Start a Pet Food Business!

Start a Pet Food Business!

The pet food manufacturing industry is worth a whopping $3 billion in Australia! There’s also growing demand for premium products, with the humanisation of pets increasing.

Future Growth (Industry) – Strong

Unemployment – Low

Career pathways

  • Pet Food Manufacturers
  • Pet Food Suppliers
  • Pet Breeders
  • Kennels and Cattery Staff
  • Animal Shelter Staff
  • Veterinary Staff
  • Zoo Staff

Do you want a slice of this lucrative market share? It’s possible when you start a pet food business! Whether you want to make cute, sweet treats for dogs or create a whole line of pet foods, you’ll learn the ropes with a course on pet food production.

Our Certificate of Pet Food Production is an excellent platform to start a pet food business. You’ll learn about all aspects of the pet manufacturing industry, from the nutritional and feed requirements to manufacturing and regulation elements.

Key learning outcomes:

  • Producing of ingredients
  • Source and supply of raw materials
  • Producing preservatives and additives (processing components)
  • Developing equipment for manufacturing and testing
  • Logistics and transportation of goods
  • Animal sales and marketing initiatives
  • Veterinarian recommended diet supplements and formulations
  • Toxins and contamination control techniques and testing
  • Regulation and governance (to reduce or prevent quality control issues)

8 Pet Food Business Success Stories!

If you’re considering venturing into the pet manufacturing space, here are a few success stories to give you some inspiration!

  1. The Golden Bone Bakery

A small Australian company with a love for animals, The Golden Bone, was inspired by a need to treat the founder’s Labrador x Blue Heeler, Jett! Jett had tummy issues with regular dog treats. The mission to transform the pet industry with an Australian-made range of natural pet treats was the result! The company also supports the animal and human community!

  1. Al La Carte

A small Australian company specialising in using the finest ingredients to produce pet food for the fussiest eaters at affordable prices. Their mission is to ‘provide honest super-premium food, without the super-premium price!’ As farmers, the company founders have always been passionate about creating quality food.

  1. Huds and Toke

Huds and Toke is a 100% family-owned Australian business recognised nationally and internationally. Their mission was to design, create, and manufacture the best pet treats Australia can offer! Huds and Toke now make Dog Treats, Horse Treats, Rabbit Treats, Guinea Pig Treats, Chicken Treats and Cat Treats.

  1. Drool Pet Co.

Drool Pet Co is an Australian-owned raw natural and natural pet food and treats company. The founders decided to start a pet food business after years of making raw pet food for their own dogs. They are passionate about providing Australian pets with the best, locally sourced, healthy, natural food and treats!

  1. Pooch Treats

Pooch Treats is a family-owned and operated business based in Melbourne, Australia! The company, established in the late 2000s, is passionate about handmade bakery treats for dogs while addressing the waste in the Australian meat market! The company’s bakery treats are all personally made and baked in-house by pastry chefs seven days a week!

  1. Doggy Eco

Doggy Eco makes affordable, durable eco-friendly dog toys and active dog gear that is sustainable! Doggy Eco was created to help pet owners to live their sustainability values by designing and manufacturing dog toys and accessories with the environment in mind. The company branched out and now also makes dog foods and treats!

  1. Savour Life

This local Australian family-owned business creates natural, nutritious, Australian-made dog food and treats! They also donate 50 per cent of profits to volunteer-run rescue groups who save and re-home abandoned dogs! Savour Life has donated to over 230 rescue groups across the country, working towards reducing the number of adoptable dogs euthanised in Australia to zero!

  1. Scratch

A love of dogs and a passion for making better food at a reasonable price were behind the venture, Scratch. Co-Founder, Doug, is ex-big pet food, and wanted to start a pet food business to change the status quo! The company envisioned a new breed of Australian-made dog food. One that’s good for dogs, better for the planet, and easier for pet owners.

Certificate of Pet Food Production

Learn all about the business of pet food, whether you want to start a pet food business, work in sales and consultancy or take better care of pets in your care! This course is ideal for those wishing to understand pet food manufacturing and the food and nutritional needs of pets.

What you’ll learn:

  • Principles in processing and manufacturing pet food, including techniques to optimise flavour, digestibility, and nutritional value.
  • Management systems for preventing and controlling contaminants in food preservation and storage, including specific risk management strategies.
  • Nutritional needs of dogs and specific diet formulation for dogs at different life stages.
  • Nutritional needs and specific diet formulation for cats at different life stages.
  • General nutritional needs for other small pets and examine relevant feeding schedules.
  • Control and testing of food-related toxins and define potential health implications of poisons or contaminants in foods.
  • Regulatory controls and legislation relevant to the production and selling of animal food.
  • Appropriate selection of food for a pet to respond to particular needs and demonstrate
  • Food labelling, including common acronyms and terminology, and describing ways of marketing products in a retail setting.

