Dr Heather Carpenter is a Careers Consultant and counsellor with over 15 years experience in education and private practice. Her PH.D research is in Career Management. What an experience to be at the WA Department of Training and Workforce Development Career Centre in downtown Perth the morning after the Australian Budget is delivered! I was there to deliver a presentation to celebrate National Career Development week-and that went really well – but I was intrigued with the workforce issues of West Australia. The budget offered substantial resources for a myriad of programs including workforce training and apprenticeships mentoring and support, all targetted at addressing the massive skills shortage in WA. Whilst rich in resources it is short on the skilled population to fulfill the demands of a growing state and projected developments in the resources industry. The Careers’ Centre people, led by Shaun Guyton are engaged in revising their website, in line with new initiatives. They have headlined their website with the theme ‘Self + Skills= Possibilities’ and you might recognise this phrase from my presentations. The team are also using my Choices and Hands On programs as decision-making tools within the website, at present under development.
I visit Margaret River in the south, home of the wineries, great surfbreaks and every brand of alternative therapy (signs read ‘No coal mining here!). The far north, where so many people commute to work in the mines or exploration fields (two weeks on, two weeks off) could not be more opposite. There is a desire ‘not to waste a single worker ‘ and of course, this sets me thinking again on the need for good careers assistance at crucial decision-making times. From what I read about their new budget initiatives, it sounds like this will be increasingly available.
Filed under: Uncategorized
