One of the priorities of the government is to support more traineeships and apprenticeships as well as to promote VET pathways.

Our project looks to focus on the "people skills" gap in both the employee and employer and how to fill it.

Rural Business Tasmania is working in collaboration with representative organisations, agribusiness operators and educational and training groups to deliver and develop a pilot cadetship program for high school and college age students.

This pilot will help create opportunities for those students to explore the agricultural sector by creating a better understanding between Tasmanian educators, students and their mentors with the ultimate aim of assisting individuals into apprenticeships in the agricultural and agribusiness sectors.

Rural Business Tasmania has developed a report to reflect outcomes of recent surveys of agribusinesses and students and will use this to develop a pathway.

To begin, this October Rural Business Tasmania will host two webinars with a panel of speakers to discuss highlighted areas of concerns for agribusinesses.

Topics include: WHS on your farm, Worksafe month, what is work experience and how does it differ from apprenticeships, what will an apprenticeship cost, how to connect with young people and what to expect having a young person working in your business. Webinars will be held October 13and October 27, 5:30 pm via Zoom. The cadetship program aims to develop a resources and a mechanism that can be employed by groups or individuals beyond the life of the program, to better engage the Agricultural sector and create opportunities for young people to explore it as a viable career choice.