 

If you want to start a pet food business, the Certificate of Pet Food Production is ideal! If you have questions about any of our courses, contact one of our friendly Course Consultants via phone, Live Chat or email.

Dip Your Toe Into the Hydroponics Farming Sector

If you are passionate about sustainable food production, this hydroponics farming course is a refreshing career option! Hydroponics is a type of horticulture involving growing plants without soil, using water-based mineral nutrient solutions. Many crops grown in hydroponic systems yield more, grow faster, use less water and take up less space. What’s not to love?

Our Start a Hydroponics Business course will give you insights into how to start your own business providing services and products to hydroponic growers, from home garden hobbyists to commercial trade customers.

You will learn about the nature and scope of hydroponic systems, from plant nutrition requirements to vital equipment, nutrient solutions and climate control. You will also develop methods to maintain system and plant health, including controlling pests and diseases and managing system pH levels, toxicities and plant deficiencies.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a course on hydroponics farming include:

  • Learning about the advantages of hydroponics
  • Exploring six main types of hydroponics systems and their essential system components
  • Gaining an understanding of building a client/supplier list
  • Studying the International Society for Soilless Culture (ISOSC) and other hydroponic societies
  • Examining suppliers in Australia, the USA, the UK and Europe
  • Understanding location, containers and grow beds and watering/nutrient application equipment
  • Attaining knowledge of trellising and root media, solution culture
  • Gaining insights into Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) systems, a horizontal rectangular plane, vertical tubes and the tier system
  • Learning about DFT (deep flow technique) and pond, raft, float or raceway systems
  • Exploring aeroponics, aggregate or media culture and rockwool culture and properties
  • Gaining an understanding of historic, hobby and lesser-used systems
  • Studying the methods of solution dispensation, closed systems, open systems and drip irrigation systems
  • Examining sub-irrigation and ebb and flow systems and organic soil-less mixes
  • Understanding plant nutrition and nutrient labels
  • Attaining knowledge of plant growth factors and the structure of a plant
  • Learning about sand and gravel aggregates, materials for use with rockwool, materials for use with sawdust and aeroponics
  • Exploring nutrition management, nutrient solutions, nutrient formulations and nutrient stock solutions
  • Gaining an understanding of fertiliser salts for formulations, stages of growth and making up hydroponic stock solutions from fertiliser salts
  • Examining conductivity and hydroponics and how to adjust nutrient solutions using electrical conductivity measurements
  • Understanding climate management equipment, growing plants in a greenhouse and other growing structures
  • Understanding scale insects, leafhoppers, slugs, snails and flies
  • Attaining knowledge of common diseases, botrytis – grey mould, mildew diseases, rusts, rots, bacterial diseases, viruses and nematodes
  • Gaining insights into deficiencies, toxicity and pH control
  • Learning about nutrient deficiencies and toxicities, nutrient mobility and deficiencies and other modes of detection
  • Exploring controllers, salinity controllers, nutrients and pH and pH controllers
  • Gaining an understanding of how to troubleshoot systems
  • Studying EC (CF) & nutrient solution levels and EC and TDS meters
  • Examining how to maintain nutrient levels, nutrient solution management, nutrient temperatures and organic hydroponic nutrient solution problems
  • Understanding water in recirculating systems, water in run-to-waste systems and water treatments

And more!

Types of Hydroponic Systems

In hydroponics farming, there are different types of hydroponic systems, and each has its benefits. Some suit hobby farmers, while others are ideal for larger commercial hydroponic businesses. Factors to consider include light, space, cost and the time required for setup and maintenance. Here we look at six common systems and their pros and cons.

  1. Wicking System

One of the most straightforward hydronic systems and perfect for beginners, a wicking system doesn’t require a water or air pump. A water reservoir is set up underneath a growing tray filled with a non-soil medium. The two containers are connected with wicks, which can be anything that absorbs water like yarn, string or fabric. Water and nutrients are then drawn up into the plants. This setup should be in a sunny spot, and the water and nutrients should be topped up when required. It’s also essential to flush the growing medium with fresh water regularly to prevent the build-up of fertiliser.

  1. Deep Water Culture

In this system, the plant’s roots grow in a well-oxygenated reservoir full of nutrients and water. It’s a relatively simple setup, only requiring a deep reservoir, a pump, an air stone, and netted pots with a suitable growing media. It’s a fast-growing and low-maintenance system, however, managing temperature, nutrient, pH and water levels can be challenging. On the plus side, it’s an ideal technique for herbs, lettuce and other leafy greens.

  1. Flood and Drain System

Also known as the “ebb and flow” system, it is a little more challenging and expensive to set up, but it allows for a wide range of plants, including beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. The system works by intermittently pumping a water-nutrient solution through the growing medium. This then drains back into the reservoir. As the medium dries out, it forces the plants’ roots to grow in search of more water. And more roots mean more nutrients and healthier, happier plants! In addition to a growing tray and water reservoir, a timer, submersible pump and tubes to fill and drain the grow medium are needed. The most challenging part of this system is getting the timing of the “floods” right. Because water is recycled for over a week before being replaced, the PH and nutrient levels can vary.

