Rebecca Ambrose

Careers Counsellor | Teacher

Our Year 10s enjoyed the BLA Careers and Education Expo recently (photos in the last newsletter). Thanks again to the staff for supervising and students for making the of the opportunity to learn about future pathways.

Our Year 12s are busily applying for universities, TAFE and other training provides, and some are applying for jobs. A reminder of the excellent resources available to students from the Federal Government, the School Leavers Information Kit; plus there is an opportunity for students to access careers counsellors for free. See link for more details: https://yourcareer.gov.au/school-leavers-support/.

Year 9s will be starting preparation for their work experience in Week 10 Term 1 2022. Students will be receiving more information at the start of next term.

Work experience and why it matters

Work experience can open up your mind to the great possibilities for your career. You can learn a lot about:

the workplace you visit
the types of education and training required to enter different jobs
how the job might fit within your own life.

Often parents and students think that the purpose of work experience is to assist you to obtain part-time work. But this undervalues work experience as a program to help you explore, develop and refine your career aspirations. So how do you get the most out of work experience? Read about a few points you could consider:

Be informed
Be prepared
Start now
Be resilient
Be involved

All students have access to our school careers website www.smcccareers.com.au – they can log in to “For Students” section using their school email account. Myfuture is another excellent resource for students www.myfuture.edu.au.

Leaving school - information for Year 12 students

The Australian Government Services Australia has a website provides information to help you choose your next step if you have just finished or will soon leave school. Information that you can find on the website includes:

Further study
Entering a trade or full time work
Not sure what's next
Tools and information
Payments for students and trainees
Looking for help until I get a job
Payments for job seekers
Financial and health support for young people

Heard of Course Seeker?

The Tertiary Admissions Centres and the Australian Government have developed a joint Course Seeker website providing national higher education admissions information. You can compare undergraduate courses from Australian universities and higher education institutions including entry requirements, ATARs, prerequisites and enrolment information. Click here and find out:

New short courses for 2021
How to get started
- Discover thousands of undergraduate courses from institutions across Australia
- Compare and Share courses from different institutions and share with others to help with your investigations
- Apply and find out about the application process directly from the website which links to the correct admission centre for your course
Upcoming events

Tips on choosing a course

Each course is a unique mix of many different ingredients from the subjects studied, to the student body, to the end career it leads to. You can use these points as a checklist of things that you need to know about the courses of interest. There are many factors to consider when you are weighing up courses and the institutions that offer them, but the key considerations include:

Click here to read the full article from The God Universities Guide.

AusApp

The Australian Apprenticeship Pathways Mobile App provides apprenticeship and traineeship career resource for smartphones and tablets. The App can be downloaded for free from the Play and App store and provides information: By state; Industry; Keyword; My favourites; Job hunting; Career research; Job descriptions; How to use the App Contact.

Key Australian Apprenticeship and Traineeships information Services resources

The Australian Apprenticeship Pathways website contains a variety of free resources to help navigate apprenticeships and traineeships pathways. They include:

Job and Training Descriptions – sample descriptions for over 2500 job descriptions filtered by state, choice of industry or keyword
Job Pathways Charts – examples of potential career pathways that can begin with an Australian apprenticeship
Pre-apprenticeship Finder – find a pre-apprenticeship in the industry of your choice by location
Practice Aptitude Quizzes – general industry based literacy & numeracy quizzes illustrating the levels required when undertaking Australian Apprenticeships qualifications
Literacy and Numeracy Quizzes – Interactive quizzes to gauge if you are apprenticeship ready
Career Interest Explorer – A quiz to understand which type of career or work one is best suited for
Co-branded resources – Resources such as fast fact sheets, steps to an Australian apprenticeship flowchart etc. which can be easily downloaded and customised for free

Looking for an employer for after school apprenticeship?

There are two broad types of employers for apprenticeships – an individual employer or a group training organisation (GTO). GTO’s pay your wages and organise your formal training but place you with host employers for your actual on-the-job training. Below are strategies you can use to find employers:

Read newspapers that have job ads (e.g. ‘Careers’ in the Saturday Courier-Mail)
Search the Internet for relevant websites
Contact GTO’s near you – find a list of Queensland GTOs here
Scan school and community notice boards
Contact industry associations – you can find a list of Queensland associations here
Approach previous employers - e.g. from work experience or part-time work (take a copy of your resume with you)
Visit your school VET coordinator
Talk to an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network provider – search for the one located near you here or ring the infoline at 13 38 73

Most importantly, check out your social network (parents, extended family, neighbours and friends’ parents). Usually there is someone who knows someone who might be looking for an apprentice. Don’t be afraid to approach employers who have not advertised a vacancy. It is said that up to a third of jobs are obtained through contacts rather than advertisements. Approaching employers who have not advertised a vacancy is called ‘cold calling’. Find out more about cold calling here.

