Summer Holidays - Ah! yessssssss....

Hello there!

As busy parents I know you have been running around frenetically just before Christmas and into the New Year.

In about 2 -3 days your children will be beginning the usual cry of ‘I’m bored!’
So what do you do with them?

Tell them to find the 5 top jobs that they would like to work in.

Here are the steps:

1) They can do this by googling the job title. This should lead them to pathways that will give them explanations of the careers, possible places to study and answer most of their questions. If they get overwhelmed with options www.myfuturecareers.gov.au or www.alife.net.au are always good places to start.

2) If there qualifications are university based then it is time to find out the HSC/UAI mark that is required to get into the university of their choice. They can do this by checking out www.uac.edu.au .

3) Go on any of the employment websites, such as www.seek.com.au and see of there are any of the jobs listed. The careers choice they have made may not be the type of job that’s advertised. If this is the case, get them to find the industry association - they are a wealth of information.

4) If they would like to find out more,ask them to check out who are the main companies involved and then get them toring the companies to see if they will offer work experience. - they might as well take advantage of the long days of summer and get an edge up on their school mates by starting the year with a sense of direction.


And then discuss their findings at dinner!

By finding out what your children are interested in early it will enable you

• to support them to get to their goals and
• work out whether you are going to be looked after by them in your retirement or will need to top up your super! (smile)
  

Have a wonderful holiday season and I will be back regularly in February 2009.

Till next time
Melody

Gone Fishing!

Hello there!

Yep! Gone fishing!

Well not quite but I am away for a few days and when I get back we will be into the last weeks of the school year.

Exams are over, the summer holidays are looming and it's time to let your children learn about the big, real world of jobs.

Encourage them as much as possible to take on some part-time work or volunteering to a charity group that appeals. it will give them a few skills they are going to need like:

1) time management

2) self responsibility

3) focus on the world outside of themselves

4) managing money

5) communication skills

6) learning to work responsibly and respectfully with and for others

And you may see a little more maturity creeping into your children in a few short weeks - not bad huh?

Till next time

Melody

Looking Forward - Careers in the 21st Century

Hello there

This week I was asked by a concerned parent
‘What are the careers for the 21st Century?’

Now this got me thinking and some would say this is not always a good thing but the more I thought about it the more I realised that many of the jobs we currently have will be severely diminished if not extinct within my lifetime.

These careers could include anything to do with the mining and petroleum industry and plastics manufacturing, the auto industries and energy utility industry as we know it and even food production, transportation and logistics will look very different 50 years from now.

We will have new jobs where technology and primary industries mesh, especially in the regions of food production, distribution and supply. Also how we keep food stuffs, cook and present food will all change as the world grapples with over population and limited resources in food, water and shelter.

Our energy supplies will need to be more efficient and possibly come from the endless and clean supplies of sun and wind. Our homes will be made of sustainable materials that can be recycled and reused and our dwellings will need to be more efficient in terms of space and use.

So how will we find these careers, how will they happen?

Well this is one of the reasons many developed nations are looking for people who have engineering, science or technology backgrounds along with problem solving capabilities as these are the skills considered necessary to solve these dilemmas. But what of the people inhabiting the planet?

What type of careers will we need to develop to cope with the speed and change necessary for humanity to not only survive but thrive in these coming challenges?

There is going to be a need for a much greater sense of community and the need to work collectively. Groups of people will need to work together across the globe to a specific set of values and integrities. These values will be the thing that unites them regardless of their race, colour, ethnicity, religion, gender or age. They will be in the careers of social ecology, social sustainability and we will need lots of them. We will need community carers across all age groups but particularly for the young, aged or defenceless and we will need not just peace keepers but peacemakers or peace builders.

The singular most important ingredient for balance, prosperity and sustainability of our world is PEACE.

And as our world shows us - this is something that we need to learn to do in the same way we need to learn to read, write or play a sport.
It is now time, not for a peace movement but for a peace industry - an industry that recognises the financial, social and personal career benefits for having peace as our core state from which all resources can be managed.

So what attributes would a career as a peacemaker or builder require?

Well for me, Peace is a quality within that once taken root emanates outwards into the world. Peaceful actions can be learned but the state of peace is innate. This reminds me very much of Creativity. We are all capable of creative acts, but those of us with more natural talent will develop greater sensitivity, trust and development of our creativity and spend more time wishing to express it. I think the same can be said of peace.
So what does creativity and peace have in common?
1) Talent – the natural desire and ability to express a state - be it peaceful or creative. We all have it, we express it in different ways and what we need is a map to be able to read and understand the differences.
2) Skill – we are able to recognise skills and abilities once the ‘map’ is in place and from here we start building the skills to create competency. We study and practise to make the skills strong and effortless.
3) Motivation – It is in the third step that we often falter, we are hard at the grindstone not yet seeing the benefits of our efforts and we often lose our passion here. This is where we need the teacher, the coach or the mentor to help us keep going.
4) Productivity – a creative person produces a lot – much of what they produce may never see the light of day, but nevertheless they write or paint or practise their violin for hours. They learn to love deeply and appreciate fully the gift they have been given and the work it takes to master it. Peace when it is loved, desired and appreciated fully becomes the work and the gift.
5) Knowledge – Over time with effort, practise, diligence and constant upgrading of one’s knowledge we master the expression of peace. Our knowledge grows of ourselves, others and the requirements necessary for peace and our peaceful ‘being-ness’ is a natural state.
6) Collaboration – Peace more than any other state within the human expression thrives most effectively when it is agreed to and motivated by the collaboration of the group. When each person is listened to, acknowledged for their contribution and recognized as a person of value, then peace can develop and grow into a strong root that enables prosperity and sustainability of the community, nation and world.
7) Marketing – No creative artist can be recognised in the world without the assistance of a patron, a business or marketing team or process that gets the idea in the world for others to appreciate and value. Peace is no exception to this rule. Each act of peace no matter how small is organic. It flies like the seeds of a dandelion head on the breeze of the marketing spiel and rests in the heart and minds of men and women ready to bloom when the time is right.

