Khaiya Albury is a young Queenslander who despite her quiet demeanour has the ability to achieve any goal she sets for herself, including her recently completed school-based traineeship.
Khaiya’s journey into the industry began at school, “I was looking for a qualification within the sporting industry and it kind of just came up in the careers office at school. And it was something that I was interested in doing.”
“It was good, but starting off obviously it was a little bit out of my comfort zone,” expresses Khaiya.
The challenges didn’t stop there for Khaiya, “It definitely wasn’t easy, especially being in your last week of high school and you have a lot of events socially with your grade. And I guess that most of that time I was also working on the weekends to get up my hours. It worked out pretty well with just trying to fit in something after school, and during the weeks.”
National Traineeship Manager Anna Pirie explains, “Khaiya was also a boarder at school… In Queensland for you to complete your school-based traineeship you have to work 562 and a half hours before you can complete. So when you’re a boarder that’s actually really hard to get around because you go home in the school holidays. Which is usually the time that all the trainees work extra.”
“Khaiya still managed, it took her a bit longer but she still managed to get there just as she finished year twelve. But that was just another obstacle that she had to overcome as well and manage her times. She did that really well,” says Anna.
Khaiya completed her school-based traineeship in 2022 at Yeppoon Lagoon and as a result she now holds a Cert lll in Sport & Recreation. She has since started a full time traineeship with Leisure Employment Australia, based at the South Rockhampton 2nd World War Memorial Swimming Pool. Once she completes this she will also obtain her Cert IV in Sport & Recreation.
Completing a full time traineeship has Khaiya working “ten hour days, most days. I usually am here from early morning and depending if we have a close and open, I am lifeguarding most days. So my role is obviously going around, making sure that every patron is taken care of and to make sure the facility is clean. It’s pretty basic stuff. It’s easy going, it’s definitely something that is pretty easy to do.”
So why did Khaiya decide to undertake another traineeship?
“After I got the cert three and finished the traineeship, obviously I went home for a bit. I didn’t exactly have anything to do straight after school. And I just really liked the fact that it’s full time and it’s something that I’m experienced in. Working in this area now, so I was pretty keen on going forward and doing Cert IV,” describes Khaiya.
Although both are traineeships with Leisure Employment Australia, there are a few differences. “I guess it’s a bit easier because I’m just working full time and don’t have other school stuff to do every week. It’s different than a school based traineeship which is based around school work and now I can focus on this just by itself.”
It’s no secret that the traineeships have brought a range of challenges for Khaiya, and yet she still remains an advocate for them, “The best part of both of them is that I was studying as well as doing practical work for it. So I guess it’s got some of the studies based on the stuff that I’m actually doing every day. Getting educated on how the pool operates, how that works, doing risk assessments everyday so in that aspect, I like doing the study as well to give me more knowledge.”
So what advice would Khaiya give to others considering a traineeship with Leisure Employment Australia?
“It was definitely worth it in the end, it gave me something, another pathway. Especially if you don’t know what you want to do at the end of school. This helped me a lot with getting a step closer to a career pathway,” says Khaiya.
Once she completes her full-time traineeship, Khaiya will be qualified with a Cert lll Sport & Recreation and a Cert IV Sport & Recreation.
If you would like to know more about traineeships with Leisure Employment Australia, click here.