  1. Run To Waste System

This is similar to the Flood and Drain System, with a timer and a submersible pump, but it differs because instead of recirculating the nutrients and water, they are drained off into a container or the ground and disposed of. This is another system that’s great for ideal for beginner hydroponic gardeners as absorbent growing mediums may assist if the pump fails.

  1. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) System

This system is ideal for growing fast-growing, shallow-rooted plants like spinach, radishes, leafy greens and herbs. Its biggest difference from the Flood and Drain System is that the water-nutrient solution flows around the reservoir and growing tray in a continuous loop rather than with timed breaks. No timer is needed, but it requires two pumps, an air stone to oxygenate the water, and tubes or channels for the plants. It is a great water-saving technique because no grow medium is required (the water flows over bare roots)

  1. Aeroponics systems

This is one of the more complicated hydroponics systems, so it suits more advanced gardeners. Like the NFT system, the plant roots are suspended in the air (the growing medium). However, unlike the NFT system, it uses a “misting” technique, where the root system is misted with a nutrient solution — continuously or on a specific cycle. It allows the roots constant access to oxygen which promotes faster growth.

Benefits of Hydroponic Systems

Hydroponics farming has many benefits. On a smaller scale, systems can be efficient and require minimal space. On an industrial scale, the benefits can be even more substantial. Hydroponic farming can:

  • Produce crops faster than soil-grown produce.
  • Make farming possible in urban areas.
  • Produce up to three or four times more produce than traditional methods (using the same or even less growing space).
  • Use fewer resources like water (up to 90 per cent less), fertiliser (up to 75 per cent less), pesticides and herbicides. This means fewer harmful pollutants are released into the atmosphere or the ground. Groundwater contamination, in particular, negatively impacts soil health, drinking water supply, and the health of nearby ecosystems.

Some Hydroponic Tricks of the Trade

  • The ideal air temperature for hydroponics is around 20C°.
  • Humidity levels should be between 40 and 60 per cent.
  • Keeping the air flowing with a fan or open window to increase carbon dioxide levels can help plants grow faster.
  • The best pH levels for most plants in hydroponics systems are slightly acidic (between 5.8 and 6.2). However, some plants may need a higher pH for optimum growth.
  • Plants should get at least six, but preferably between 12 and 16 hours of light (whether natural or artificial) daily.
  • If you choose to use artificial lights, set them at the correct distance from your plants. Different plants also have different light requirements depending on where they are in their life cycle. If a plant naturally flowers during summer, the hours of light need to be increased for blooming, and vice versa for winter flowering plants.

 

Gain the confidence to advise customers on hydroponics farming to help them successfully cultivate their home garden or business venture with our Start a Hydroponics Business course.

Work With Wildlife? Consider Management!

If you work with wildlife or in wildlife conservation, our Advanced Certificate of Wildlife Conservation & Management course will help you step up to an exciting management career! In this wildlife management course, you will learn about habitats, farming, urban planning, ecology and biology, and the recovery of threatened species.  You will also study law and administration, wildlife management techniques, and how to conduct a case study research project.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a course where you’ll learn how to work with wildlife include:

