Online training done right, with CTA training specialists, Armidale NSW

If you know FOUND Regional, you know we love a good news story – especially one that talks about good humans finding their feet in a regional location. Like John… brought to you by our sponsorship partner, ETC.

Meet John.

John is a single parent of a 15 year-old son who is currently taking part in school cadets. While John wasn’t keen on moving personally, he did want to provide stability for his son. When he arrived at ETC, providers of the Workforce Australia – Career Transition Assistance (CTA) program, he had a trades background with limited digital skills (although he did have the ability to look up ‘how to’ activities on YouTube). 

John’s goal? To get his head around technology and support his son with his studies. He also wanted to research work opportunities for himself online. That’s where Cindy Hacket, ETC’s CTA Team Leader came in. 

“When chatting about previous work scenarios, I discovered he’d been carrying out the WHS role on construction sites,” says Cindy. 

“He’d been installing the panels on new solar farms and filling the team leader role, so I started exploring the idea of undertaking a formal qualification to support the practical and communication skills he demonstrated.”

This right here was a lightbulb moment. By providing the opportunity to learn how to use a keyboard properly and create documents, at the end of the six-week CTA course John was actively typing and sourced his own reconditioned laptop to be able to continue to practice and develop these skills. Winning. 

Further to this, we lodged an expression of interest in undertaking a Cert IV WHS with various training providers, realising there are no F2F opportunities for this in regional areas. 

“Understandably, John’s frustration and disappointment grew as nothing came back,” adds Cindy. 

“Eventually an email from TAFE indicated his application had been cancelled as they’d heard nothing more from their further correspondence. This led him to the local campus with his laptop to prove he had never heard anything further from his initial communication. As it turned out, his enquiry had been disregarded because he was a ‘mature’ applicant (early 50s).”

Now for the good news. John is undertaking this training online, two evenings per week, and has been provided with an undertaking from his local campus to receive ongoing F2F support, as needed, while he learns how to become an online student for the very first time. In the meantime he’s spending time every day practicing his typing skills to support this process. John is now confident, outgoing and digitally capable. He has a plan in place to secure a better future for himself and his son.

Get in touch

Are you a mature-aged job seeker like John who needs help building your digital skills and figuring out how to transfer your skills to other work opportunities? Contact ETC about the CTA program today. 

ETC is a community orientated, not-for-profit provider of employment, training and business services.