School based traineeship - Information for agencies

What is the Public Sector Commission’s role? We promote the traineeship to secondary school students and Vocational Education and

Training (VET) Coordinators.

We encourage agencies to submit a school based traineeship vacancy request.

We provide a streamlined recruitment process, by coordinating the Australian Apprenticeship Support Network, schools, students and registered training providers.

We manage a database of suitable applicants, ready to be referred to vacant school based traineeship positions across the WA public sector.

We coordinate information sessions and student registration.

We provide ongoing advice and support to all stakeholders throughout the duration of the traineeship.

We host an annual graduation ceremony.

We provide advice to agencies to support retention of students on completion of the school based traineeship.

What does your agency need to do?1. Submit a school based trainee request via the Recruitment Advertising Management System

(RAMS).2. Review and consider student resumes forwarded to you by us.3. Select most suitable applicant through a further assessment or an interview process.4. Offer suitable applicant fixed-term contract for a period of 18 months.

Requests for school based trainees can be made by agencies up until September each year.

How do I create a school based trainee request via RAMS?Your agency’s human resource officers can submit a school based trainee request via RAMS.

1. Login to RAMS https://admin-INSERT CLIENT ID HERE-wagov.bigredsky.com/ Enter: Username and Password.

2. Select menu option – Vacancies – New Request. 3. Complete the request form.

Ensure that you select ‘School based Trainee Request’ under vacancy category/vacancy type.

Page 1 of 6 School based traineeship - Information for agencies and schools

Steps to complete request form

Agency - select your agency’s name

Division - enter the division

Position no - enter the position number

Job title - enter school-based trainee. Certificate II in Government

Owner - select owner

Vacancy type - select school-based trainee request

Term - enter 18 months

ANZSCO code - enter 5311

Award - select the relevant award

Classification - enter school-based trainee

Location - enter your agency’s street address and suburb

Selection criteria - include skills and qualities your agency is looking for in a school-based trainee

Comments - enter other comments you would like the Traineeship Coordinator to consider when identifying suitable candidates to refer (e.g. rotation plans, hours of work, Aboriginal candidates preferred)

Level - select trainee

Salary range - select less than $20 000

Work type - select fixed-term – part-time

Occupation - select apprenticeship/traineeship

Region - select Perth metropolitan

Skills - select administrative clerical

Once all the fields have been completed, click on the ‘store’ button.

If your agency has multiple requests, you can copy a vacancy and create multiple entries. Go to the vacancy you want to copy and click ‘copy’ button.

Page 2 of 6 School based traineeship - Information for agencies

Viewing student resumesOnce your agency has submitted a school based trainee request, we will refer student resumes to you for consideration. You will receive an email from us to advise that the referral process has been finalised and the short-listing process can commence.

To view students referred to the school based trainee request:

1. Select menu option – my vacancies.2. Locate the vacancy and click on the position title.3. Click the referrals link and a list of referred students will be displayed.4. Click in the student’s name to view their personal/contact details.5. Click the attachments menu options to view the candidate’s resume.

Agency selectionStudents may be referred to more than one agency so the selection of students will be on a first-in, first-served basis. It is important that once the referral process is finalised your agency:

schedules interviews

finalises the selection process and notifies the successful candidate as soon as possible

advises us of your agency’s selection via youth@psc.gov.wa.au so the placement of students can be confirmed.

Once your agency has selected the most suitable candidates we will update RAMS.

The selection process aligns with Commissioner’s Instruction No. 1 – Employment Standard, Commissioner’s Instruction No. 2 – Filling a Public Sector Vacancy, Public Sector Management (Breaches of Public Sector Standards) Regulations 2005, Part 7 of the Vocational Education and Training Act 1996, Vocational Education and training (General) Regulations 2009, and the Public Sector Management Act 1994.

InterviewsInterview questions should be easy to understand.

Sample questions

Why do you want to undertake a school based traineeship?

Give examples of what Microsoft Office software you are able to use.

Give an example of when you have worked independently.

Tell us about any work experience you have completed.

Give an example of when you have worked in a team.

