Indigenous cadetships providing ideal workplace training

In his apology to Indigenous Australians on 12 February 2008 Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis committed the University of Melbourne to using its expertise and resources to make a sustained contribution to lifting the health, education and living standards of Indigenous Australians.

The apology was followed by the roll out of a raft of initiatives, including the University’s first Reconciliation Action Plan which in 2010 ratified six areas for action, one of which committed the University to achieving population parity of Indigenous staff by 2020.

An Indigenous cadetship – the Indigenous Australian Entry Level Development Employment Program – was one such initiative developed to realise this ambitious target, and ran for the first time early last year after a lengthy Australia-wide recruitment process in Indigenous and mainstream channels such as The Lime Network, Seek, and government agency websites.

“The cadetship has been a great experience,” says Minjaara Atkinson. “It’s led to gaining experience and independence.” 

Ms Atkinson, known as Minnie is a Yorta Yorta woman who grew up in Mooroopna near Shepparton, and one of nine Indigenous candidates selected for the first intake of the cadetship. The two-year program allows the cadets to perform a variety of professional staff roles across the University, while studying for a Certificate IV in Administration Business Support.

“Coming from a country town, I was a bit overwhelmed at first about moving to the city, but I had support from all the offices I have had a chance to work in, which was great,” says Ms Atkinson.

According to Charles O’Leary, a Kamilaroi man from north-west New South Wales, and Senior Manager of Indigenous Student and Staff Programs at the University’s Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute for Indigenous Development, the program meets the business needs of the University and at the same time responds to community needs by providing employment to Indigenous Australians with a low-to-unemployed status.

“This is a largely untapped labour supply,” says Mr O’Leary, “which we can draw on to everyone’s satisfaction – the University’s and the job-seeker’s.

“We’ve been in the exciting and fortunate position of contributing to the success of the University by recruiting Indigenous Australians with great interpersonal skills and the capacity to rapidly acquire technical expertise in a range of professional and administrative areas.”

Under the guidance of Mr O’Leary, whose outstanding contribution was recognised with a University of Melbourne Diversity and Inclusion Award in the 2013 round, the University has experienced an almost three-fold increase in Indigenous staff numbers between 2010 and 2013. It now employs 44 Indigenous professional staff and 16 Indigenous academic staff. 

The cadets, who have now completed one full year of their on-the-job traineeships, were placed in different faculties and departments across the University, including the Library and Legal Services, the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, Property and Campus Services, Research Ethics and Integrity, Student Services, the Victorian College of the Arts, and the Engagement Division of the University.

“The cadets have worked in parts of the University where for the most part there are or have been no other Indigenous Australians,” says Mr O’Leary. “So they’ve been instrumental in changing perceptions in their workplaces.

“Conversely, through their experience in entry-level roles, the cadets have become familiar with the University environment and, further, have become a virtual recruitment pool in their own right.

“The experience they gain here will support them through their careers even should they move on to work elsewhere.”

For Minnie Atkinson, the cadetship has broadened her horizons and her aspirations. 

“I’m hoping to continue working at the University this year,” she says, “and am seriously considering applying for the Bachelor of Arts Extended for the next intake of students in 2015.

“And if I’m lucky, continue to work here at the Uni until I can use my professional and academic qualifications to further my career.”

www.murrupbarak.unimelb.edu.au