  • Learning about the concepts and need to work with wildlife and conservation
  • Exploring conservation values, biological diversity and threatening processes (ecology, ecosystem and biome)
  • Gaining an understanding of biodiversity indicators, genetic drift, habitat and life span, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation and loss
  • Studying the types of soil degradation, the types of erosion and marine degradation
  • Examining pollution, including land, air and water pollution
  • Understanding unsustainable harvesting/hunting, invasive species and climate change
  • Attaining knowledge of population isolation/conservation genetics
  • Gaining insights into disease – extinction and disease, density and disease and the impacts of disease control measures
  • Learning about the recovery of threatened species, the categories of risk, species vulnerability to endangerment, rarity and ability to disperse
  • Exploring the degree of specialisation, population variability, life span, reproductive rate, recovery of species, threat management, habitat conservation and critical habitat and protecting habitat
  • Gaining an understanding of research population growth, habitat use, conservation genetics, captive breeding, translocation, public involvement and terminology
  • Studying plant groups and plant identification (names and scientific names)
  • Examining vegetation, flora survey techniques and line surveys
  • Studying stock identity and assessment, stock biomass and stock management methods
  • Examining capture and mixed methods, non-capture methods and non-lethal whale research techniques
  • Understanding farm planning, planning farm activities, off-property effects, biological and climactic considerations, socioeconomic options, urban planning and urban management
  • Attaining knowledge of examples of information to be collected and analysed and decisions that need to be made
  • Gaining insights into managing threatened wildlife populations, recovering threatened species, manipulating populations, reintroducing species and the removal of predators/competitors
  • Learning about captive breeding, manipulating habitat, revegetation/restoration, exclusion fencing for threatened species, creating corridors and designing and planting a fire break
  • Exploring wildlife management, including the approaches and the purpose of preservation and conservation, the reasons for managing wildlife and decision-making in wildlife management
  • Gaining an understanding of decisions regarding wildlife populations, important concepts and considerations, the needs of wildlife, population limiting factors, good wildlife habitats and range, distribution and habitat
  • Studying carrying capacity, succession, habitat fragmentation, habitat diversity, biological control and integrated pest management
  • Examining wildlife ecology, including population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, interactions within a community, competition, predation, parasitism, commensalism and mutualism
  • Understanding the food web, the web of life, energy flow and imbalances
  • Attaining knowledge of wildlife habitats, the classification of habitats, habitat types, animals’ use of features within habitats and the location and characteristics of biomes and common wildlife
  • Gaining insights into nest boxes, logs, surface rocks and ground cover and creeks, wetlands and dams
  • Learning about the requirements of birds in captivity, habitat features used by birds, changes to habitats, air and water pollution, toxicants and deforestation and afforestation
  • Exploring population dynamics and pest management, birth or fecundity rate, death or mortality rate and population growth rate
  • Gaining an understanding of the control of pests or undesirable wildlife species, the objectives of control, the effects of control on a population, mortality manipulation and biological control
  • Studying mosquitoes, grasshoppers (locusts) and birds and mammals
  • Examining feral animals in Australia and the total eradication of foreign species in New Zealand

And more!

Top 10 Australian animals at risk of extinction

Australia is populated by plants and animals unlike anything else in the world (which is more than enough reason to work with wildlife!) But unfortunately, we also have an unenviable record of animal extinctions. Here are ten species currently at risk.

#1. Regent Honeyeater – Anthochaera phrygia

Status: Critically Endangered

You can find these birds in woodlands, eucalypt forests, orchards and urban gardens. They feed mainly on the nectar of a small number of eucalypt species and act as a pollinator for many flowering plants. Widespread clearance of their habitats and competition for nectar from larger, more aggressive honeyeaters have caused their numbers to decline dramatically over the past 30 years.

#2. Orange-bellied Parrot – Neophema chrysogaster

Status: Critically Endangered

Work with wildlife and you’ll understand the importance of wildlife conservation, especially with species classed as “Critically Endangered”. A small ground parrot, the Orange-bellied Parrot migrates to South Australia and coastal Victoria from Tasmania, where they spend autumn and winter foraging on salt marsh vegetation. The decline of this bird is influenced by habit loss and their breeding range.

#3. Eastern Curlew – Numenius madagascariensis

Status: Critically Endangered

The Eastern Curlew takes an extraordinary annual migratory flight to Russia and north-eastern China to breed, then fly back to Australia! You can spot them in coastal regions of southern northeastern Australia. Unfortunately, their numbers have declined by more than 80 per cent in the past 40 years due to habitat destruction.

#4. Numbat – Myrmecobius fasciatus

Status: Endangered

The Numbat is a small to medium-sized marsupial found in West Australia, South Australia and New South Wales. Numbats are hunted by many animals like foxes, feral cats, dingoes and birds of prey. Because their diet consists mainly of termites, they are active during the day, and at night, they hide in burrows or hollow logs.

#5. Gouldian Finch – Erythrura gouldiae

Status: Endangered

The impressive colour of this beautiful bird’s feathers has made them a target of the bird trade up until the early 1980s. However, currently the leading cause of their decline is changes in habitat due to fire and land clearing. But fire also plays a significant role in their survival. In the dry season, they rely on controlled fires to burn the undergrowth so they can find seeds. In the wet season, they look for lush new growth that provides plenty of seeds

#6. Mountain Pygmy-possum – Burramys parvus

Status: Endangered

These tiny possums have specific habitat needs that limit their distribution and affect their ability to increase their population significantly. They are only found in alpine and sub-alpine regions of southern Victoria and around Mt Kosciuszko in New South Wales. Every year, they go through a prolonged hibernation over winter of up to seven months and only emerge in early spring to mate. Unlike most other possum species, they are found close to the ground where they hunt for their primary food sources — Bogong moths and other invertebrates.

#7. Northern Quoll – Dasyurus hallucatus

Status: Endangered

You will find this spotted carnivorous marsupial in northern Australia, from Western Australia to southeast Queensland. They feed primarily on invertebrates and vertebrates such as birds, snakes, frogs, lizards and small mammals. In the wild, they only live for one to three years and are susceptible to fire, cane toad toxins and introduced predators like cats and foxes. Changes in habit, including habitat degradation through over-grazing and urban development, have also reduced numbers.

