Career & VET Report

Careers Report

Important Future Events

April 15 to April 29, 2023

SAE Institute is opening its doors this April for a one-day program, designed to expand your skills and get you working on inspiring creative projects in the fields of Animation, Audio, Design, Film, Games, Music Production, or Songwriting.

Don’t miss out on your chance to experience life as an SAE student and discover what it means to be a creative professional, in state-of-the-art facilities with industry experts by your side.

During the workshop, attendees will learn valuable practical and collaborative skills to build a creative piece of work! They will also receive a certificate of participation to acknowledge the creative project they have undertaken.

Due to the level of workshop content, this event is open to school students aged 15 years and above (Year 10 and over).

Find out more

Scholarships

Scholarships for Students Experiencing Financial Difficulty

Going to university can be really expensive – not only do you need to think about course fees, there’s also the cost of textbooks, technology, travel to and from campus or accommodation fees, and more. It can be easy to be put off studies because of the cost, but there is help out there. Lots of universities offer scholarships for students experiencing financial difficulty.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for one of these scholarships, you’ll need to be experiencing some kind of financial hardship. This can be that your parents are facing financial difficulty, or yourself if you’re independent. Some universities will specify an exact amount you need to be earning less than, while others test on a case-by-case basis.

There are different ways universities verify your eligibility, but it’s usually done by seeing whether you receive means-tested Centrelink benefits, or by providing a statutory declaration.

Top scholarships for students experiencing financial difficulty

If you’re facing financial disadvantage and are looking for a scholarship to help, here are some of the best ones we’ve found:

University of Newcastle Ma & Morley Scholarship Program – this scholarship has a special category for people who have faced educational disadvantage, including financial difficulties. It’s worth up to $75,000 and includes a China immersion experience.

Griffith Chancellor’s Scholarships – worth between $11,000 and $22,000, these scholarships are designed to help students who have faced financial and educational struggles.

UAC Equity Scholarships – a large suite of scholarships available from many different unis designed to help students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Deakin Student Support Scholarship – offers up to $10,000 per year for students facing financial difficulty.

SATAC Equity Scholarships – scholarships for students in financial need studying at the University of South Australia.

You can find lots more scholarship opportunities on our database here.

Apprenticeships and Traineeships

Tourism Apprenticeship and Traineeship Spotlight

Tourists spent $96.8 billion in Australia over the 2021-22 financial year – and now that we’re bouncing back from COVID and international travel is once again on the rise, this number is only going to get bigger. If you want to be a part of this booming industry, you might like to look into doing an apprenticeship or traineeship in tourism.

What is a career in tourism?

Tourism is a huge industry, commonly comprising of roles in accommodation, hospitality, retail, transport, and even education. You could find yourself leading tour groups, checking in guests at a hotel, driving a tour bus, organising travel itineraries, operating your own souvenir shop, or cooking at a popular restaurant. There are so many different roles and jobs to choose from.

What skills do I need for a career in tourism?

A huge part of tourism revolves around people, ensuring they have the best possible experience on their travels. So you’ll need to be a great communicator, as well as patient and kind. The industry can be fast-paced at times too, so being adaptable and organised is also very important.

Why should I consider a tourism apprenticeship or traineeship?

Apprenticeships and traineeships are a great way to get your foot in the door with an employer and start building valuable skills. There are often lots of opportunities to continue working with your employer after your apprenticeship or traineeship is complete, and even advance your career down the track.

A tourism apprenticeship or traineeship will see you doing real work for an employer while completing study with a TAFE or RTO. A tourism apprenticeship or traineeship can take anywhere between 1-4 years to complete, depending on whether you work and study full- or part-time.

Here are some common qualifications you might want to look into:

There are tons of benefits to an apprenticeship or traineeship, rather than just work or study alone, including:

Getting paid while you learn – unlike uni, you can work and study without having to take on an insane work load.
The opportunity to get hands-on experience, not just endless reading.
The potential to connect with an employer and continue working with them after your apprenticeship or traineeship is finished.
Your qualification will be nationally recognised, meaning you can go anywhere with it.

