This month, 1300apprentice would like to introduce Jesse Novotny as a 2nd year Parks and Gardens apprentice through Eden Gardens.

Jesse commenced his career by completing a Certificate II Horticulture traineeship, which provided him with an understanding of what the apprenticeship involved without a four year commitment.

We met with Jesse at Eden gardens to ask him about the Parks and Gardens Apprenticeship, why he chose this trade for his apprenticeship and to take a few photo’s of some of the gardens Jesse has built and currently maintains.

As we arrived, Jesse was busy doing some topiary which is one of his favourite aspects of the trade.

When asked why he chose to do this apprenticeship Jesse said “I first did a Cert II Horticulture traineeship with Eden gardens and I really enjoyed it.  I received some really good feedback from my supervisor and from there I was offered the opportunity to complete a parks and gardens apprenticeship with them, which I jumped at. It’s an excellent opportunity for me to build a career from. I love watching the work unfold and seeing the gardens transform over time. My favourite part of the job would be topiary-making and seeing the different shapes I’m learning to trim the plants back to.”

Recently Jesse visited the Melbourne International Garden and Flower Show with his supervisor to have a look at some of the gardens for inspiration. This is the second year that Jesse has visited this event giving him the opportunity to learn from exhibitors and put his ideas into practice at Eden Gardens.

Jesse said that this is an excellent trade and a great alternative to a Landscaping apprenticeship. It’s not as physically demanding which is better for later on in his career and it offers plenty or room for progression.

When asked about the most challenging part of his apprenticeship Jesse said “learning the botanical names of all the plants, it’s pretty hard”.

Whilst we were visiting Jesse, we asked Jesse’s supervisor Ben Lyte what benefit Eden Gardens has gained out of having Jesse on board. “Having Jesse as an apprentice is really useful because not only do we benefit from having an extra set of helping hands, but the enthusiasm and new knowledge that Jesse brings to the garden as he learns new things at TAFE really benefits our workplace”.

We’d like to wish Jesse the best of luck for his upcoming trip to Papua New Guinea where he’ll be walking the Kokoda trail, and we also look forward to seeing him develop through the rest of his apprenticeship.

1300apprentice are currently looking for a motivated individual who loves the outdoors to fill a 1st year Parks and Gardens apprenticeship at Lane Cove.

As a parks and gardens specialist you will attend to the care of trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns in public and private gardens, reserves, recreational facilities and industrial and housing estates.

There are a number of skills you will learn such as the operation of power equipment including mowers, tractors, chain-saws, leaf blowers and hand tools such as clippers, pruning saws, shovels, rakes, hedge trimmers and brush cutters.

You will also learn about fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides and the proper use of hand and automatic sprayers and spreaders. Care for lawns, mulching, weeding and trimming and edging flower beds and walkways are all in a days work for a parks and gardens horticulturist.

Parks and Gardens is a four year apprenticeship and you will be required to complete a Certificate III in Parks and Gardens nationally recognised qualification.

For more information on the Parks and Gardens trade, click here to view a video from SkillsOne. To apply for this role click here.

Leading into our quieter times of the year for recruiting, our recruitment team is starting to prepare for the 2012 apprentice trainee intake. We have several new initiatives planned for this year’s intake so we can place as many excellent candidates with host employers as possible.

Our Senior Recruitment Officer Chad Smith has put pen to paper(well, fingers to keyboard but that doesn’t have the same ring to it) and written an excellent blog that outlines everything you need to know and do prior to applying for an apprenticeship or traineeship.

Over the coming months Chad will be going through everything mentioned in his first blog in greater detail on why certain things such as researching the apprenticeship or traineeship you’re applying for is so important.

To read through Chad’s blog, click here and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Chad by sending an email to c.smith@1300apprentice.com.au or calling 02 9715 7344.

Social Media has been a hot topic over the past 5 years and has grown to become a part of every day life for many. 1300apprentice has several social media accounts including facebook, twitter, our blog and this eNewsletter.

At 1300apprentice we enjoy communicating with our facebook friends, twitter followers and followers of our blog and eNewsletter, but there a couple of guidelines that we have in place for 1300apprentice employees in relation to the discussion of topics involving employees and host employers.

If you are a 1300apprentice employee or host employer,  please take the time to read through our social media policy so that you are aware of what 1300apprentice classifies as the misuse of social media in relation to our organisation,  and the steps that will be taken if the policy is breached.

Below is a basic outline to the best practices for the use of social media to prevent any disciplinary action:

• Be respectful - do not post any material that is, or may be considered obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, abusive or embarrassing to another person

• Abide by the law and respect copyright laws – ensure written permission is in place to use or reproduce any copyrighted text, photo’s, graphics, logo’s, trade marks or other material owned by others

• Take responsibility – the person posting the comments can and will be personally liable for any derogatory comments using social media

Note this policy does not apply to personal use of social media platforms where there is no reference to 1300apprentice or host employer related issues.

To view the entire 1300apprentice social media policy click here. For future reference, our social media policy is permanently located under the resources tab on our website.

Lacerations can occur for several reasons but the most common laceration type would be a cut. As you have probably experienced at some point throughout your life, cuts range from minor nicks through to large wounds that require emergency medical treatment.

For 1300apprentice, up until recently lacerations have been our most frequently occurring injury amongst our employees. In early February we started supplying a new variety of gloves to our apprentices who are at a high risk of incurring laceration injuries. Since the introduction of these gloves the occurrence of lacerations injuries has fallen 78.98% and the severity of the injury has fallen 93.11%. Statistics such as these prove that wearing the correct PPE all the time greatly reduces the frequency and severity of injuries. The gloves are an Ansell product and are made with Dyneema® fibres which are extremely strong.

For more information on anything WH&S related or if you require any addition PPE, please don’t hesitate to contact our WH&S Manager Darren Gibson on 02 9715 7344 or by emailing d.gibson@1300apprentice.com.au.

Click here to visit the Ansell website for more information on these gloves.

For the month of April 1300apprentice has four injuries to report. These injuries included a foreign object in the eye, a strain to the lower back, a splinter in an apprentice’s hand and another apprentice injured their heel. Many of these could have been avoided by using the supplied PPE. To view 1300apprentice’s latest safety alert click here.

Rachel Gale – Certificate III Business
Jacqueline Munro – Certificate III Business Administration
Samantha Egan - Certificate III Business
Lesley Smith – Certificate III Business Administration
Jacob Sneddon – Certificate III Business
Naomi Young – Certificate III Business
Jane Keenan – Certificate III Business Administration
Ashleigh Knox – Certificate III Business
Jasmine Aubrey – Certificate III Business

Get That Job Expos

09:30-12:30, 30 April 2012
Cabra-Vale Diggers

08:30 – 11:30, 1 May 2012
Bankstown Sports Club

08:30 – 11:30, 2 May 2012
Blacktown RSL Club

08:30 – 11:30, 3 May 2012
Parramatta RSL Club

National Manufacturing Week
8-11 MAY 2012
Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park
www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au