Door-to-door cold sales$400 average job value$72k total revenue22% repeat/referral rate

Real Knowledge Diverse Solutions Pty Ltd

Sales & Client Advisory Intern

Dec 2024 - Aug 2025 · Sydney, NSW · Boutique B2B advisory

Boutique advisory selling premium property strategy to business owners and high net worth clients. I worked a curated warm-lead list on the phone and converted a strong share of the calls that connected into a first conversation. I also hosted paid online webinars for 50+ attendees at $499 a seat, then followed the pipeline through to advisory engagements worth $9,000. This is the closest analogue I have to a cargo broker role: B2B sales, premium service, and a client base that expects to be handled personally.

B2B client-facingWarm-lead phone salesPaid webinar deliveryBoutique advisory services

Skills

What I can do

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Pricing, modelling, structured reporting

Xero

Accounting and payroll

Power BI

Client-ready dashboards

SAP / BlackLine / JDE

Enterprise reconciliation and close

CRM & pipelines

HubSpot and Salesforce basics - contacts, follow-ups, pipeline hygiene

Cargo charter basics

Working knowledge of common freighter types - 747-8F, 777F, A330F, turboprop freighters

Core sales & service

Plain, fast communication

Clarity on the first message. Follow-up before the client has to ask.

Target-driven

I work better with a number on the wall. Comms structure, KPIs and league tables are motivators, not stress.

Accuracy under time pressure

Payroll and month-end have made me exact. In cargo broking that translates to quotes, routing, and manifests that do not need a second pass.

Reflection

Three honest answers

01

Why I am moving into cargo broking

Finance gave me rigour, retail gave me service, and the RKDS internship showed me I like the sales seat more than either. I want a role where the output is a client who books again, not a report nobody reads. Cargo broking is that role, and ACS is the training ground I would pick over any of the smaller shops.

02

What eight months of B2B sales taught me

Business clients do not want polish, they want speed and specifics. Real timelines, a straight answer on price, and a broker who owns the problem. I converted a strong share of the warm leads I got through to because I stopped selling and started confirming: is this the shipment, is this the window, is this the route. That is exactly how a cargo enquiry should read.

03

On targets, comms and pressure

The uncapped commission is not a nice-to-have for me, it is the reason I am applying rather than staying in accounting. I want the seat where a good month is visible on the payslip. I have worked to KPIs, month-end and assessment deadlines at the same time for three years, so the pace does not worry me.