Pearsons Florist Traineeship

Lucy Kippist

If you have a creative flair and the idea of spending your days surrounded by colour and fragrance appeals to you then get in touch with Pearsons Florist Australia.

Pearsons”˜ Sydney-based store, which also includes its school of floristry, currently has two trainee positions available starting from February 2009 with work potentially available before then.

“The traineeship is usually one day per week in the classroom and four days a week in the shop, ” explains Jo Ramdeen, Marketing Manager of Pearsons Florist Australia.

“At the end of the year trainees receive the equivalent of a TAFE Certificate III in Floristry.

This means they are fully qualified to work as a florist,” she said.

The 12-month traineeship is held at the Pearson’s own floristry school at Stanmore, in Sydney’s inner west. Divided in to four terms the course covers “learning the name and origin of different plants” , “principles of design” , “colour theory” and also regular visits to the flower and growers markets.

Similar to an apprenticeship, a Pearsons trainee is employed under a training agreement, and undertakes a combination of workplace and classroom-based training.

“Most of the traineeship is spent on practical, hands-on tasks and we try and run the classroom like a flower shop,” said Ms Ramdeen.

“Each term we try and focus on a particular design and then practice them over and over,” she said.

The remaining four days per week are spent in one of Pearsons’ ten Sydney stores that include Broadway just west of Sydney’s CBD, the Queen Victoria Building and the MLC Centre, both in the CBD, Bondi Junction and Darlinghurst both to the East of the city and a suburban store in Rhodes.

“A typical day in the shop includes unpacking flowers from the market, keeping the shop beautiful, general upkeep of the displays, serving customers, making up orders and walking deliveries if clients are close by,” said Ms Ramdeen.

Trainee’s are paid an award wage and can expect to work up to eight hours, between 8am and 6pm.

“It is a physically demanding job and it can be tiring being on your feet all day but on the up-side every day is different and you get to meet a lot of different people.”

“Unlike most florists, our trainees are lucky in that they don’t have to get up to go to the flower markets at five in the morning. We have buyers that do that for us,” she said.

Ms Ramdeen told CareerOne that potential candidates for the traineeship do not need any specific formal qualifications but they should be able to demonstrate a real interest in art and design.

“A good thing to include on your resume is any kind of related extra-curricular activity to show us that you are keen and interested in a creative area,” she said.

For more information on the Pearsons traineeship go to www.pearsonsschool.com.au or www.pearsonsflorist.com.au