One new job a day until the end of November is the goal for BGT’s annual jobs drive.
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The drive to increase employment opportunities in Ballarat is a bid to improve the outcomes for young people aged 16 to 24.
“Ballarat youth employment lags all other jurisdictions in the state,” said BGT chief executive Mandy McDonald.
The service offers traineeships and apprenticeships with local businesses as pathways to a new career.
“The drive is really about trying to stimulate interest from Ballarat businesses – it’s a good time to start looking at your resources and support Ballarat employment.”
BGT has young people completing traineeships in business, retail and hospitality, and apprenticeships in everything from painting and decorating through to plumbing, plastering, carpentry and other manufacturing and trades-based jobs.
Ms McDonald said young regional job seekers also faced barriers that were different to young people in the city – the logistics of getting to work with limited public transport being among the biggest.
Ballarat has higher than average youth unemployment and lower than average VCE completion rates, in addition to about 580 young people in flexible learning programs aimed at keeping them engaged in learning.
Hockingstuart head of property management Lachlain Ramsay signed on to the jobs drive for the first time to recruit a trainee property manager.
“The trainee property manager will assist the senior property manager and work closely with them while at the same time completing a certificate III course,” Mr Ramsay said.
“I think the quality of person we will achieve in the long term through the jobs drive is better – someone actually dedicated to getting in to real estate versus it just being another job.”
BGT will screen potential applicants and offer the employer a short-list of suitable applicants.
“For us it’s about timing and efficiency. We need someone who is highly engaged. The biggest thing in our office is our culture, and something we really focus on is building a young positive team who are really like-minded and work with a real customer-centric focus.”
In addition to screening potential applicants for specific jobs, Ms McDonald said BGT also helped young people find a career they might like to pursue.
“Some young people aren’t even sure what career they would like to pursue,” she said.
“For those who are not really sure what they are looking for, we screen and do aptitude testing as well as language, literacy and numeracy assessments to work out what people naturally have more suitable skills in.”