Why Taking on an IT Trainee in a School Makes Sense

Daniel Maddern, Network Manager and I assist Team Leader, at Waverly College in NSW, believes that taking on an ArtsReady IT trainee at the school has provided the IT department with extra support that has greatly benefited, not only the team but the entire school.

“Having Josh on the team has made me feel a lot more confident as a manager because we are now providing a high level of support to our staff and students,” said Daniel.

“Our team has been going through changes and so before Josh, we only had 3 people, which means we were left short if someone was away. With Josh, this means we can have someone at the help desk at all times and he handles a lot of the front-line stuff and basic IT issues, which means our senior IT staff can focus on the bigger behind-the-scenes projects.”

The traineeship journey so far has been smooth sailing for Daniel and his team saying they haven’t encountered any challenges as a host supervisor and are surprised with how easy the process has been.

“Honestly, everything has just been great. Getting Josh on board was a quick process with the AFL SportsReady staff interviewing quickly for the role and within a week of us choosing Josh, his paperwork was done, and he was on our team.

So, I can’t think of a single challenge as a host employer because everything has been positive. We have helped Josh to assimilate into our department really well and now he can work on his own and we have trust in everything he does.”

Daniel and the IT team decided to take on a trainee to not only gain extra support but to give a young person experience in the industry.

“We didn’t want someone experienced because we already had two very experienced people on the team with more than 10 to 15 years behind them. So, we thought, why not take on a trainee, someone fresher and greener, we saw all the positive reviews about AFL SportsReady and decided to go with them.”

Before his traineeship Josh worked as a Chef and had no experience in IT however for Daniel and his team, they saw Josh as the perfect fit.

“We wanted someone with very little to no experience in the IT world and Josh was perfect because he not only had zero experience, but he also had the best attitude by far.

The traineeship provides Josh with a Certification III in Information and Technology where he learns basic skills and we provide him with hands-on experience where we train him up and pass on all our knowledge to him.

From having no experience, Josh is now a highly competent member of the team.”

Daniel and the team have been nothing short of impressed with Josh, his worth ethic and the way he has handled highly stressful situations.

“The great thing about Josh is that he is always calm and always composed even in the most challenging situations. When he first came on board, we threw him into the deep end in our laptop rollout, which sees over 800 laptops being given to students. He handled it really well with absolutely no issues.

The thing I admire most about Josh is that he just gets on with it. I give him tasks that are boring, and I give him tasks that are challenging and whatever it is, he gets on it without any complaints and if he does get stuck, he has no problems in asking questions.

I think the traineeship program is a huge benefit, you take on a young person who can learn the trade and the skills, but you are also gaining extra support for your school that for us has been incredibly impactful to our entire IT unit and the systems we have in place.”

Are you looking to add a Trainee to your team?