#8. Woylie – Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi

Status: Endangered

Also known as the Brush-tailed Bettong, this is an extremely rare, rabbit-sized marsupial. It has a largely fungivorous (mushroom) diet, so in the past, have played an essential role in the dispersal of fungal spores that helped native plants grow. Like many small Australian marsupials, their rapid decline is caused by the introduction of cats and foxes. Other factors include disease, changes in fire regimes, competition with rabbits for food, and grazing animals’ impact on land clearing.

#9. Black-flanked Rock Wallaby – Petrogale lateralis laterali

Status: Endangered

These wallabies are now endangered, although they were once found in abundance across parts of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. They are nocturnal, live in rugged, rocky areas and emerge at dusk to feed. Changes to fire patterns, clearing its habitat, and introducing wild cats and foxes have all threatened their existence. Today, they only survive in small, isolated populations.

#10. Purple-crowned Fairy Wren – Malurus coronatus coronatus

Status: Endangered

There are two subspecies of the Fairy Wren. The western subspecies are found in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They are known as “cooperative breeders”, meaning offspring from previous breeding seasons will remain with their parents and help raise subsequent broods. Fire regimes and current pastoral practices have been detrimental to their preferred habitat, leading to their decline.

 

Gain a strong understanding of wildlife conservation and crucial management strategies to work with wildlife with our Advanced Certificate of Wildlife Conservation & Management.

Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace

Stress significantly impacts our physical and mental health and wellbeing, and in the workplace, can impact both productivity and revenue. This course will give professionals, managers, executives and those interested in personal development valuable strategies for managing stress in the workplace.

Our Certificate of Stress Management will give you insights into the psychological, emotional and physiological aspects of stress to boost your self-awareness and help you develop techniques to reduce its impacts — in the workplace, but also in your personal life.

In this stress management course, you will learn to identify the physical and emotional signs of stress and implement lifestyle, relationship and career management strategies to minimise it. You will also learn how relaxation and nutrition can enhance wellbeing and reduce the impacts of stress.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by studying strategies for managing stress in the workplace include:

  • Learning about body changes
  • Exploring stressors
  • Gaining an understanding of the symptoms of stress
  • Studying fight or flight response
  • Examining health and wellbeing
  • Understanding stress and the immune system
  • Attaining knowledge of lifestyle and stress
  • Gaining insights into anxiety and stress
  • Learning about self-image
  • Exploring relaxation
  • Gaining an understanding of exercise and hobbies
  • Studying how to control stress
  • Examining acupressure
  • Understanding alcohol and other drugs
  • Attaining knowledge of self esteem
  • Gaining insights into stress and perfectionism
  • Learning about altering perceptions
  • Exploring the body and self esteem
  • Gaining an understanding of social support
  • Studying how to build self-esteem in others
  • Examining career management
  • Understanding work satisfaction
  • Attaining knowledge of standing out at work
  • Gaining insights into self-assurance
  • Learning about self-analysis
  • Exploring decision making
  • Gaining an understanding of strategic thinking
  • Studying nutrition
  • Examining balanced diets
  • Understanding healthy eating
  • Attaining knowledge of weight management
  • Gaining insights into anger management
  • Learning about personality and stress
  • Exploring personality types
  • Gaining an understanding of the ideal self
  • Studying personality traits
  • Examining genes and personality
  • Understanding personality disorders
  • Attaining knowledge of personality index
  • Gaining insights into personal inventory styles
  • Learning about introversion and extraversion

And more!

Workplace burnout statistics – Australia 2021

First, let’s clarify what the word “burnout” means. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is an “occupational phenomenon” that results from chronic workplace stress. WHO describes symptoms of burnout as “energy depletion and exhaustion, increased mental disturbance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism and cynicism related to one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy”.

As the effects of the pandemic wear on, workplace burnout rates continue to rise across Australia. And it has serious consequences for businesses as well as employees. Statistics gathered by the Australia and New Zealand Autonomy of Work Index 2021 found that “92% of serious mental health concerns in the Australian workplace are attributed to work-related stressors. Alongside the individual impact, these conditions cost businesses $10.9 billion per year”.

The report also found that fifty per cent of respondents said they were overworked (a key factor of burnout), with one in three saying they aren’t able to disconnect from work. The pandemic has also affected this second factor, with enforced remote work blurring the lines between home and work life.

The report also suggests that the pandemic has fast-tracked the digital workplace. Employees are now switching between multiple apps, multiple times a day. This constant shifting can lead to several issues, including impeding ability, disrupting focus and depleting concentration. 

Signs of workplace burnout

Career burnout can build up quite slowly over time, and the very nature of it can make it mentally and physically challenging to draw on the energy you need to address it. Signs of workplace burnout include:

  • Depletion – feeling drained, not sleeping well, lacking focus and energy and becoming sick.
  • Detachment – not enjoying work anymore, isolating yourself, feeling pessimistic and being critical and cranky with people around you.
  • Ineffectiveness – being less productive, missing a sense of satisfaction, feeling apathetic and becoming snowed under at work.

