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Staff at your TAFE college will work with you to identify and address any potential barriers. This support is free, confidential and voluntary. It's available to students who identify as living with disability, a mental health condition or a medical condition whether temporary or permanent.

Find out more on each TAFE's website.
 

• Central Regional TAFE- external site
• North Metropolitan TAFE- external site
• North Regional TAFE- external site
• South Metropolitan TAFE- external site
• South Regional TAFE

TAFE employment partnerships

North and South Metropolitan TAFE Jobs and Skills Centres, together with BIZLINK, offer free on-site employment support through the TAFE Specialist Employment Partnership (TSEP), which is designed specifically to support people with disability to be job ready and able to take advantage of job opportunities. 

This support is free, confidential and voluntary. It's available to students who identify as living with disability, a mental health condition or a medical condition whether temporary or permanent. Find out more via the links below. 
 

• North Metropolitan TAFE
• South Metropolitan TAFE

Learning support plans

Learning Support Plans (LSPs) are developed by the TAFE's Accessibility and Learning Support Coordinator, who will work with you to determine the level of support you need. Your LSP may also include guidelines such as attendance requirements for classes, and timelines for assignments and class work. 

Your LSP is private and confidential, and applies only to you — it will not be disclosed to your trainers without your consent. It helps to ensure that your support needs are clearly documented and understood.

You can request a review of your LSP if, at any time, you feel further (or different) support is required; you are finding the guidelines a challenge; or an issue arises. 

Reasonable adjustments

Under Australia's Disability Standards for Education, training providers are encouraged to implement measures — referred to as "reasonable adjustments" — to assist you to apply, enrol and participate in a course or training program; on the same basis as a student without disability. 

The types of reasonable adjustments available will be based on your LSP, and take into account your individual needs and abilities.

Some examples could include providing assistive technology; additional time to complete assignments and course work; a choice of assessment methods eg presentation, portfolio or project; and provision of recorded lectures.

Assistance and service animals

Your assistance/service animal is welcome on campus at all WA TAFE colleges.

If you wish to bring an assistance/service animal with you to TAFE, please speak to the student support services team to register your animal and complete some required documentation.

You will be responsible for the behaviour of your assistance/service animal at all times. 

You may need to help other students understand etiquette around your assistance/service animal; such as not touching it, or offering it food. 

Shane's story

Shane grew up a city boy, but his family is from North West WA. His mates describe him as smart and funny but a bit lazy sometimes, especially when it comes to studying. His family says he's clever at fixing things and solving problems, and he's very patient when it comes to helping people. 

At 16 years of age, and nearly time for leaving school,  Shane needs to think about choosing a path for his future. 

He decides to do some work on getting to know himself.

Shane grabs a notebook and starts thinking about four main things.

Values — What's important to me? How do I want work to fit into my life? What matters most to me in a job?

Interests — What interests or activities do I enjoy?  What about in the past?  What do I really not like to do?

Personality — What are my personal qualities – like honesty, determination, loyalty? Do I enjoy being around people?  

Skills — What am I good at? What am I not so good at?

Most of all, Shane loves computers and the internet. As a kid, he was a huge game player but now he's more interested in how technology works.  And he loves showing his friends new things, and teaching them tips and tricks.

Shane realises that out of the four areas he looked at before, being with people and teaching or showing them new things are important to him.

And what matters to him in a job is enjoying what he's doing, working with people, and being able to learn new things.  

Shane shows his notes to his sister Clare and her mate Trish, who both know him very well. They agree that a job where he can work with people but still be around computers and technology would be perfect.

And since he already knows a lot about this area — maybe he won't need to study as much, which would be perfect.

Now that Shane knows himself a bit better, he can think about choosing a path that will lead him to a career that matches his values, interests, personality and skills. 

Maya's story

Maya, 19, grew up and went to school in the north west of WA. She completed a Certificate II in Business during years 11 and 12, and for the past three years she's been working part time at her local Coles supermarket.

Maya is very involved with her local community, particularly with environmental and conservation issues, and she does  volunteer work at a local horse riding school. 

She also enjoys time with her friends and family.

Maya's love of animals and the environment, and her experience as a volunteer, has helped her to realise that she wants a job where she can make a difference in her community.

Now she just needs to figure out how to get started on that path. 

She's been thinking about the local issues she cares most about, and which organisations are involved in supporting these causes, and figures one of those might be a good place to work.

What's out there for Maya

Maya goes to see Cheryl at her local Jobs and Skills Centre for some advice, and together they research the kind of organisations that do work in the areas of animals, conservation and the environment.

