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Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)

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  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Kate

Providing secretariat support for this division was a really exciting piece of work to be involved in and a fantastic introduction to policy work.

Kate’s graduate year included placements in International Division and Industry Skills and Quality Division. She really enjoyed her second placement role providing secretariat support to an Advisory Group of government and industry representatives.

What university did you attend?

Australian National University, University of Canberra and Australian Catholic University

What is your qualification?

Bachelor of Arts (International Relations); Graduate Diploma of English Language Teaching and Community Development; Master of Social Work

Where are you from originally?

Nethercote – a locality just outside of Eden on the far south coast of New South Wales.

What areas of the department did you work in during your graduate year?

My first placement was in International Division. I worked mainly in a support role for a number of teams in my area and did a short stint in the Scholarships Team. My second placement, and where I stayed at the conclusion of the program, was in the Industry Skills and Quality area, where I worked in the Work based Training and Apprenticeships Policy Team.

What type of work did you do?

I worked as a learning and development officer in Group and Division Support. My role involved assisting to organise and manage learning and development priorities for staff in the Group.

As a program officer with the Scholarships Team I assisted with the opening of the New Colombo Plan scholarship round. I supported tender processes and IT testing, developed and reviewed supporting material for universities and students and assessed applications.

During my placement in the Industry Skills and Quality Division I worked as a policy officer. I provided secretariat support for an advisory division appointed by the then Assistant Minister, prepared ministerial correspondence, briefings, submissions and other policy documents, and also helped to prepare new policy proposals.

What was the highlight of your graduate year?

I had only been in my second placement for a short time when the then Assistant Minister called together an Advisory Group of government and industry representatives to provide advice on targeted areas for apprenticeships policy reform. Providing secretariat support for this group was a really exciting piece of work to be involved in and a fantastic introduction to policy work. I got to work on a whole range of things, including coordinating logistics, researching and producing meeting papers, drafting Ministerial briefings and synthesising Advisory Group member perspectives into summary papers and a recommendation report. I stayed with the team after the graduate program concluded and it has been gratifying to see how the work I was involved in during the placement has then fed into future reform considerations.