Blog

How can your child be career smart?

How can your child be career smart? Indeed, what does career smart mean? According to Jan Smart, from the Foundation of Young Australians, we need to rethink what it means to be smart. There is rapid change in the world of work and we cannot assume that a job that our child takes now will […]

Students doing Unpaid Work

Many students are doing unpaid work. This can be an advantageous arrangement with an employer, as it is well accepted that many unpiad jobs, or internships, turn into paid employment. However, unpaid work is not accessible to everyone, according to key findings of a Department of Employment report. Who is doing unpaid work, and why? […]

Worried about your child dropping out of university?

There seems to be reason to worry about your child dropping out of university. The research is there to prove that it’s happening a lot. According to Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, “We’ve heard too many stories about students who have changed courses, dropped out because they made the wrong choices about what to study, students […]

Looking for a job?

Is your child or young adult looking for a job? Gaining employment is increasingly difficult in light of current trends. For example, automation is taking jobs from youth groups: We pay at an automated teller at the supermarket more frequently that queue and pay a young employee. More of the “human” roles are being taken over […]

Helping with course preference change.

It’s been a busy few weeks helping with course preference change. So many parents, or students themselves, have contacted me this year, when their VCE results were released, for a range of reasons, and driven by anxiety and the urgency of the process. Many were looking for help because they did so well. Better than […]

Choosing courses through VTAC

How can you help your year 12 student with choosing courses through VTAC? For some this is pretty straightforward. If your son or daughter has been loving science subjects, for example, is getting great grades and knows that they truly do want to be a doctor, then it’s as simple as making sure they get […]

Tech Careers

I am lucky enough to be in London this week, and even better, my visit coincided with a Tech Careers event at the Chartered Institute for IT. This event was organised in collaboration with the Central Careers Hub in London, a group of professional careers practitioners who come together in the same way that I […]

The PaTH Plan

  The government PaTH Plan (Prepare, Trial, Hire) scheme, has been receiving a lot of press. In areas of high unemployment, hopes are high. After all, there are 120,00 people between the ages of 17 an 24 currently claiming income support, so something needs doing! But then we have commentators such as Anna Patty, of […]

Melbourne VCE and Careers Expo

  I spent yesterday at the Melbourne VCE and Careers Expo. Wow, it was busy, and jam packed with bus loads of year 10s from all over Victoria. I was happy to see that the event had drawn so many students. By the way, VCE stands for Victorian Certificate of Education. There exams are taken […]