What do you consider to be good customer service?

How would you deal with a difficult customer?

What do you think makes someone a good team member?

Page 3 of 6 School based traineeship - Information for agencies

Offer and wages You can make a formal offer of a fixed-term contract for a period of 18 months to the suitable

applicant on completion of the recruitment process.

Most trainees will be covered by the Public Service Award 1992 or by the Government Officers’ Salaries Allowances Conditions Award 1989.

The trainee wage schedule under the awards is available on the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety website.

On 1 January each year trainees will receive an increase to the Year 12 wage level.

If the trainee is not covered by either of these awards, they should be appointed according to the terms and conditions of employment in the award, act or agreement applicable to your agency.

You should contact a Labour Relations Advisor from Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety directly to ensure the correct wage is applied.

Appointment and contract signing We will confirm placement with your agency, the student and school.

Successful applicants will attend an information session to sign the contract with their parents and you as the employing agency. This also includes signing a training contract with an Australian Apprenticeships Support Network (legislative requirement under the VET Act).

If your agency is unable to attend the information session, please contact us to arrange for the Australian Apprenticeships Support Network to see you and your trainee at another time within 21 days of the commencement of employment.

The trainee will start their contract in February.

Selecting a supervisor for your trainee Your trainee’s supervisor will organise meaningful tasks, provide training and be a daily point of contact for the trainee. Your trainee will require more one on one support.

Matching a trainee with a staff member who is not in a management role can be more practical as they may have more time to guide the trainee in their daily tasks. It also provides a professional development opportunity for that employee to develop supervisory skills.

Job tasksSchool based traineeships are competency based, therefore tasks completed by the trainee are used as evidence to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding to fulfil the requirements of the Certificate II in Government (Public Administration).

Job tasks must be aligned with units of competency within the qualification.

Page 4 of 6 School based traineeship - Information for agencies

Examples of units of competency

PSPGEN002 Use routine workplace communication techniques

PSPGEN006 Handle workplace information’

PSPGEN003 Deliver a service to client’.

Providing practical job tasks for trainees will support them to understand and demonstrate their skills and knowledge of the units of competence. Examples include:

producing correspondence (e.g. letters and emails)

administration support (creating documents, spreadsheets, processes, taking calls)

maintain and order stationary

customer service (internal /external)

assisting in setting up and preparing for events

processing mail

filing and records management

data entry.

TrainingThe training requirements are part of the training plan which is negotiated between you, the trainee and the Registered Training Organisation. Training can include:

explaining the task and why it needs to be completed

demonstrating the steps to complete the task and getting the trainee to document the process

practicing with the trainee the process to complete the task correctly under supervision

completing the task required unsupervised once the trainee feels comfortable doing it on their own

providing positive feedback and suggestions for improvement.

We may offer trainees various off-the-job training days, including telephone techniques and public sector job application and interview skills. Your agency can also arrange additional off-the-job training (optional). Considerations will need to be made to ensure that this additional training is done on the days they are employed to work with your agency.

Examples of off the job training

Customer service

First aid course

Internal induction sessions

Occupational health and safety

Information technology training (e.g. Microsoft word and excel)

Other internal training sessions provided by your agency (e.g. Accountable and ethical decision making, training records management).

Page 5 of 6 School based traineeship - Information for agencies

Retention options on completion of school based traineeshipContact us to discuss retention options once your trainee has graduated.

Current options

Transition the trainee to a full time, higher level traineeship (e.g. Certificate III in Government). This may be considered a stepping stone to gain further employment and training within the sector.

Register the trainee to be placed in the level 1 employment pool via our Trainee Transition to Employment Recruitment and Referral Service.

Offer of level 1 employment from the employing agency or another agency.

Offer of fixed-term or permanent Level 1 position from the employing agency or another agency.

Refer the trainee to jobs.wa.gov.au to apply for other employment opportunities.

Refer the trainee to seek other employment or education opportunities.

For any further information or questions relating to our role, please contact us on 6552 8864 or youth@psc.wa.gov.au

Page 6 of 6 School based traineeship - Information for agencies