Common causes of burnout

Everybody’s experience of workplace burnout is different, but some of the common causes are:

  • Poor work-life balance
  • Lack of support
  • Mental health challenges
  • Feeling constantly overwhelmed by your workload
  • Expectations of working longer hours
  • Taking on more work than you can handle
  • Not taking breaks/leave when you need to

8 ways to reduce burnout

In terms of strategies for managing stress in the workplace, small steps can encourage positive changes without you feeling overwhelmed, including:

  1. Identifying the sources of burnout. Try to work out where your stress is coming from — make a list. Then identify one thing you can do to address pressure against one or more of the things on your list. A good tip is to start small and work your way up to more significant actions when you are comfortable.
  2. Asking for help. Keeping things to yourself can often make you feel worse and limit opportunities for recovery. Find a trusted friend, leader, manager or colleague (perhaps someone in HR?) and speak to them about what you’re experiencing. Sometimes just verbalising your worries and issues can make a world of difference. Management may also be able to explore options that can help — for example, taking on additional staff, instigating training options, or allowing you to work from home for some portion of your working week. You can also make use of employee assistance programs, such as those offered by the Employee Assistance Professional Association of Australia (EAPAA).
  3. Setting boundaries. Burnout can be overwhelming, so consciously setting boundaries and committing to saying no to any additional demands made of you can be a great start.
  4. Knowing your workplace rights and responsibilities. Both employees and employers have formal rights and responsibilities under privacy, discrimination, and work health and safety legislation. Understanding these can help you keep your workplace safe through knowing what your obligations are and recognising if your rights have been breached in any way.
  5. Switching off technology. We all need a break from work to de-stress and unwind. This is particularly the case with email use. None of us should be expected to receive and send work emails at all hours. Some tips around email use include:
  • Not adding your work emails to your personal mobile.
  • Don’t make checking work emails a habit or part of your routine outside of work.
  • Don’t let late-night emails become part of your work culture.
  • Try prioritising any actions if you have to check your emails during personal time.
  1. Finding healthy ways to cope with stress. Seeking out positive emotions with wellbeing activities can improve your overall mental resilience. Some to try include:
  • Finding a new hobby
  • Learning something new
  • Showing kindness
  • Connecting more with family or friends
  • Practising mindfulness
  • Embracing nature
  • Delaying any major life changes
  • Resolving personal conflicts
  • Managing your work-life balance
  • Trying relaxation techniques
  1. Taking care of your health. One of the important strategies for managing stress in the workplace is eating, sleeping and increasing your physical activity. Physical exercise stimulates the release of chemicals in our brains, such as serotonin and endorphins, which elevate our mood. Exercise also improves sleep which plays a crucial role in boosting mood. Your diet can also affect your mood. Research has shown that mental health is improved when people embrace a healthy diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, fish, legumes and olive oil.
  2. Understanding you’re not in it alone. Burnout can be extremely overwhelming; however, there are lots of external support services available, including from BeyondBlue and Head to Health.

 

Gain a comprehensive understanding of how to identify and minimise stress in your professional life by learning about strategies for managing stress in the workplace with our Certificate of Stress Management.

Project Manager Qualities in High Demand!

Project manager qualities are needed in a wide range of industries — from healthcare and events to construction and the scientific and IT sectors. And many of these sectors are set to boom! Our Introduction to Project Management course will give you valuable insights into how to plan, manage and review projects. You will learn about feasibility, risk management, project lifecycles, delegation, expense planning and PERT and Gantt charts.

You will also learn about evaluating, monitoring and regulating projects, and developing leadership, technical and personnel project management skills.

Learning outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a course on project management, including gaining project manager qualities, include:

