VET is a great choice to help you shape or change your career

Whether you're just starting out or looking to skill up or swap careers, vocational education and training offers many options including short courses, apprenticeships and traineeships or professional development courses.

Courses are available in many industries and can be used to get your foot in the door, build your skills and confidence or give a full qualification required for some roles.

Short courses

If you want to build new skills, switch careers, gain extra knowledge or formalise years of work then doing a VET course can be a great choice.

Short courses can help you build skills, give you a certificate to help get a job, act as a refresher for your existing qualifications and let you try out a new industry or pathway. Many training organisations offer short courses including those offered by TasTAFE.

Short courses can be a simple way to start a new direction and the training provider can help you with questions about cost and time required.

Qualifications

If you’re ready to step into a qualification, or want a certificate to recognise your skills, then considering a part time or full time qualification through a training provider is a good option.

Qualifications start from a Certificate I and go to a Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma depending on what you want to study. Find out what’s right for you by visiting MySkills and also by looking at free course via JobTrainer.

If you are interested to becoming qualified in a specific industry, for example in maritime, then you can also search for these terms and courses on MySkills.

If you aren’t sure what to study or don’t know how to start doing something different, then read on.

Sometimes, we’re not sure what training or career direction to take and we need some help. There are some steps to take.

1. Explore ideas. Visit The Australian Government’s Your Career website for ideas on industries, jobs and career pathways.
2. Investigate Industries. If you know what industry you’re interested in then look up local employers or find the Tasmanian industry careers page for that industry to explore careers.
3. Find a trainer. Contact a Tasmanian training provider by searching trainers on MySkills or the RTO list on Skills Tasmania’s website. This might be a training provider like TasTAFE or a private training organisation.
4. Find a job. Look around for employers who are advertising for an apprentice or trainee in your chosen field.
5. Ask your employer. In some cases, your employer may support extra training or a transition to an apprenticeship or traineeship.
6. Contact a GTO. A Group Training Organisation can provide support to find an employer to host you in your apprenticeship.
7. Seek help. Contact an Australian Apprentice Support Network provider (AASN) to find out if an apprenticeship or traineeship is right for you.
8. Read more. Further information about vocational education and training can be found on the Skills Tasmania website.

You will need to go through an AASN to get help with your training contract as an apprentice or trainee.

If you’re ready to try something new and are keen to change direction then now is a great time to start. This might start with a new course, looking at options or exploring what’s out there. Let’s take a look.

Changing direction