Tip from the AATIS

The Australian Apprenticeships and Traineeships Information Service (AATIS) offers the following advice to young workers. It is good advice for young people looking for a job - whether it is full-time or part-time.

“Show that you are interested. Employers want to see that you want to be at work and are willing to work hard. You need to BE interested and LOOK interested if you want to make a good impression and keep your job!”

VET course in Queensland?

One source of this information is the Queensland Skills Gateway website. Use the training course search function on the site, enter the field of work (e.g. carpentry), the level of the course (e.g. All) and the industry (e.g. Construction). While the focus of this website is vocational education and training (VET), it does include an occupational search function that has information on a broader range of careers. Also included are links to other helpful sites.

Want to be an electrician?

Electro Group Training and Apprenticeships is a group training company that specialises in training people for the electrical industry. It employs and monitors the training of electrical apprentices. For more information, visit the Electro Group website (click on ‘Apprenticeships’). While you are on the site, read about the attributes and skills required of an electrical apprentice. Also, do the self-assessment to see if you have the maths and science skills needed for the job.

Australian Defence Force (ADF) Information Sessions

The Australian Defence Force holds career information sessions across Queensland highlighting a number of different ADF career pathways. For details about the following events and for information on Army Reserve Information Sessions, visit the Defence Jobs Australia Facebook site. Click on the link below to find out more:

Videos:

5 cool jobs you can pursue in Science

National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. Each year in August, thousands of individuals get involved in science events across the nation. It also aims to encourage an interest in science and encourage young people to become fascinated by the world we live in! Explore Careers has highlighted five of the coolest jobs out there! Click here to find out about a:

Curiosity driver
Firework designer
Firework designer
Volcanologist
Ethical Hacker
Nano systems engineer

Career quiz to give you some ideas

Career quizzes are not designed to give you a definite answer about what you should do but they can give you some fresh ideas to research. Explore Careers free quiz will help you discover the Australian industries and careers that you can research. The quiz results will tell you about real Australian companies that you could work for. Click here to start the quiz.

Australia’s Careers Online website (COL)

This website has several helpful career development and job search resources. These include:

COL’s Job Guide - with information on over 500 Australian Jobs
Job Seeker’s Workshop - choosing a career and how to prepare your job application
Job Links Directory – with links to websites on specific occupations and general job search resources
Aussie Job Vacancies – listing job vacancies by category and location.

Career exploration

myfuture is a great website to fine information to assist you in doing some quality career research especially now as key decisions need to be made for senior schooling or life after school. On the myfuture website you can find information about:

My career profile - Complete activities to identify interests, values and skills and view suggested occupations to explore career pathways.
Occupations - Explore over 350 occupations describing tasks, skill levels and current labour market information.
Industries - Access important information (including employment prospects) for each industry.
Career articles - Discover practical information to support your career exploration.
Courses - Discover a course for you by viewing current higher education and vocational education and training (VET) courses.
Institutions - Learn more about educational institutions and what opportunities and further study options are available.
Career bullseyes - Find out what career pathways are related to school learning areas.
Career stories - Learn tips and tricks by reading real-life career stories about personal experiences.
Organisations - Discover career resources, opportunities and possible career pathways.

You have to sign up to the site, but it is free and they only ask for an email address and your postcode.

Sports and Recreation industry

The sports and recreation industry is not just about entertainment, it also plays a crucial role in the well-being of all Australians! When most people think about this sector, they immediately think about competitive sports, but there’s much more to it. Sports and recreation contribute to the physical and mental well-being of different communities in a variety of ways. It’s a rewarding industry to get involved in and the number of career pathways will probably surprise you! Most organisations within the sports and recreation industry are small to medium enterprises that work closely with the local community. These could be:

Community sports and fitness centres or gyms.
Professional sport and fitness facilities, such as stadiums.
Professional athletes and competitive sports players.
Sports coaching groups.
Sports facilities management and groundskeeping.
Sports nutrition, therapy and wellbeing.
Sporting events management.

