By Ross Moody*
Part time work in Councils for students studying engineering may be another tool in addressing the skills shortage and at the same time give students a taste for working in Local Government. With many students needing to work in order to pay their way through university or TAFE, a high proportion are working part time every week. Most of these students are working in jobs other than their field of study and this is not advancing their knowledge in their chosen profession.
It now seems all so obvious that employers of engineers should be looking to university and TAFE students to undertake part time work. Apart from doing meaningful work and providing real value for the employer, part time work exposes the student to your organisation and public works engineering as a career.
The Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) has developed a number of guideline documents such as vacation work experience, cadetships and scholarships as ways of introducing young people into public works engineering.
Part time work provides another option that may turn out to be the most valuable in attracting young people to public works engineering.
The following guidelines and templates have been prepared by IPWEA to assist in tackling skills shortages.
The individual guidelines or the full series can be downloaded from the IPWEA Skills Shortage website at www.ipwea.org.au/skills
- Retaining the Current Workforce (including Potential Retirees)
- Work Experience for University students (including practical work examples and guideline position description forms)
- Work Experience for Secondary School Students
- Careers Expos Guide
- Cadetships (purpose and explanation)
- Cadetships (guidelines for university students)
- Cadetships (guidelines for TAFE students)
- Cadetships (template for employment contract)
- Scholarships
- Mentoring
- Employing overseas trained engineers
- EngQuest (an activity for primary school children).
If you can offer part time work you need to contact your local university or TAFE and speak to the Head of Civil Engineering.
An attraction to the educational institution is to offer part time employment with a view to working with the student on a final year project. This is particularly important for university students as all Heads of Civil Engineering constantly look for new and relevant (community based) projects for their final year students.
Working with a university may produce a very cheap option that would have cost big dollars if a consultant had been engaged.
Part time employment is unlikely to be of assistance to employers in regional Australia. The best option for councils in regional areas is to sponsor a scholarship program, or provide a cadetship for local students.
Case example of part time work
In July 2006, two requests were received by IPWEA from students to assist their search for work experience. One was a 3rd year university student and the other an advanced diploma TAFE student. Both students were put in touch with Local Government employers and both were given vacation work experience. Both students were subsequently offered part time work (one for eight hours a week and the other for 12 hours). Both students are employed undertaking project related work in some capacity.
These two examples show the benefits of employing students who are vitally interested in their work and keen to increase their experience. They will certainly make a better engineer/draftsperson in the future.
*Ross Moody is IPWEA’s Executive Officer. He can be contacted for further information on 0417 955 394 or email rmoody@ipwea.org.au
