IN THEIR OWN WORDS

In their own

words

DELIBERATELY DIFFERENT.

CAYDEN KIME

When I first came to the AITC I wanted to achieve a goal of being an electrical apprentice. My grades weren’t the best and everyone was starting to think I might need to look at choosing something different. I pretty much told them ‘No. This is what I want.’ I worked hard and was signed-up as a schoolbased apprentice electrician with Zamlec Contractors.

I won an award for my hard work. It makes me feel really proud of myself and good that I’ve come to the AITC. I’ve achieved my goal. I looked at different educational pathways but they weren’t for me. I’m more of a practical learner and once I found the AITC I realised it would be the perfect fit for me. I get heaps of support from all the teachers, from my parents, from my mates. Everyone thought coming here was a good idea.

For work experience, from Year 10 all the way up, I went through 10 or so companies. I looked at all sides of the electrical trade including solar, refrigeration, air conditioning and industrial. I finally found the perfect company for me which was the commercial side of electrical work. Being a sparky is the best job.

It’s important to do work experience because you gain the knowledge of what you want to do. It gives you a bit of experience to try every trade out there to see what you like. The experience is good for you — it’s good to learn different trades.

It is definitely important to finish Year 12 so you can get your QCE. I know there are many companies who want apprentices to finish their QCE so it’s very important to have this.

YEAR 12 + ELECTRICAL REDLANDS

Cayden’s advice

Stay strong, keep up your work, keep up your grades, you will get there eventually. It doesn’t matter what anyone tells you. What you want to do is what you will do, as long as you focus on that you will achieve your goal of coming to the AITC.

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blueprint australian industry trade college

TELIA

I started at the AITC Toowoomba in 2021. Other schools didn’t provide you many employment opportunities. I heard about the AITC through a friend of mine saying it would really help me with my career and my future so I decided to come here.

I knew I wanted to get into hospitality in front-of-house. I’ve always been a people person and I’m drawn to an industry where I can help people. A host/hostess is the first front-ofhouse restaurant staff member to interact with guests and imparts an all-important first impression. They greet guests and show them to their table. They also take reservations and, if a table is not ready when guests arrive, estimate the wait time. The host or hostess keeps things running on schedule and requires strong leadership, effective team management and attention to detail.

I’ve been working at Junktion Coffee House in Toowoomba for about eight months in my school-based hospitality traineeship.

The industry and education blocks are really interesting. When you find work experience you also have the responsibilities of getting up early and going to work, finding your own way there. It’s a great way to teach you time management, independence and responsibilities.

Telia offers advice to young people trying to find work experience: Honestly just get into it. After your first few calls you get into the routine and you become more confident knowing what you’ve got to say. You need to speak politely, end the call properly. You introduce yourself, say your name, say that you’re from the AITC, give them a bit of a rundown — say you do the education and industry blocks for five weeks so they know you will be able to work with them consistently. Then you ask the business if they accept people for work experience. Sometimes they want to talk to your Industry Consultant.

I found it easier to go into the place in person. That way you can see them and you can see they are not a big, scary manager, you can see they are just a normal person. A lot of employers prefer that because they can see your confidence going in.

When I finish my traineeship in July I will go back to doing work experience but I will also work casually at Junktion on weekends and before and after school. After Year 12 I can hopefully work there full-time.

No matter what — if you have been offered a full-time apprenticeship it’s important to finish school and get your Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). Finishing Year 12 is absolutely worth it. If you’re at the AITC you only have two to three years left to achieve it so you should finish. I was determined to finish my Year 12 QCE so it opens more doors for me.

Even if you’re not sure what industry you want to go into — coming to the AITC is worth it because you can try different trades. You can do one week in carpentry, one week in mechanical, one week in childcare, you can really do anything. I started off in hairdressing and beauty, then I went into childcare and then hospitality.

You get a lot of support here at the AITC, their doors are always open to go in and have a chat to staff. You can always message your Industry Consultant and ask for advice.

N 05 JULY 2022

TOOWOOMBA

YEAR 12 + HOSPITALITY

Telia’s advice

When managing the front-ofhouse an employee needs to be across areas including the following (but not limited to):

• Delivering outstanding customer service • Employee management: hiring, training and developing • Managing stock and the front of house area design • Planning menus, promotions and events.

DELIBERATELY DIFFERENT.

REDLANDS

CHARLOTTE CANNING

I was at a mainstream school and it wasn’t the perfect fit for me as I like more hands-on work. When I found out about the AITC I heard about the amazing teachers and program and I couldn’t wait to come here. The reason I came here was to get a head-start in industry. At the AITC you’re not in the classroom for ten weeks straight—there are five-week blocks of education and industry. I love it, it’s such a great program, it makes everything ten times better.

I wanted to give everything a go. When I came to the AITC I was expecting my direction to be in motorcycle mechanics. I’ve tried painting — I did that for seven weeks, I tried engineering for two weeks, and I’ve also tried childcare. I think I’m actually going to follow through with childcare and maybe become a primary school teacher in the future. I love working with little kids. I would love to help them in a school environment. I have a five-year-old sister and I love spending time with her. Making that a job it doesn’t even sound real but I can do that. Childcare feels like I’m hanging out with friends. I found that childcare doesn’t feel like a job. I’m very happy. I want to try multiple companies to see which one is the right fit. Then I want to go to TAFE and work on my Cert III in Childcare.

I also want to finish Year 12 and my QCE in case I need a back-up plan. Finishing Year 12 is important to me because people close to me didn’t expect me to finish Year 10. The fact I can finish Year 12 with my QCE, and knowing what I want to do in my career, is pretty cool. I can hardly wait to tell the people who doubted me that I made it.

YEAR 11

Charlotte’s advice

Research the company first. Look at their website and comments on Facebook or testimonials. Try locations closer to home or close to public transport so you can get there easily.

Just go for it! You never know what pathway you could follow. Just make the phone-call for work experience, you could always get a great opportunity from there. While at work experience the first two weeks can be pretty nervewrecking but you will get through it. It’s pretty great—and you get to bond with everyone.

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