How to get that first job
Show initiative to impress employers
LOOKING for your first job? Don’t have any experience to put on your resumé?
Young people without a previous job are urged to find alternate ways to gain experience that can translate into the workplace.
Professional development and performance coach Kelly Kozaris said they should look for internships and volunteer work to hone communication and business skills. They would need to take initiative to “learn the ropes”, she said.
Nicole Dwyer, chief executive of jobactive provider WorkSkil Australia, said programs such as Work for the Dole and Transition to Work helped job seekers gain handson experience and core skills to make them work-ready.
“There is work out there for young people, they just need to know where to look,” she said.
“Despite tough economic conditions, the retail, food and hospitality sectors are all employing. Employment programs can help jobseekers identify these vacancies and then prepare them for the work and then connect them with the opportunities.”
Short vocational courses that include work placements are another way for people to gain experience and get on the first rung of the career ladder.
Evie Catt, 23, studied a Certificate II in Work Skills and Vocational Pathways course after completing an environmental science degree at university and realising it wasn’t enough to find her work.
“I was running across the same stumbling blocks: I didn’t have experience,” she said. “(In the Certificate II) there are courses like how to work a bar but also things like workplace relations and how to negotiate cultural diversity and how to get along with others.”
Her advice for other young jobseekers was to find work experience, which she recommended doing through TAFE, as employers were more open to workers who had the backing of a training organisation.
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