Career options for school students and leavers

Whether you’re looking for your first job, want work experience, are considering doing an apprenticeship, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) program or going to university, a private college or TAFE – planning your future involves solid research.

CareerOne has put together a directory of websites to help but don’t rush the process. Research should be fun because it is all about you.

Job profile directories and career resources

CaraeerOne’s Career Profile Library features hundreds of articles profiling people and their jobs. The A-Z list is incredibly varied. As real people were interviewed for the stories, the Career Profile Library provides real life advice on why a particular job is satisfying.

My Future is one of my favorite websites. A collaboration between the federal Government and state and territory governments, this site provides a snap shot of what is involved in different job roles. Go to the home page, click on The Facts (top right), then Occupations then type in the job role that interests you. This will bring up a profile. You can then drill down to state/territory specific information, what qualifications you need to get into a particular industry or profession, the tasks involved in a particular job and much more.

Job Outlook is a section of the Australian Government site Job Search. It provides top level information on the demand for a certain skill set and the salary range for specific job roles. You can also find information on salary and wages in CareerOne’s Salary & Benefits section.

Job Explorer is another section of the same site. It breaks down job roles into skills and knowledge required, tasks and related job roles.

Job Juice is predominately aimed at young people and is great for school students. Sections include “Choose a direction”; available support programs, a young person’s rights at work and more.

Careers Advice Australia is a website for those aged 13-19 with resources and tools to help you plan your future.

Young people at work is a NSW State Government website that gives you the lowdown on your rights at work, pay and entitlements.

Apprenticeships

Australian apprenticeships allows school students and leavers to find out more about doing an apprenticeships as well as locating your nearest apprenticeship centre.

Group Training Australia is the largest employer of apprentices and trainees in Australia and can help set up an apprenticeship or traineeship with an employer.

Apprenticeships and Traineeships NSW offers provides a wide range of information for new and current Apprentices and Trainees in NSW.

Apprenticeships Victoria is a Group Training Organisations that employs, trains and supports young people in apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships Queensland Limited is also a Group Training Company that provides employment opportunities for apprentices and trainees across a broad range of vocational areas, through partnerships with host trainers.

AATIS provides information on new apprenticeships and courses across Australia.

HIAHousing Industry Association – and Australian Industry Group are specialist groups that can also advise on apprenticeships.

The Defence Forces also run apprenticeships and traineeships.

Tafe Tasmania provide course detail and information on apprenticeships within metal & mining related industries.

Work experience
As a student or a school leaver, doing a work experience placements can be a good way to get something on your resume.

The best way to get work experience is by approaching family, friends and contacts who work in a field that you would be interested in gaining some insight into and asking them if there would be an opportunity to come and work in their office for a few days to get a proper taste of what it is they do. Your school should be able to arrange the work experience insurance. Be sure and detail how you went about finding your placement and what you got out of it on your resume. (use related links to see CareerOne’s story on resume writing for school students and leavers).

Key questions to ask a potential work experience employer would be:

• What’s involved in your job?
• What sort of qualifications and personality traits do you need to succeed at the job?
• How did you get your job?

Many organizations, like the ones below, now run formal work experience programs. So, if you are interested in getting placement with a particular company it may be an idea to check out their websites for more details or contact their human resources department.

Chartered Accountants run a school based work experience program to give students a taste of working as an accountant.

Students to Business (S2B) is a program run by Microsoft Australia that links school students and graduate job seekers with local career development opportunities including internships and jobs.

The Royal Women’s Hospital in Victoria runs a Secondary School Work Experience Program for students wanting to gain insight into the healthcare industry.

Volunteering Australia can help you find some volunteer work an can also be considered as useful work experience on your resume.

strong>Work experience insurance

These days companies are reluctant to agree to work placements without the individual insuring himself or herself in case of accident. If your school cannot arrange this or you have just left school and need to arrange your own. To date, CareerOne has only found a couple of insurers who provide work experience cover – IC Frith & Associates and OAMPS.

IC Frith & Associates has provided cover for some years in all states and territories for a range of occupations such as office work, IT&T, hairdressing and even some roles working with animals.

Prices vary from under $85 for 15 days over three months doing an office job to $632 for nine months “unlimited” cover for a dangerous job like roof tiling.

OAMPS also provides cover in all states and territories for a minimum of a month and a maximum of two months for a range of jobs. Their basic premium for office work starts at $220 a month and $280 for the year.

Please note that rates quoted here might have changed since this story was first published so use this as a guide only.

Salary & Wages

Use this hyper link to find out story Finding out what jobs pay or the related link below.

Thinking of going to uni?
Good Universities Guide has information on universities, open days and courses.

Books/DVDs
Career FAQs is an excellent book series and website resource. Each book focuses on a different career option and the reason I like these books is because they are so comprehensive and draw on “real” information from real people. The Career FAQs team assign a different author to each book who then interviews real people either doing the job or employing people doing the job. It looks at the tasks involved in a particular job, the education and training required, career path information and much, much more.

There are more than 40 titles including books on accounting, banking, publishing, nursing, digital media, teaching, psychology, design, advertising, health, building & construction, marketing -and the list goes on. There are also specialty titles such as Work from Home, Going Global, Extreme and Saving the World. The website also offers plenty of information.

Libraries
Make use of the State Library or regional reference library nearest to you. Australian libraries keep Australian yearbooks, trade magazines, books and newspapers published in a particular state or territory. For example, if you were interested in media then the State Library is the place to go to view an otherwise costly tome like the B&T Yearbook, which lists all the advertising agencies and media organizations in Australia. There are a great many industry directories and trade magazines that provide a great source of information on people, companies and trends in a given industry sector. Make use of our libraries.

Career shows
Use the Career Development section of careerone.com.au to check out the dates for career shows in your state. When you visit a Career Expo, make sure you quiz exhibitors about the job roles and career paths they offer; entry level positions as well as training and development opportunities and the roles they anticipate will be most in demand in their industry.