Get your career in shipshape condition
Having highly skilled staff is one of the secrets of success at Norship, a longstanding Cairns marine, manufacturing and engineering business that employs nearly 200 people. This is why the family-owned business places a great deal of emphasis on apprentices, traineeships and upskilling staff.
“Over the years, we have committed to training hundreds of people,” said Norship CEO Olav Groot. “It’s a real privilege for us to contribute to the professional development of our team.”
More recently, Norship has focused on the development of its apprentice program, which has grown from a group training organisationmanaged apprentice group of three to a Norshipmanaged group of 15 direct employees – five of whom recently completed their trade certifications. Participants include adult apprentices who had a great deal of industry experience but no formal qualifications, trade assistants who showed great potential and desire to becoming a future tradesperson, and junior apprentices who are new to the workforce.
Norship has an apprentice support coordinator (ASC), who liaises with the apprentices and training organisations to help them study their theory component.
“The ASC also liaises with Norship line managers and supervisors and advocates for fair and equitable work experiences throughout the various Norship departments, to ensure a comprehensive and exhaustive apprenticeship experience,” Mr Groot said. “This ensures the future-proofing of our workforce and the industry as a whole. Wherever possible we offer our apprentices a job when they have their trade certification. Many of our highly regarded trades have worked their way up that way.”
Norship’s privately operated vessel maintenance and storage facility specialises in the refit, repair, maintenance and in-service support of vessels used for commercial, tourism, fishing, luxury, private and government purposes, as well as Border Force patrol and defence ships. Their team of men and women includes managers, accountants, engineers, trades, apprentices and technical assistants.
“We have a team of professional certified engineers, and we offer pathways to becoming certified,” Mr Groot said. “We also offer pathways after (trade apprenticeship) and many of our leading hands, supervisors, project managers and superintendents have come from a trade background.”