The time for Peace is now. Those who will be the leaders and work in the Peace Industry are already being called forward to take their places. The rest of us are also being called to bear witness, to act with as little harm as possible and to take responsibility for our own inner peace.

The 21st century will be a challenging and yet exciting and fulfilling time to live on Earth. The journey to Peace and the careers necessary to sustain it are seedlings as we sit in 2008 and your children will be the trailblazers for this new world.

Until next time,

Melody

Meet Lynelle Barker - Entertainment Manager at the Sydney Royal Easter Show!

Hello there!

During the time of the blog I will occasionally introduce you to people who love the job they're in. It will give you a chance to see how they got to do what they are doing and a little bit about their job.

So for today's blog I am introducing you to: Lynelle Barker, who works as the Entertainment Manager at the Sydney Royal Easter Show which is a division of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW


How did you get to this job?

I have been employed by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW for the past 23 years.
As a student, many, many years ago (1984 -1986) I commenced casual employment with the RAS of NSW throughout the school holidays and then over Easter period working on the largest event in the Southern Hemisphere the "Sydney Royal Easter Show".
In 1986, I completed my HSC and commenced full time employment the following week.

Throughout my career with the RAS of NSW, I have been fortunate to work within a variety of departments and manage a range of projects.

Sydney Royal Easter Show
Entertainment Manager September 2003 – Present
Arena Events Manager (Horse & Cattle Sections) October 2002 – September 2003
Special Events Manager November 1997 – October 2002
Livestock Administration Manager May 1996 - October 1997
Horse Events Manager July 1993 – April 1996
Personnel Assistant to the Horse Registrar October 1986 – June 1993
Casual Employee for the Royal Easter Show 1984 & 1985 & 1986

Agview – The Family Farm Show
Project Manager 1996
Assistant Project Manager 1995

Breed Societies
Registrar, The Australian Saddle Pony Association August 1987 – July 1988
Secretary, The Australian Pony Stud Book Society November 1986 – August 1987

Business Operations:
Beverage Supervisor 1994 – 1996
Bar Person 1991 – 1993


What do you love about your job?

I have been very fortunate to work with amazing international and national professional talent and community groups, all of whom have a major influence within the SRES Entertainment "Show Family".

I enjoy being creative, through developing productions (main arena productions incorporating livestock to extreme sports shows, stage shows, fashion parades and street entertainment.)

I am so proud of my cast and crew as we have received world recognition for our Man from Snowy River Productions and Xtreme Korruption showcased at SRES. The dedicated “Show Family” are deserving of such recognition, having worked long and hard to develop these truly world class crowd pleasers.

I travel nationally and internationally sourcing talent, always on the look out for the next "Wow Factor."

My biggest buzz though, is watching viewers exiting any of our venues, and hear them say "Wow", wasn't that great!".


So there you have it.


Till next time,

Melody

Girl Power!

Hello there

Your daughter is your family pearl and you want the world to be her oyster, right?

That means allowing her to have the opportunity to follow her dreams and career goals. It also means finding support in part-time work and career preparation tools.

http://girl.com.au can offer this and more. Why not check it out and hook your daughter up?

While she is getting 'all the goss' on her latest screen heart throb she will also be able to find out some good stuff that will help her with her future directions.

Till next time,

Melody

Fashion Futures

Hello there

Do you have a budding fashion designer under your roof?

Are you wondering how they will get to be the latest 'hot new thing' in a fashion industry that is highly competitive, difficult to enter successfully and keep business going in a global market ruled by the trends of overseas?

Or are you simply dreading the possibility that you will have to have your creative child live at home for ever?

Fashion designers like most creative endeavour-ers have a hard road to hoe.

It takes, guts, determination, a single-minded belief along with excellent business and marketing skills. While the student might get qualifications, support and learn some of the basics at TAFE or a private Registered Training Organisation(RTO) or college it is much harder to survive, never mind thrive in the fashion world once you are qualified.

So where do you go for help?

Well Helen Sattler at Frock Fashion Online has helped many a local designer get their designs seen by the frock fashionistas.

In three short years Helen has managed to get her Northern Beaches Fashion events to the eye of the national media, which is no small accomplishment!

Check her out at http://www.frockfashion.com.au/

Till next time

Melody

How to get in-depth information about an industry - Part 2

Hello there



So leading on from our last blog. You have found an industry that your son or daughter is interested in. Congratulations! This is a great first step.



Now you will need more details about how your child is going to reach that goal. Do you immediately enrol your son or daughter in a university qualification or are there other routes into the industry?



One of the ways to get this kind of information is to visit the website of one of the 11 skills industry councils in Australia. If you google ' industry councils australia' you will get the websites listed.

Here is just one of these: Innovation and Business Skills Australia www.ibsa.org.au

The IBSA Careers site provides fact sheets for a variety of careers that include information about tasks performed in the occupation, training options, what training may involve, where training can be undertaken and links to other useful websites.

New to the site are the excellent videos, produced by SkillsOne, that have now been embedded into specific industry links.

For more details, please go to www.ibsa.org.au/content/careers/index.html.

Currently you will find videos in the following industries:

Business Services

Education

Entertainment

Screen and Media

Financial Services

Information and Communication Technology

Museum and Library/Information Services

Music

Printing and Graphic Arts

Telecommunications

Visual Arts, Crafts and Design

Why not check them out?

Till next time,

Melody