23 Aug From Me to You: VET Superstars Share their Ultimate Advice for Students
Making life-changing career decisions at the tail end of high school can seem daunting. Three VET Champions share their guidance around how they navigated these decisions, ultimately landing themselves a job that was exactly right for them.
Kelly, Kane and Liaqat all work in completely different fields. They have completely different interests and skill sets. They’ve travelled different roads to get to where they are now.
But they do have some things in common.
They’ve all excelled in their career following their VET qualification. They’ve all been recognised by the state government as ambassadors for what VET has to offer young people. And they’ve all featured on Come to Work With Me, an informal Q&A style webinar series designed to give students a bite-sized glance into the world of work.
When asked what advice they would give to their younger selves, here’s what they told us:
Kane – “Give yourself a range of opportunities”
Kane’s pathway into civil engineering was one which was not immediately evident to him in high school. While he didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do after finishing school, he kept his options (and his mind) open to different possibilities.
Kane’s pathway into civil engineering was one which was not immediately evident to him in high school. While he didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do after finishing school, he kept his options (and his mind) open to different possibilities. Kane chose subjects that he was good at, and interested in, eventually landing an offer to study an Advanced Diploma of Engineering.
Kelly – No experience goes to waste: “it all rolls into one”
Before she was an electrical apprentice, Kelly was a business admin trainee, a sales representative and a harvest worker. She assured us that even though she took awhile to work out what she wanted to do, she wouldn’t change anything about her journey.
“I feel like every job and every hurdle that I’ve been through helps me in my job now.” Kelly reflected that she uses her business admin skills all the time in her apprenticeship and that her sales role helped her develop communication skills, work in a team and relate to customers.
Liaqat – “Be Curious – Go Out and Learn More”
When Liaqat first moved to Australia, he discovered he wouldn’t be eligible to access HECs support to study at university and decided to take a VCAL pathway. After completing a Certificate III in Business traineeship while doing Year 12, he was offered a full-time job at GOTAFE.
Liaqat, who is now thriving in his role as a student attraction officer, put his success down to his willingness to get out in the community, volunteer, and “be curious and never stop learning” in a quest to discover the different types of pathways that are available.
“I spoke to 5 people in a single day to see what they do in a role – to get their real life experience… if you speak to more people, you will learn more about life and different industries”
Come to Work With Me will be returning in Term 3 to deliver a fresh series of insights to students on the vast array of career options that are available to them, and how they can unlock new opportunities.
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