With the average Australian changing career paths between three and seven times in their life, a career pathway is rarely a straight line and more like a winding or zig-zagging pathway. With every career change though, it is the transferrable skills gained during a person’s life that will influence the journey – from first starting out to winding down for retirement. Vocational skills are crucial for supporting your next move, wherever you are situated on the pathway.
National Skills Week is a time to shine a spotlight on vocational skills and where they can take you! Every first step in a person’s career can lead to amazing results and at BUSY At Work, we’ve seen young apprentices or trainees who have then gone on to complete their qualifications and run successful businesses of their own, often employing apprentices and trainees themselves. And this is probably how it should be, each generation transferring their knowledge to the next. Blake is one such former apprentice who now has his own business and employs apprentices himself. Read more about Blake’s story
Others have utilised the knowledge and skills from their qualifications to then enter an academic qualification at university. BUSY At Work recently congratulated Temika who recently won the School-based trainee of the year for her region at the Queensland Training Awards. Temika started a traineeship in health care while still at school and her goal is to pursue an academic path and eventually complete a degree in medicine. Read more about Temika’s story
We’ve also seen mature workers utilise vocational training offerings to remain in the workforce, pivoting their long-term experience and skills to begin another chapter in their career. With Australian-government funded support programs like the Skills Checkpoint for Older Workers program, this empowers mature workers to continue to contribute – while also satisfying their life cycle needs. This can be either winding down somewhat, changing roles, or stepping up in a promotion or trainer/consultant role. Like Robyn who was approaching retirement age but wanted to continue contributing the valuable knowledge she had gained over her career lifetime. Read more about Robyn’s career journey
Want to become famous? That could happen too! A surprising number of successful Australians started their career through an apprenticeship or traineeship. Just a few of these household names include Matt Moran (a well-known Australian celebrity chef), Michelle Payne (Melbourne cup winning jockey), Scott Cam (carpenter and television personality), Jamie Durie (horticulturist and television personality), countless professional athletes, amongst many, many more! Read more
