Michael D'Agostino No Comments
Last month I had a very inspiring experience. Over three days a group of eight enthusiastic and bright secondary students listened well to my bricklaying training and they applied themselves to a point where by Day 2 they were powering through the task and working like a well-oiled team.
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NRL News reported this month on a new development in its scheme to support NRL players with genuine career options after football. Eden Brae Homes, already a strong advocate of continued learning and development for its team through its Pathways Program”, has now become a driving force in making the project of the NRL come to life.
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Our NSW-ACT Regional Manager, Brendan Coyle has an interesting story on his own career path through bricklaying. It’s one chock-full of learnings on navigating a path from successful skilled bricklayer to a Regional Manager at ABBTF, where he’s responsible for reducing the skills shortage of qualified bricklayers in his region.
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Young workers can be vulnerable, so this year the Fair Work Ombudsman is placing high importance on educating employees and business on the myths that are contributing to a concerning number of young Australian workers being underpaid.
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On March 7, there was a valuable news contribution by journalist for The Australian, Andrew Wallace, on the importance of reaching young people with the message that the Trades are a great career choice for the right person. Unfortunately the trades are often dismissed outright in the clamor to get a university place. I’m sharing some of the highlights of Andrew’s article here as it aligns so well to ABBTF’s careers message and just maybe, by shining a light on the topic in this blog I’ll convince you to take another look at our great trade.
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HIA’s NSW Executive Director, David Bare, recently called for greater effort in promoting and developing career choices in the trades to grow the future construction skill base. In the NSW e-NEWS, Mr Bare said “The focus is too heavily weighted toward gaining a professional qualification at university with few job opportunities at the end of it. If the Government of NSW is serious about maintaining housing supply as the key weapon to fight affordability, it must also acknowledge that developing the workforce to support it is crucial.
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We’re always keen to explain to young people who seem suited to a bricklaying apprenticeship, that there are certain basic commitments you need to make to your employer if you aspire to complete an apprenticeship. Mind you, they’re just the same basics that apply for all new job seekers, the world over, but they’re critical to success. There are many ways to get the message across though, including some amusing ones which we’ll explain below.
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Australian Apprenticeship Pathways has developed a helpful quiz called Career Interest Explorer to help students starting out on the journey of selecting a career path.
It’s really simple, it’s private (no names required), it takes about 5 minutes and can be redone if you want. It all happens by choosing a point along a scale for the various questions!
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They are all involved in bricklayer training. Bronson, a St George Illawarra Dragon and Australian Apprenticeships Ambassador, employs two apprentice bricklayers together with his bricklayer brother Cheyne in their construction business.
It’s great to hear of a top sportsman with a plan for life beyond NRL and one prepared to share it with others. Bronson was previously also an Apprentice Mentor in the NRL’s Trade UP program.
This is the very remarkable story of a clever and industrious man who foresaw the needs of the building industry in Western Australia and took action to make it happen.
Son of a Bricklayer and Brickmaker, Joseph Totterdell (1885-1959) immigrated to Australia from England in 1903. Before doing so he completed a five year Bricklaying apprenticeship where he was indentured to his father from the very young age of thirteen.