Click here to read more about this industry including:

jobs within this industry and entry pathways
graduate employment and gender split
qualifications and average salary
industry growth

VET. It’s Right Now. Industry Perspectives

“The world of work is changing faster than ever. It’s not that we haven’t had change before, it’s just that the pace has accelerated. As we go through this rapid change, we’re going to need to keep reskilling and upskilling throughout our lives and VET is the main way of doing that. That’s what VET is all about.” - Sara Caplan, CEO, PwC Skills for Australia. Watch this short video from industry leaders that talks about training now and throughout your working life and the value of a VET qualification.

Looking for a job where you can help people?

Allied Health is the biggest and fastest growing industry areas in Australia. According to Allied Health Professions Australia, allied health professionals are made up of Arts therapists, Audiologists, Diagnostic Radiographer/Medical Imaging Technologist, Chiropractors, Dietitians, Exercise Physiologists, Genetic Counsellors, Music Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Optometrists, Orthopedicians, Orthotist/Prosthetists, Osteopaths, Perfusionists, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists, Psychologists, Rehabilitation Counsellors, Social Workers, Sonographers and Speech Pathologists.

Read more about allied health professions here and also do a search on the myfuture website (you can ‘Sign up’ for free). Also visit the My Health Career website (click ‘Resources’ and ‘Pathways to a career in health).

Skillsroad website for career exploration

The Skillsroad website allows you to do a career quiz, explore industries and do a job fit test. The ‘Apply for Jobs’ section provides information about job search skills.

A day in the life of a UX designer

Are you interested in working on all aspects of a product's development, including design, usability, function, and even branding and marketing? If that's you, UX designers take part in the entire end-to-end journey of a user's interaction with a product and often work on identifying new opportunities for the product and business. If you want to get insider info about what it's really like to be a UX designer then click here. SkillsRoad caught up with Joseph Dang, a young, yet experienced UX designer to grab some of his insights and tips.

Arts and Recreation Services industry

Arts and Recreation Services is a small but diverse industry that includes museums, zoos, parks, botanical gardens, creative and performing arts, professional and recreational sports, amusement centres and casinos. More than half of workers have post-school qualifications. This industry includes both professional sportspersons and creative artists who have many years of training in their respective fields, as well as many people in administrative, support and management roles. Click here to find more information on job profiles, weekly pay, future growth and skill level requirements.

Have you heard about Database and Systems Administrators and ICT Security, Aerospace Engineers or Apiarists (Beekeepers)

Database and Systems Administrators, and ICT Security Specialists plan, develop, maintain, manage and administer organisations' database management systems, operating systems and security policies and procedures to ensure optimal database and system integrity, security, backup, reliability and performance. You usually need a bachelor or postgraduate degree in a related information technology field (such as database design, network security, systems administration or networking) to work as a Database or Systems Administrator, or ICT Security Specialist. Some workers have Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications. There are also a wide range of vendor and industry certifications available that may substitute for formal qualifications.

Aeronautical Engineers perform and supervise engineering work concerned with the design, development, manufacture, maintenance and modification of aircraft for flight. Specialisations are in Aeronautical Engineering Officer (Navy), Aerospace Engineer, Aerospace Engineer Officer - Aeronautical (Air Force), Aerospace Engineer Officer - Armament (Air Force), Aerospace Engineer Officer - Electronics (Air Force), Avionics Systems Engineer, Weapons Aeronautical Engineering Officer (Navy). You need a bachelor degree in engineering majoring in aeronautical or aerospace engineering to work as an Aeronautical Engineer. It is also common to complete postgraduate studies.

Beekeepers plan, organise, control, coordinate and operate apiaries to produce honey, queen bee pollen, beeswax and royal jelly, breed queen bees and pollinate crops. You can work as a Beekeeper without formal qualifications, however, experience as a hobby beekeeper or work experience with a commercial beekeeper is usually needed. A Certificate III in Beekeeping may also be useful.

The top paying jobs in Australia for 2021

There are many considerations to keep in mind when deciding which course is right for you: the location, length, cost of the course, but also things like outcomes for graduates, such as employment rates and graduate pay. Perhaps you’re still in the process of choosing a field of study or career path. While salary is just one of many factors to consider, it pays (quite literally) to be informed. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has released its most recent set of income statistics, which outlines the top 10 occupations by average taxable income for the 2018–19 income year. Click here to read The Good Universities Guide's article and find out which jobs are in the top 10 list.

