Council opens doors with Youth Employment Success program

Published on 19 December 2023

Western Downs Regional Council is opening its doors to the region's youth, offering opportunities for young people to understand the inner workings of the workplace through Regional Development Australia's 'Youth Employment Success' online program.

Youth Employment Success (YES) is an online platform which connects young job seekers with workplace experiences through local employers. This allows newcomers to the workforce to make informed and confident employment decisions, while providing employers with an avenue to offer free, employment-based activities and create opportunities to grow their workforce.

Councillor Ian Rasmussen, Spokesperson for Finance, Corporate Services and Business Strategy, said Council was proud to get involved in the initiative which would add another opportunity to Council's award-winning early career development program.

"Council takes a lot of pride in supporting our next generation of workers, which is why we provide a number of early career development opportunities, including the highly successful Kickstart Your Career program,” Cr Rasmussen said.

"Our participation in the Youth Employment Success program is an additional step we are taking to ensuring young people in our region have access to and can explore different pathways of interest to them.

"Council alone has a large variety of business units and employment opportunities and this program makes exploring the workings of the organisation more accessible to young people. Whether it be catching up over a coffee to discuss the various options available, or arranging a workplace walk-through to get an idea of how the business functions, this can now be easily arranged via the YES Portal.

"In the Western Downs, it's the people that make it and supporting youth in the early stages of their careers is an important part of growing our region's strong, diverse economy."

Director of Regional Development Australia - Darling Downs and South West, Robyn Haig, said the Youth Employment Success worked collaboratively with communities to engage and support youth into careers.

"The Youth Employment Success Program is about connecting local young people with local businesses and creating opportunities to build a future-focused workforce within the region,” Mrs Haig said.

"Making decisions about your future career can be challenging for a young person and these decisions need information that is not always easy to come by. It’s ideal if this information comes from the local people who work in the industries and businesses that interest them.

"Youth Employment Success enables youth over the age of 16 to connect with these people in business who have generously volunteered their time to have a chat and show you what working in their industry entails.

"This can support youth in making the best decisions on what career path, training, or education to pursue to get our youth wherever it is that they’d like to go."

This project is proudly funded by the Queensland Government through its Workforce Connect Fund.

For more information contact Council on 1300 COUNCIL (1300 268 624) or visit https://youthemployer.au/opportunities/western-downs-regional-council

— Ends —