A number of students from various local schools are currently on student placement at Hume Council. Their placement forms part of a twelve-month School Based Apprentice Trainee Program for students undertaking Certificate 2. The students are gaining on-the-job learning in administration, customer service, and communication. Their experience and insight will hold them in good stead when they start their search for employment.

Our students who will be will us until October are: Mereana Khoshaba, Declan Clayton, Immanuel Kasha, Jennifer Rusiti, Maha Albarri, Monica Casella and Polytimi Flessia. Since commencing last October they have settled into various departments around Council.

We asked Mereana about her experience at Council:

Why did you choose Hume for your student placement?
I chose Hume City Council as my student placement because I think it’s a great environment to work in and you can learn an incredible amount of things about Hume City, the different departments and pick up lots of administration skills.

What have you learnt about Hume that you didn’t know before?
I have had the opportunity to hear about all the different departments and what they do for the community.

Tell us a little about your work experience so far?What area are you working for, jobs you’ve done, people you have met or worked with?
I have had over a year of work experience prior to Hume, I worked in Broadmeadows McDonalds for six months, Fawkner McDonalds for about five months and a local pizza shop for a short period of two months.Now I am working for Hume City Council as a trainee in the Human Resources department, I’ve met lots of new people in the past year and hope to meet more.

Highlight of your time with Hume
I’m still getting to know the ropes but my main highlight with Hume is all the new people I’ve met and how welcoming they’ve been to me and the other trainees.

Would you recommend Hume as a place of work or work experience in the future?
I would definitely recommend Hume for work or work placement in the future as there are a lot of skills, people, information and experience to learn from and work on.

What have you taken away from the overall experience that will benefit you in future roles?
I have learnt how to work independently, but also further improved my communication skills and my confidence has boosted.