![First year trainee Sarah Janson, with council staff Dan Coe and Leesa Bryant. Picture by Peter Hardin First year trainee Sarah Janson, with council staff Dan Coe and Leesa Bryant. Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/caitlin.reid%40fairfaxmedia.com./d3ec6ed6-4114-4f67-ac06-31ee49648544.jpg/r0_0_6849_4566_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
WHEN Tamworth's Sarah Janson started volunteering her time at the marsupial park, little did she know she would pick up a training opportunity at the local council.
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Now, in her first year of a sports and recreation traineeship with Tamworth Regional Council, she's responsible for keeping the Botanical Gardens in tip-top shape, and has started studying a Certificate III in Horticulture.
She's picked up skills she never expected, like learning how to operate a backhoe.
"It's quite a large machine and can be quite daunting at first, it's something I never saw myself doing, but it's been really enjoyable," she said.
In a bid to boost its workforce, council is putting the call out to school leavers to explore a variety of new opportunities, right on their doorstep.
From sports and recreation, and water operations to survey and design, a number of traineeship positions are on offer.
And, they're being launched now in the hopes of attracting graduates, or anyone looking to build a new skill set, council's coordinator of people and culture Leesa Bryant said.
"While we do have a number of roles available throughout the year, these are new roles that we've got within council," she said.
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"With a traineeship you will learn skills on the job, and training will be fully funded by council through a registered training organisation, so it's a great opportunity to develop foundational skills and experience to launch your career.
"We are experiencing a skills shortage in the market like everyone else, and this campaign came out of looking to grow our own pipeline of talent, and traineeships are a great way to do that."
Manager of water operations Dan Coe, said council needs to recruit around nine trainees over the next few weeks after a number of existing trainees were promoted within the organisation.
"Within the water industry, we've got plenty of water at the moment, but in the past we've had a lack of water, and we deal with those challenges from time to time within our operational team," he said.
"It's a great career, it's an opportunity to give back to the Tamworth community but also to develop and utilise skills anywhere in the world."
Applications close on Friday, October 21 on council's website.
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