Where can I find apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities?

Just like searching for a job, there are lots of places you can go to find an apprenticeship or traineeship. You can start your search on sites like SEEK and Indeed. Take a look on social media like Facebook or LinkedIn to see if any local businesses are hiring. Sign up with an Apprenticeship Network Provider or Group Training Organisation, or even go old fashioned and take a look in the local paper or give local businesses a call.

Here are some examples of the kinds of opportunities available:

Trainee Food & Beverage Attendant, Ayers Rock NT
Apprentice Chef, Perth WA
School-Based Traineeships with CaPTA, Cairns QLD
Trainee Skipper, Melbourne VIC
Bus Operator Traineeships, Burwood NSW

Work Experience

Work Experience Alternatives

As important as work experience is, sometimes it can be tricky to find a placement. You may need to look at work experience alternatives in order to explore industries and careers that you’re interested in. Here are some work experience alternatives you might like to check out.

Top 5 work experience alternatives

If you can’t find any work experience through school or other channels, there are a few other options that could provide you with either some experience or at the very least a better understanding of some of the jobs and careers out there.

Virtual Work Experience

Virtual work experience could provide you with:

An opportunity to gain more understanding about what specific businesses do
The chance to find out about different careers that might interest you
Access to companies that you might not normally be allowed into
Better comprehension of business processes and etiquette, as well as your rights and responsibilities
Knowledge of the essential skills you’ll need
The chance to boost your resume with transferable skills, experiences and engagement

A virtual experience could entail anything from a tour or interactive webinar experience, to completing set tasks and receiving personalised feedback.

You could start by reading our Virtual Work Experience post.

Virtual Workplace Tours

Taking virtual workplace tours could give you an idea of what it really looks like to work in an industry that you’re interested in.

SkillsRoad 360 have put together some interviews with people employed in the following industries:

Creative Industries
Construction
Hospitality
Manufacturing
Healthcare

Take a virtual tour of the Australian Defence Academy (ADFA) or Royal Australian Naval College’s Navy’s New Entry Officers Course (NEOC).

WorkForce Windsor-Essex are a Canadian company who’ve created a few videos about companies representing the following industries:

Industrial
Carpentry
Electrical designers, engineers and technicians
Hospitality
Auto Manufacturing
Vegetable Growers

Check out this Toyota Automotive Workshop Virtual Tour in Queenstown, NZ. Or take a peek inside Parliament House in another Virtual Tour.

Listen to Podcasts

There are plenty of valuable audio experiences to be had too. You could download them and listen to them whenever you have a little bit of time to spare.

Here are a few we’ve found in a quick search:

Major General Susan Coyle CSC, DSM currently working in the Middle East as Commander of Joint Task Force 633 talks about her military career as well as her current mission. There are also plenty of other interviews with Veterans in the Life on the Line
How I built this series investigates the stories behind some of the most well-known companies.
Listening to Career Cloud could help you get tips about the qualities that employers are looking for, hidden job markets, personal brands and even a “how I got my job” segment.
If you’re interested in a career in tech or entrepreneurship, you could pick up some tips in the Rocket Ship FM.
Listen to interviews with people doing interesting and inspiring work in the “How did you get into that?” series.
Aviation Careers, a podcast for anyone interested in the variety of careers in the aviation industry.
Find out about the people who worked to get their dream job and how they got there in Dream Job Ready.
Thirty Minute Mentors lets you hear from some of the most successful people in America.
Learn about what being an engineer is like in Engineering Heroes.

Read about different careers

There are plenty of articles and interviews with people in all kinds of fields, all you need to find them are a few googling skills.

Here’s a few examples to get you started:

You could also take a look at our Job Spotlights too.

A Day in the Life Videos

Watch snapshots of a typical day in different careers, or interviews with people in the job about what they do and how they started their careers.