MEGT Partners with Mentor to Continue Employment of Their Apprentices

Geelong, Australia, June 10, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Two long-standing local community Group Training Organisations, Mentor and MEGT have partnered to ensure 55 young apprentices and trainees continue their employment and work experience with host employers in the South West region of Victoria and are employing more staff to support them.

It is critical to the future of communities throughout South West Victoria that young people continue to be employed and given workplace skills, particularly in the face of threats by large employers to cut jobs according to Michael Gammon, Operations Manager for MEGT (Australia) Ltd, a local not-for-profit employer.

“Together, Mentor and MEGT are not just creating additional jobs in the region,” explains Mr Gammon, “we are also ensuring young people can stay within local communities, contribute to them and keep the wealth of their income in the region. Losing our young people to the cities will have an enormously detrimental effect on the future of local businesses.

“Mentor Group Training and MEGT are calling on local employers of every size to seriously consider whether they can offer even 6 months continuous employment for apprentices and trainees. MEGT can provide the continuity of employment they need to complete their qualification, if we can get enough businesses to combine and to provide the workplace experience they need for the full period of their apprenticeship or traineeship.

“That can take as little as 12 months for some trainees, and even apprentices can complete earlier than four years depending on the trade and their competence.”

This model of supported employment means the local businesses only pay the wage of the young person for the time they are working for them. When the apprentice or trainee is doing the formal part of their training, MEGT covers their costs, which are also subsidised by the state and federal government. And when the host employer runs out of work for the young person, MEGT seeks to move them to another appropriate host employer. The variety of workplace experiences gives young people a great employment advantage at the same time they are studying for their vocational qualification and means that if a single host employer can’t support their work for the full period of two or four years, the young person doesn’t have to terminate their Australian Apprenticeship. While it would be ideal for the apprentice or trainee to stay with the one business all the time, tough economic times are exactly why the Group Training model was created in the 1980’s: so a group of companies could all contribute to the training of the apprentice.

“It is such a small investment for an employer to make,” urges Ray Couchman from Mentor Group Training, “and makes such a major contribution to our local communities.”

If any businesses in the region wish to help employ a local apprentice or trainee in order to provide them with the extra pair of hands their business needs, and help a young person increase their workplace skills, please call Steve Allen on 0404 824 515.