They find one that's involved with all the issues she cares about – turns out Maya's local council is a great match!

Cheryl suggests Maya should call the Council's human resources (HR) section to find out about employment opportunities.

When she gets home, Maya finds the number on the Council website and gives them a call.

The HR department tells Maya that her qualification and the volunteer work she's done are both well suited to this kind of work, but that she will need to begin as a junior then work her way up from there.

So the next step on Maya's career path is to look for entry-level jobs with her local council, with a focus on local conservation and environmental management. 

Tony's story

Tony grew up in Kalgoorlie but left school at the end of year 10 and moved to Perth when he was 16.

After two years of casual employment and work experience, he started an automotive mechanic’s apprenticeship. Tony really enjoyed the training and the hands-on type of work. He completed the apprenticeship when he was 21 and then stayed working in Perth for three years.

At 24, Tony went back out to the Goldfields to a job servicing heavy vehicles for a mining company.

Tony  loved his job with the heavy vehicles, but after 10 years of  working on mine sites he decided he wanted to move back to the city. Now Tony is looking for the same kind of work in Perth, but a lot has changed while he's been away.

Tony would really like to stay on his chosen path and keep working with the big heavy vehicles like excavators, graders and dozers if he can, but he's not sure  that's going to happen in Perth.

He needs to find out where heavy vehicle mechanics are employed, and whether there’s work available. 

Tony visits his local Jobs and Skills Centre and talks to Rachel.

They do some research, which confirms there is work for experienced diesel mechanics but not as much with the heavy vehicles he's used to – in the city, it's more with landscaping equipment or large trucks and buses.

Tony is a bit disappointed to hear all this, but Rachel suggests he could look for casual work to gain some experience with other types of equipment while he's trying to get a full time job.

Jake is halfway through year 12 at school, he's not really sure what he wants to be or do when he finishes school in a few months.

He's been thinking through a few ideas of what he enjoys doing the most and what skills he may already have which might help him make some decisions.

He has written a list of his favourite things to do and what personal skills he has, and he's come up with a shortlist. Jake knows he's creative, he likes writing ad has some skills in digital imaging, he enjoys reading and chatting with his mates on an animation blog and has great media and technology skills from school.

Jake uses the occupation search on the Jobs and Skills WA website to see where these skills fit into actual occupations, typing in "media" to see what occupation profiles are shortlisted. There are so many results — from a 'Video editor' to a 'Radio presenter' and a 'Game developer' — so many choices, it's stressing Jake out!

Jake finds the 'Web developer' occupation profile the most interesting — it seems to fit a lot of his skills and interests and he thinks this might be good to study after year 12.The occupation profile for 'Web developer' states that vocational education and training (VET) courses and university degrees in digital media technologies, interactive media, web media and web communications are widely available.

Jake finds the choices overwhelming — he really isn't sure which is the right course for him. So he calls his local Jobs and Skills Centre on 13 64 64 to see if someone can give him some advice. Rob answers the call, and Jake tells him about the research he's already done. Together, they talk through Jake's skills and they also discuss the kind of work that Jake's most interested in, but with so many options to choose from they decide that a meeting in person would be best.

Jake makes an appointment with Rob at the Jobs and Skills Centre for the next day to get some help with finding a course where he can study web-based technologies. He feels less stressed about the whole thing now, and he's really pleased that he now has some direction to focus on for the end of his year 12.

Jake has a plan! After his meeting with Rob at the Jobs and Skills Centre, Jake feels like he has direction now.

He's worked through many steps himself by finding out his own strengths and interests, and he's confident that by talking his options through with Rob, he's made the right decision for his future. 

The thought of not knowing where you are heading might seem confusing or daunting to begin with but by taking it step by step and asking for help, it can become an exiting journey!

Case studies: Conversations

As the points above highlight, having a successful and positive career conversation can present opportunities to contribute positively to the career planning process.

Focusing on what's achievable is a great way to manage expectations and create realistic goals, but try not to limit a person's dreams... they may be aiming high, but that's not always a bad thing. 

Take a look at these six case studies to see some practical ways that career planning conversations can be guided, and how to identify potential pathways and options from a person's goals, dreams and interests.

Use the next button to move through each of the slides. 

Corey (15) — Career goal: Pro surfer

When he was around 10 years old, Corey decided his future career was going to be as a pro-surfer... five years later, he still believes it could happen!  His parents agree this is a great dream, but think it's unrealistic as Corey doesn't have the kind of commitment that it takes to turn pro — he loves surfing and being in the ocean and nature, but it takes more than that to compete at a high level. And he has no backup plan, if being a pro-surfer doesn't work out. 