  • Learning about the terms “project”, “management” and “project management”
  • Exploring the power of and need for project management
  • Gaining an understanding of typical projects and the project life cycle
  • Gaining an understanding feasibility checklists, the identification test and the types of risks
  • Studying budgets, project schedules and staffing
  • Examining resources, project size and external factors
  • Understanding risk management and project documentation
  • Attaining knowledge of project planning, parameters, quality and time
  • Gaining insights into developing a strategy framework and a work breakdown structure (WBS)
  • Learning about work-based schedule components
  • Exploring the Gantt chart and the PERT chart
  • Gaining an understanding of planning expenses and delegating responsibilities
  • Studying project implementation and launch
  • Examining how to control progress and apply standards
  • Understanding project launch and implementation
  • Attaining knowledge of controlling progress and applying standards
  • Gaining insights into preparation, events and budget control charts
  • Learning about monitoring and evaluating performance
  • Exploring regulating progress and dealing with conflict
  • Gaining an understanding of projection completion and evaluation
  • Studying what’s involved at the completion stage
  • Examining contract closure and the release or reassignment of resources
  • Understanding the completion of final and necessary documentation
  • Attaining knowledge of a project’s sustainability
  • Gaining insights into project evaluation and appraisal and its benefits
  • Learning about why projects succeed and fail
  • Exploring technical project management skills
  • Learning about communication and visibility
  • Exploring leadership skills, characteristics and responsibilities
  • Gaining an understanding of conflict and how to deal with and resolve it
  • Studying sociodynamics
  • Examining people with extra strong/domineering synergy but some antagonism,
  • Understanding people with strong synergy and no antagonism
  • Attaining knowledge of people with equal amounts of synergy and antagonism
  • Gaining insights into people with both minimal synergy and minimal antagonism
  • Learning about people with antagonism that is stronger than synergy
  • Exploring people with strong antagonism and weak synergy (mutineers)
  • Gaining an understanding of behavioural changes
  • Studying common project problems and difficulties that can arise
  • Examining scheduling not being maintained, ill-defined start dates and insufficient time
  • Understanding when priorities and deadlines need to change
  • Learning about change management and change management models
  • Exploring Kotter’s 8-step change model, the McKinsey 7’s model and the ADKAR model

And more!

Future job growth for project managers

It has been a tough few years for many businesses due to COVID, however, spending across key industries is set to boost project-orientated employment growth, according to a 2021 article by PM-Partners. Here we look at some of the industries and roles tipped to open up opportunities for those with project manager qualities.

Sectors that have dealt with the COVID pandemic better than others are those that were on a strong growth trajectory already and those defined as “essential” industries. Three key areas where job growth and demand for skilled workers is expected to grow significantly over the next five to ten years include:

  • Healthcare and social assistance
  • Scientific, professional and technical services
  • Construction and infrastructure

These industries offer a multitude of project management positions, and many are interchangeable across sectors.

Healthcare and social assistance

Employing more than two million people, this is one of Australia’s largest and fastest-growing industries. COVID has highlighted the need for enhanced healthcare systems, so there is an abundance of project management roles available supporting health infrastructure and health and social services. Many of these involve stakeholder relationships, and conflict management and communication skills are particularly valued in this sector.

Scientific, professional and technical services

There are over one million Australian workers in scientific, professional and technical services roles in Australia, and many of these support other industries. The Information and Communications Technology sector, in particular, is continuing to grow rapidly. Examples of project-management-based ICT roles include as an ICT Manager or ICT Project Manager. Both typically plan, direct and control ICT projects. According to the Australian Government’s Labour Market Insights, the future growth of ICT managers’ jobs is expected to be over 17.7 per cent by 2026.

Infrastructure and construction

In Australia, the construction industry currently employs over one million people and is a major source of project management roles. Enhanced by government spending, there is a strong pipeline of construction and infrastructure projects scheduled over the next decade. The construction sector is also set to boom in Brisbane ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

Along with a formal qualification in building or construction management and trade experience, complementary workplace health and safety (WHS) risk management skills are also in high demand.

Five valuable project manager skills

The role of a project manager demands a varied and vast skill set. This is especially true in today’s rapidly changing world as organisations continue to transform their businesses to remain competitive and adopt new technologies.

Here are the top five project manager qualities that project managers should aim for, according to the global recruitment and HR company Hays.

  1. A strategic mindset

One of the primary roles of a project manager is to lead from an operational and strategic perspective. This includes understanding project objectives and how they align with the overall business strategy, and communicating the objectives and vision to the team involved. A great PM will also resolve conflict, evaluate team performance, and empower the team to aim for the most successful project possible.

  1. Stakeholder engagement

Most projects involve engaging with key stakeholders who are interested in or can influence a project. That’s why a project manager must understand who will be affected by the project, as it will allow them to plan engagement and communication strategies to limit any issues and gain the support of any stakeholders who are advocates. “Soft” skills can be valuable here, including negotiation, communication and conflict resolution skills.

  1. Risk management

Managing business risk is an essential skill to ensure any project’s success. Project managers need to be able to develop a risk management plan to foresee potential threats and how they will be handled so that they can be quickly mitigated and issues that arise can be avoided. By effectively mitigating risk, unforeseen risks can be avoided, undue costs minimised, and the project can be delivered more effectively and efficiently.

  1. A mentoring mentality

Continuous up-skilling and “lifelong learning” are highly valued in the evolving world of work (and life!). In terms of project manager qualities, this can involve sharing your expertise, knowledge and experience to support team growth. Taking on this responsibility can enhance your team’s personal development and encourage them to be more engaged and motivated, which can deliver enhanced outcomes.

Additionally, PMs who can recognise their role as a mentor and demonstrate their willingness to commit to their team’s personal development will ensure individuals are motivated to contribute their expertise and skills to build a strong and cohesive unit.

