The NSW Government’s first JobTrainer Skilling for Recovery program has kicked off at Baker Street in Gosford, educating and teaching young people the skills of hospitality.
The pre-employment training program provides fee‑free or low‑fee training courses for young people, job seekers and school leavers, to help them gain skills in industries with job growth and skills needed.
Owner of Baker Street, Chef Daniel, is the first businessperson on the Central Coast to be involved in running the training program’s practical element.
“My involvement as a qualified industry professional is to give my take on who we should teach, how we should teach it, and show kids and adults how we should do hospitality properly,” Chef Daniel said.
“The course will start with basic hygiene, how to make all your basic café things; sandwiches, coffees, and things like that.
“That will be the start, but it will eventuate into full hospitality training and full chef courses.”
The program comes after the end of the JobKeeper initiative which has placed pressure on young people who are unskilled and/or unemployed.
Petrina Waddell works for Training Services NSW and is the Skill Broker representative for the Central Coast.
Her job is to locate new staff who are trained and ready to fill roles with specific skill requirements, and find ways to upskill existing, newly employed, or redeployed staff either into a new role at the business or into a role at another business.
“I am looking after the Central Coast region, and today we are looking at hospitality,” Waddell said as the program launched.
“We will be going through many other industries as well.
“I am out with employers and asking them what they want, instead of just hosting a generic training program.
“Under the recovery of COVID, we want now to get people highly skilled in the hospitality sector.
“I know Chef Daniel has a passion for really lifting the standard of hospitality workers in the Gosford CBD, and we want to support that by doing a funded program.”
Ryan Hartley is the Training and Development Manager for the registered training organisation, Statewide Business Training (SBT).
He has worked in partnership with the NSW government and Chef Daniel to deliver the program.
“We provide the accredited training; we have the accredited trainers and the industry experts, and we roll out the training and tap into the funds for the students looking for employment and training,” Hartley said.
The program is eligible for youth aged 17-24 who are unemployed, registered with Centrelink, about to be redeployed or made redundant, and workers who are expected to become unemployed.
Chef Daniel said he wants to help to bring quality staff to hospitality and show youth the great elements involved in the industry.
“I want to really infect the Central Coast with perfection, professionalism and style and actually make hospitality sexy,” he said.
“You don’t have to be just in the kitchen, you can be all around the world with hospitality and meet people from everywhere.
“I want to be able to infect kids with all my passion and love for hospitality and show them they do have a choice and they can make something happen and become something, just like I did, and just as every other chef or hospitality worker did.
“It is really important we inspire the young ones.”
Jacinta Counihan