Are you working? Are you being paid enough? (and other interesting questions)......

I often get asked the question "How old do you have to be to start work?" There is a misconception that the minimum age is 14 years and 9 months, not so!  Here's an extract from the Fair Work Australia website, which spells it out clearly:

Victoria

If you’re 15 or older you can start work.
If you’re under 15 years of age, you may work in limited circumstances including:

• if you’re employed in the family business
• if you work in the entertainment industry.

If you’re under 15 but older than 13, you may work with your parent’s permission where you have been granted a child employment permit. You can apply for a child employment permit at the Business Victoria website .
For further information, visit Youth Central or contact Business Victoria on 1800 287 287 or (03) 9651 9200.

Are you working already?  If you are you might be asking yourself whether or not your being paid enough, but you may be apprehensive about asking your boss.  Well you can find out exactly how much you should be paid by going to the Fair Work Australia website and looking at their "Pay" page   There's heaps of information including a pay calculator and minimum pay rates. You'll be surprised at what you can find there. Go and have a look.

Hallsy.

Make your holidays work for you.

What are you going to be doing during these holidays? Not much? Haven't decided?  Well, why not put aside one week (or even a couple of days) to do some volunteering, work experience or go to one of the "Winter Schools" organised by the Universities.  All of the above will pay you back handsomely for the small amount of time you invest.

Latrobe Uni has it's Experience Latrobe events for year 9 to 12 students.  You can experience Uni life, with real lectures and events.  You can also attend one or more of University of Melbourne's Winter School programs in History, French or Literature.  Deakin University has "Deakinspire" .DeakInspire will unleash ideas to transform your way of thinking. Aimed at Year 10, 11 and 12 students, it’s designed to empower you to reach your potential and inspire you with exciting ideas of how your future could look. Be there to hear inspirational stories and connect with meaningful experiences – be there to discover the future YOU.
Why not approach your local Op-shop, Library or child care centre. They're always looking for extra helpers and you could make it "Official" school work experience if we can get the paperwork done on time.  And if you're thinking of an apprenticeship or traineeship, you could impress a prospective employer by doing some work experience with them for a week.
All of the above will look great on your resume and so many employers are now looking for people who have been out and done things in their own time.  It shows commitment and initiative.

VCE or VCAL?

I often get asked the question, usually from year 9 or 10 students "what is the difference between VCE and VCAL?"  Good question.

I'll keep it as brief as possible, so here we go:

• Firstly, Year 12 VCE and year 12 VCAL are both year 12 passes. In other words if you get to the end of year 12 in either of the two, you have passed year 12.
• In VCE you study subjects of your choice (English is compulsory). Usually 6 subjects in year 11 and 5 in year 12.
• Year 11 subjects are unit 1 in first semester and unit 2 in second semester. Year 12 subjects are unit 3 in first semester and unit 4 in second semester. You CAN do year 11 subjects in year 10 if you are accepted into an acceleration subject.
• If you study VCAL, you will usually do Intermediate VCAL in year 11 and Senior VCAL in year 12. 
• VCAL has four curriculum areas, called strands. These strands are:
  Literacy and Numeracy Skills
  Industry Specific Skills
   Work Related Skills
   Personal Development Skills.
  A student’s VCAL learning program must include studies in each strand 
  
  
   
• At the end of year 12 in VCE, all of your subject scores (study scores) which includes your exam marks, are added together to give what's called an "aggregate score" this is then ranked against everyone else IN THE STATE to get your ATAR score.
• If you study VCAL, you can't get an ATAR, which generally means you are cutting off your options of going STRAIGHT to university. However, there are other ways to get to uni as a VCAL student, but that's another story.....

Cheers.

Year 11s, we're all going to Spot Jobs Expo.

It seems like our year 11 students don't get a lot of attention when it comes to careers education. The bulk of the work is done in years 10 and 12. However, this year is different. We're taking all of our year 11 students (yes, you VCAL students too) to the Spot Jobs Melbourne Careers Expo at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton. It's happening on Friday 21st July, which is the first Friday back after the holidays.

It's a great opportunity to start getting some real ideas about where you might go and what you might do after your school life. Here's a link to the event guide
 
Here, you'll find information about the venue and exhibitors as well as some really good articles to get you thinking before you go.  So, go with a plan. Think about what you might want to see and do on the day. Don't come away from the expo thinking you haven't got full value for your visit. It costs $12, but that's just for transport to and from the venue, entry is free.  Cheers, Hallsy.

The new "Tech School" is coming! Would YOU like to be involved?

It's going to be another year or so before it gets up and running fully, but the nitty gritty planning for how the new Banyule/Nillumbik Tech School is going to operate has started.  It's going to be a fantastic resource for all of the schools in the Banyule/Nillumbik area, and will have a heavy focus on the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) areas.  The planning stage is up and running and part of that planning will include a Student Agency Sub -Committee.  This sub-committee will include ONE student from each of the partner schools, a member of the Melbourne Polytechnic Student engagement team, the Tech School Director, a BNLLEN Executive Officer and a local government representative. 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MONTY'S REPRESENTATIVE ON THAT COMMITTEE?  It's a big commitment, but the rewards would be enormous.  You would have direct involvement in how the Tech School is developed and you will network with peers and professionals from different areas. You will gain valuable knowledge and experience in many of the "Soft Skills" that employers are looking for and you will be able to give first hand evidence of how you have used those skills in your future interviews and Resumes.  If you want to know more and would like to apply, call in and see me in the Careers Office.

Re-birth of Montypathways Blog

Well, it's been quite a while since I started this blog, about 6 years ago in fact.  We've got Montypathgways.com and Montypathways Facebook, which are going OK, but the blog never really got off the ground. Well here we go again - MK11 2017 version! All new souped up model.

It never really struck me, but for something like careers education, a blog is the perfect way to get information out to the people that matter - you.  Things are happening all of the time in the careers world - just over the past three days, I have been attending an "incubator" for the opening of the new Tech School on the premises of Melbourne Polytechnic in Greensborough. It's that really big building on the hill at the roundabout near Apollo Parkways Primary School. I'll talk about that in a later blog, but believe me, there's heaps going on that you need to know about. So, subscribe to the blog and you'll get notifications whenever a new blog is posted.