Leading career change by example

A CAIRNS human resources worker left her career in hospitality and tourism right before the COVID-19 crisis gutted the industries.

Now she’s managing a program to help others reskill into new careers.

BUSY At Work Regional manager Alyssa Smith left her career in hospitality in December 2019 to move into HR and found herself joining the industry in mid-March, just as the pandemic was ramping up.

“At the time I was unhappy with my career and didn’t know where to start,” she said.

“In mid-March I started my new job, but they were already starting to work from home.

“It’s daunting being a newbie in the industry but I feel like I’m doing something rewarding.”

Ms Smith manages the BUSY At Work Skilling Checkpoint for Older Workers program.

She said the program, which began 12 months ago, had become more important than ever during the pandemic for helping older workers move into new fields.

“The pandemic has had a huge impact,” she said.

“We found that people are coming to us looking for new roles who have been let go or are on reduced hours and we’re finding a lot of people are trying to upskill or make that career change.”

Skill 360 chief executive

Paul Daly said reskilling programs like SCOW had become very relevant, as millions of Australians planned a postpandemic career change.

“We’ve got a lot of people who are recently unemployed coming to us who want to change careers and don’t care what it is so long as they have a job,” he said.

“With the added incentives from state and federal governments into training and upskilling, it’s a perfect time (to change jobs).”