Every week in high school we used to get a day off to “study”. For a lot of my fellow classmates this meant going to the beach and hanging out. But I wanted to do something useful on my days off so when my teachers encouraged me to partake in a traineeship to further my employment prospects, I was eager to get on board.
The school arranged a traineeship for me with Greenhalgh Pickard Solicitors and Accountants as I had always enjoyed legal studies in class – little did I know it was going to land me a job! Ten years later and I’m still here, having worked my way up through the ranks to Business Manager.
For me, the traineeship gave me a different perspective to the work I was doing in class. All of a sudden it wasn’t just theory in a book – it was put into context and gave me a much better understanding of not only what I was learning, but also why I was learning it.
A traineeship led me to my career and I love that I’m able to give that experience back to other high school students by providing numerous traineeship placements in our offices every year. I know how valuable it can be, not just for professional reasons but even for your personal growth and confidence as a teenager.
If there is one piece of advice I can give future trainees it’s this, even if at the end of the traineeship you never want to work in an office again, you should consider the experience a success. You’ve just saved yourself four years of studying at uni for something you didn’t even want to do! Not everyone has the chance to experience the industry before they go off to study.
Mariah Hipper | Business Manager
Mariah’s duties as business manager allow her to oversee general staff employment, training, marketing strategies as well as client relations and interaction, and all business development at our offices located in Airlie Beach, Buddina, Caloundra and Coolum. Click here for more information about Mariah.