Finding the right fit

“Field officers play the connection point to our employers,” she said.

“We’re a pretty vital contact for our apprentices to be set up in their training.

“We’re almost like another staff member for each individual workplace, just held in an office external of their company.”

Some of the services that TAF provides to its employers and apprenticeships include the recruitment phase, contracts, payroll and more.

“We maintain that connection between apprentices and our workplaces,” Natalie said.

To source apprentices for its employers, TAF engages a range of avenues, and is with them every step of the way.

“A lot of our work is with the school systems here locally and also throughout the region,” Natalie said.

“We do have an online registration process as well where we can attract local candidates, including mature ages or people that aren’t in school.”

For their apprentices, TAF is with them every step of the way, making sure their apprenticeship is the right fit for them.

For the businesses that use its services, TAF simplifies the process of bringing apprentices into their business, ensuring a smooth transition.

“A lot of the time businesses advertise, spend time interviewing and still don’t get the candidates,” Natalie said.

“We don’t charge anything to do that process for them.

“We’re not a recruitment company as such, we really provide a service to those companies that really require our service.”

Tracy Duke is the payroll and administrator officer at TAF, and as payroll, she takes care of all payslips and admin for the apprentices that are currently employed.

“I do all the payroll for all of our apprentices and trainees that we have,” Tracy said.

“I make sure timesheets are in, signed and everything. So that takes it off the employer, so they don’t have to worry about payroll and all those sorts of things.”

Both Natalie and Tracy in their 15 years in the company have worked closely together to help support the employers, ensuring that the apprenticeship process runs as smoothly as possible.

With TAF always having over 100 apprentices on their books across many different apprenticeships and traineeships, there are lots of different payments and awards to handle.

For both of them, the work they do at TAF is very rewarding.

Being able to connect these young individuals with their future career paths and see them succeed makes this job all the more worth it.

“I find working for the clients really rewarding, like our employers that I’ve been lucky enough to work with for a long time,” Natalie said.

“It’s a really nice workplace to be in.”

By Georgia Tacey