Top 20 most-needed roles in Australia

The job market has been through big upheavals in 2020 and that’s impacted which industries have the most demand for new workers. Huge pressure on the healthcare system and a growth in parcel delivery during the pandemic are two key factors shaping the most-needed roles in Australia right now. Click here to see a snapshot of the top 20 most-needed roles and what employers in these industries will be looking for in applications.

Want to be an architect of some kind?

On the Australian Institute of Architects website, you can find information about how to pursue a career in architecture. Information on the site includes the essential steps in the journey towards architecture from secondary education, tertiary education and post-tertiary training and registration, career opportunities and alternative careers. Some areas that you can specialise in are:

heritage
sustainability
restoration and adaptive reuse
residential
commercial
landscape
industrial
interior

Employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities

Learn How to Become has written an article for students with disabilities who may feel wary about searching for employment opportunities and whether or not to disclose a disability when applying for work. Today’s job market is vast and accommodates people with a wide range of skills, interests, talents, goals and abilities. A disability, whether physical or mental, should not limit anyone’s career aspirations or job prospects; finding success and satisfaction at work is ultimately about identifying your interests and where your strongest attributes and skills lie. Although this is an American organisation the information can be relevant in the Australian context. Click here to read more about:

What to look for in a job
Employment and disclosing a disability
Career ideas for your abilities
Challenges and rights for workers with disabilities
Advice on asking employers for accommodation

Getting paid the right amount

Visit the ‘Pay’ page on the Fair Work Ombudsman website for information about pay obligations, including minimum wages and the rules regarding unpaid work. You can also find information about:

Pay
Leave
Ending employment
Employee entitlements
Awards and agreements
How we will help
About us

Seize every opportunity with both hands!

Why is it that some people seem to have opportunities fall into their lap? Is it that the opportunities are being delivered to someone else... or is it that you are not seeing and grabbing them? Read the generationYOU article and find out some of the hidden benefits of seizing opportunities when they present, even if they may not be the easiest opportunities to take on board.

Soft skills super star series

As part of National Skills Week, SkillsRoad has developed a series of soft skills videos to help you identify and build your 'soft skills'. A strong set of soft skills will help you thrive in any industry and at any point in school and your career. Check out their Soft Skills Super Star series that will assist you to understand and build these skills for success. The videos are:

What are soft skills and why are they important - Most people have heard about soft skills – but what are they REALLY and WHY do they matter?
Top 5 soft skills for the workplace - the top 5 soft skills that will make you stand out to employers and succeed in the changing workforce
How to improve your soft skills - learn about the best ways to improve your soft skills
Soft skills you will need in the future - find a list of skills you should work on to stay relevant in the workforce

The days of a job for life are over

The idea of a ‘job for life’ doesn’t really fit with the future of work. With so much change on the horizon, flexibility and a proactive approach is key. So, what can young people do to find job security in an ever-changing world? This short video talks about the world of work now and in the future and how young people can best be prepared.

AIS Local Sporting Champions program

The Local Sporting Champions program provides financial assistance for coaches, officials and competitors aged 12-18 participating in state, national or international championships. If successful, applicants will receive $500 - $750 towards the cost of attending their championships. Click here to read about:

Eligibility criteria
Application Process
FAQ
Apply tab

Applications are now open and close on 30 September for Round 2.

A stress management mind set

Focus on what you can control and do it well - try not to spend emotional energy on what is out of your control
Give yourself credit when it is due - we don't get everything right all the time but own the wins
You don't have to solve everyone else's problems - manage yourself well and you will be a good friend
Don't get or keep being sucked into believing everything you read or see on social media - it's all too often 'just a made up story'
What you think is how you are - watch the self talk or the conversations in your head that you have with yourself. We are too often our own worst critics. Listen to the positive voice.
Make sure that you have regular 'Me Time' - time to just sit and unwind and do something you like doing

Brush up on your study skills

UQ has put together some study skills for their students that can be useful for Year 11 and 12 people. Check them out here including:

General study skills
Exam tips
Assignment writing

How to use music to boost your productivity at work

We’ve all had that feeling of being inspired, uplifted or motivated by music. Whether it’s a thumping beat, inspirational lyrics or a rousing chorus, music has the power to move us. But music also has the ability to help improve our productivity. And for many of us – whether we’re working remotely, working less or just working differently now – music can provide just the kind of simple motivation boost we need. An article from Seek suggests you should consider the following and click here to read the article in full:

The golden rule for listening while you work
How to choose the right music for your job
What if I'm working near others?

Competitions

Tammy Pickup

Head of Technology