Careers Report

Welcome to 2023.

Year 12 students are working hard in their last year of School. I have added some podcasts below that will help develop good study routines and assist students to get the best results to enable a wider choice of options.

VET

I wish our VET students well in their Wednesday classes. VET is a valuable course which in many cases provides apprenticeship, full employment and future study options. This years students are attending classes in Furniture making, Community services, Agriculture and Engineering. The LLEN ( Local Learning and Employment Network) in Horsham has arranged for students to be transported to Horsham and Longerenong at no cost and they are able to leave at 7.50, returning at 4.30 which has greatly reduced longer hours from previous years.

I wish Josh, Ethan Darius, Jess and Lily well in their VET studies.

Resources

Nine podcasts with all the study tips and advice you could ever need.

Looking for study tips and love listening to podcasts? You might want to check out these gurus with all the insights:

Study with Jess – A youtube based podcast dedicated to helping students study smarter, not harder
CDU Study Skills – The ‘I wish I’d known that” podcast with tips from uni students
The Exam Study Expert – Tips for working smarter, not harder from a psychologist
The Study Sessions – A podcast that offers advice and support for students looking to improve their study habits
The Skills Pod – All about maths and study skills from the Uni of Chester’s Academic Skills team
Chloe Made Me Study – Perfect for non-traditional students who are mature age, studying online, or just don’t fit into the normal ‘student’ box
The College Info Geek Podcast – A podcast that provides practical advice for students on a variety of topics, including studying, test-taking, and productivity
The Productivity Show – Tips on productivity, time management, and efficiency in all areas of your life
UnstoppableTeen Podcast – With study skills, employability tips, and more

Getting Ready for Work

This section will act as a guide for future work options. Year 10 students this year will be able to access a week of work experience later in the year, where they can gain greater insights into an area of interest. A new on line work experience platform is also available to all students from Years 10-12 and would be so beneficial in bridging the distance factor. The program is free and I urge all students in the senior secondary area to access the Forage site. Links are available under Work Experience.

Five signs you might be ready for your first job.

Have you started thinking about working for the first time?

It’s a big step, but a good one – the research shows that young people who work part time at some point during their education may find it easier to move into a full-time job, and take less time to find a stable job than those who don’t work while they’re still at school.

If you’re wondering if you should be looking for a job, here are five signs that may indicate that you’re ready to work part time:

You are thinking about making some money.
This could be to have more control over what you can buy, to save for something big like a car, or just because you’re ready to start building your wealth and working towards billionaire status. If you’ve been thinking a bit lately about how much money you have then that might be a good sign that you’re ready to look for a job.
You can manage your time by yourself.
To work part time you’ll need to be reliable and keep track of your own time and shifts, so if you feel like you are able to manage your schedule by yourself then this could be a good sign that you’re ready to take on more responsibility.
You feel confident talking to adults.
Even if you find a job with a large proportion of teen workers (think fast-food, the supermarket, or the pizza shop), you’ll still need to be able to speak confidently with adults, so if you feel like you’ve crossed this barrier lately then you might be ready to work. You’ll know if you’ve reached this stage because you feel confident buying things at the shop, or calling the hairdresser to book a haircut.
You are old enough to legally work.
There are rules around how old you need to be before you can start work, so if you’ve passed those age barriers then it’s a sign that you’re ‘officially’ old enough to work. If you’re not sure, search online for labour laws in your location and do your own research (if you can do that, it’s another sign you’re ready to work).
You want to build more work-ready skills.
Working part-time is a great way to make a ‘soft’ entry into the workforce – you’ll have more space to learn the ropes and it’s expected that you’ll probably make a few mistakes. You’ll learn about shifts and uniforms, timesheets and payslips, and you’ll also learn a lot about working in an adult environment, which can help you prepare for working in a more formal and less forgiving environment down the track.

After all this, if you think you’re ready then the next thing to do is starting looking at jobs around you in the kinds of workplaces you’re interested in.

Work Experience

How you could use Forage Work Experience to build your skills online.

Forage is a free online work experience provider that gives you access to real industry-related tasks from actual employers, and they’ve been around for a little while now, so I thought it was time we had a closer look at how their programs work and how you can use them to make your resume stand out from the crowd.

In almost every interview you’ll face a question about your industry-related experience – even as a school leaver. Whether you’re interviewing for a job or a place in a course, you’ll need to be able to show that you’ve done your homework and confirmed that this industry is right for you. But if you’ve only just left school it can be difficult to get that all important experience, which is where programs like Forage can bridge the gap.

If you’ve completed online work experience in a relevant industry, then the interviewer can see that you have put in the effort and are actually interested in the role. Forage and other similar providers offer work experience for a huge range of roles, which means you should be able to find something that suits the job you are applying for, and the programs can usually be completed relatively quickly online from home.