Your course is designed to make you job ready. An essential component to your training is the application of your new knowledge and skill in a real workplace. Many of the units of competency also require you to have access to a workplace to meet their requirements.
Undertaking work placement will assist you in developing, growing and refining your practical skills and provide us with a means of assessing your skills needed for your qualification.
Whilst in placement, you’ll be asked to complete various assessments like case diaries, key skills, portfolios and practical assessments with an Educator – either through short videos of you performing tasks or a live Zoom assessment.
Locating a suitable workplace for your placement is invaluable to your learning experience too.
Once you have completed your studies, you’ll no doubt want to obtain a job, so use your placement as a rehearsal for finding, interviewing for, and accepting your first job in your new career!
Finding placement is not dissimilar to finding a job, the only real difference is placement positions are rarely advertised, as this may in fact break employment laws. Employers are not permitted to utilise placement students to ‘staff’ their business and therefore cannot roster you for fixed shifts in most states of Australia. They are however able to offer certain days or certain hours which are suitable for a student to utilise, as long as it is in alignment with your course requirements.
You will need to be proactive in locating the placement opportunities yourself, by approaching suitable local workplaces directly to enquire about placement opportunities. You will also have to provide them with the necessary information about what hours and skills you require.
It is important that you drive the search for placement, not only because these job search skills are important to your career, but because employers prefer to hire individuals who are motivated and take responsibility for their own studies. You will present yourself much better if you are the person making contact, not us or your parents. Of course, if the workplace asks to speak with us, we can arrange this.