Considering Corey's interest in the ocean and nature, some other options could include:

• outdoor sports and recreation;
• marine biology;
• phys ed teacher;
• swim instructor;
• lifeguard;
• conservation and land management (specialising in ocean areas); or
• eco-tourism (eg; surf tours or park ranger).

There's also lots of fantastic opportunities opening up in the area of 'green jobs' that Corey can explore. 

Casey (13) — Career goal: Something cool

Growing up in a family of car enthusiasts, Casey is pretty good on the tools and knows her way around a car engine. She was set on a career as a mechanic up until recently— but this year at school she's been learning robotics and she loves it!

Casey has been talking  with her family about her future plans, and together they have come up with a few options that would allow her to follow her interests but also to take advantage of the growth in job opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) that would be perfect for her.

Some of these options could include:

• automotive engineering;
• electronics and/or electronic engineering;
• robotics and automation;
• drone technology used in areas such as science and research; 
• defence industry areas such as ship building; and
• design and technology specialisations.

Any of these would set Casey up for a cool career!

Alex (16) — Career goal: To earn money for travel

Alex has never been very career-oriented — he just wants to travel, but he knows he'll need money for that. He's also going to need a way to earn money while he's travelling. He enjoys meeting new people, and is very social.

To date, Alex's career planning conversations with his family have focused on how he could set himself up to be able to follow his travel dreams after school, but also to be able to earn money and give him some work options. He's also keen to gain some skills and experience that can help him get into a more serious career once he's finished travelling. 

So far, he's got a few ideas:

• do a VET hospitality qualification in Year 11 and 12, so he can gain skills to work in a range of places such as cafés, restaurants, bars or resorts while he's travelling;
• get a part time job at a local café or restaurant so he can earn some money plus get hands-on experience; 
• look into short courses to train as a barista; and
• get his RSA (responsible service of alcohol) when he turns 18.

With the right training and experience, Alex could work anywhere in the world! 

Chloe (15) — Career goal: Veterinarian

Chloe loves animals, and her dream career would be to work as a veterinarian. However; she has found secondary school quite challenging, and isn't confident she will get the marks she'll need to get into university to become qualified. Chloe needs a pathway that will build up her skills, knowledge and experience — and her confidence — so that she can get into uni a few years from now. 

For Chloe's pathway, she could consider:

• earning a VET qualification such as a Certificate II in Animal Studies while she's still at school;
• going to TAFE to complete a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing qualification after school;
• looking for part time work or work experience at a veterinary practice;
• volunteer work with support or companion dogs; or
• doing other kinds of work with animals, such as pet grooming or at an agistment. 

With VET qualifications and experience behind her, and more confidence in her skills and experience, Chloe would be well placed to apply for university only a few years after she finishes school. 

Emma (17) — Career goal: Youth support 

Emma's lived experience as a person with disability has given her a passion for working in youth support. She has a particular interest in disability support for young people, and also in mental health. She hasn't yet decided whether to take a VET pathway when she finishes Year 12, or do a four-year degree at university. Emma's career conversations need to focus on options. 

If she takes the VET pathway, Emma could start with a Certificate III level qualification in youth work, disability support or mental health support. As these options would take only a year or less, Emma could either join the workforce once she's qualified or continue on (or come back later) to a Certificate IV or even a Diploma level qualification then apply for university a few years down the track. 

The university pathway gives Emma the option to pursue a degree, and gain specialist skills and knowledge in a particular area of youth support. Although this option will take longer, Emma  would gain a qualification that could open doors set up a great career pathway for her in the future. 

Emma would benefit from seeking some free advice from her local Jobs and Skills Centre, to help her weigh up the options.

Ben (16) — Career goal: Business owner

Ben is quite the young entrepreneur — he earned his first dollar on his bike doing leaflet drops through his local area, and he's also had a couple of part time jobs since he turned 14.

Ben is currently working with his sister, helping to run his parents' food stall at the weekend markets, but he is already working on his next career move — he wants to learn more about the world of business, and eventually open his own restaurant.

With their cultural background, there's a few expert cooks in Ben's family so he hopes to make his restaurant a family affair. He plans to stick to the business side of things though, as he's not good in the kitchen!

Ben's currently doing a Certificate III in Business traineeship in Year12, because that includes a work placement where he's getting hands on skills and experience. After school, he plans to get a job but also do further study at TAFE until he's built up all the skills and experience he needs to make a start on his restaurant business. 

Ben's career conversations focus on goals, and skill building.