  1. Knowledge of agile principles

“Agile” project management is more a set of principles than one particular methodology, according to the Australian Institute of Project Management. It is an umbrella term used for many methodologies and techniques, including Lean and Six Sigma (for manufacturing and product development) and Scrum, Kanban and Extreme Programming (for IT projects).

Benefits for teams using agile principles can be particularly beneficial for teams that do work based on client requirements, want to leverage user feedback, and have a dynamic and ever-evolving environment. Results include high product quality, reduced project risk, and a more collaborative and efficient workplace.

Gain insights into project manager qualities and the foundational knowledge to manage projects successfully with our Introduction to Project Management course.

Support Growth with Change Management Training

Change is a fact of life. In business, it can involve introducing new products, technologies or processes, or restructuring teams or even an entire organisation. Change management training can help leaders and managers successfully facilitate the change process from conception to implementation, and overcome conflict and resistance to achieve organisational goals.

In our Certificate of Change Management, you will explore the principles of organisational change, the different types of change models and techniques, and the internal and external forces contributing to change within organisations. You will also learn about the role of leadership in managing change and the management tools and techniques required throughout the change cycle.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a course in change management training include:

  • Learning about new opportunities, large and small changes and incremental and transformational change
  • Exploring the problems with change programs and what not to do when instigating change
  • Gaining an understanding of introducing change, potential changes and how to analyse change conditions
  • Studying opportunities and threats, creativity, continuous improvement and how to make change work
  • Examining change and innovation, staff incentives and training and technical and product innovation
  • Understanding innovation traps and pitfalls, barriers to innovation, poor leadership and lack of resources
  • Attaining knowledge of change leadership, change-focused cultures, and initiating and implementing change
  • Gaining insights into forecasting, risk management, the benefits of change and how to encourage contribution
  • Learning about stress and change, monitoring and evaluation and feedback
  • Exploring how to lead and manage organisational change
  • Gaining an understanding of strategic change needs, goals and objectives, innovation and reviewing practices and policies
  • Studying risk management, how to assess proposed changes, costs and benefits and change management strategies
  • Examining change leaders, sponsors and orchestrators and the stages of change
  • Understanding Beer’s Change Model, Nadler and Tushman’s Change Model and Kubler-Ross – The Change Curve
  • Attaining knowledge of facilitating the change process, strategies for communicating change to different groups, and employing strategies to make change easier and reduce discomfort
  • Gaining insights into how to reinforce skills and leverage performance management methods and make change last
  • Learning how to use appropriate strategies to sustain planned change, make change more comfortable, training and facilitating change and knowing what and how to communicate
  • Exploring how to institutionalise change, prepare for change, and interpret change plans
  • Gaining an understanding of change policies and procedures, types of change and how to manage change
  • Studying the types of teams, how to involve team members, and the barriers to change
  • Examining active and passive listening and successful communication and leadership versus management
  • Understanding change agents, ideas champions, orchestrators and positive role models
  • Attaining knowledge of the personal qualities of managers and leaders, change leadership capabilities and change implementation
  • Gaining insights into Deming’s PDCA cycle model
  • Learning about how to consult with stakeholders, reward change behaviours and give constructive feedback
  • Exploring how to lead the change process, the types of organisational change, the key factors for managing change and SWOT analysis
  • Gaining an understanding of opportunities, threats, risks and barriers
  • Studying how to review feedback, communicate change and active and passive listening
  • Examining Gantt charts and how to implement and embed change
  • Understanding the Lewin, Kotter and ADKAR model, and Deming’s PDCA cycle model
  • Attaining knowledge of change outcomes and how to evaluate outcomes

 

And more!

Five popular change management models

When an organisation experiences change, there are typically several operational aspects to consider, including training, resources and employee relations. Exploring change management models as part of change management training can help you identify an appropriate management approach. Some of the widely-used change management models include:

  1. McKinsey 7S Framework Model

This change management model focuses on an organisation’s structure and emphasises the importance of shared values between teams to ensure successful change. Stages include:

  • The first stage in this model is developing a change strategy. It incorporates the visions and goals for the other six stages.
  • Structure. This stage refers to the flow of information during the change process. It ensures communication flows in a clear direction, ensuring employers understand and are held accountable for their responsibilities.
  • The systems stage involves the planning and implementation of new procedures that are required for successful change. They represent the daily activities employees conduct to maintain the operation.
  • Shared values. The McKinsey change management model emphasises shared values in an organisation, including among managers, employees and different teams or departments. It focuses on identifying and communicating shared values to ensure collaboration and teamwork during the change process.
  • Skill This stage focuses on current employee skills and any potential skills gaps that change might create. In this stage, an organisation may develop training programs that ensure employees have the skills to adapt.
  • For an organisation to change effectively, it generally requires excellent management and leadership. This stage refers to the techniques an organisation may adopt to ensure a successful change process.
  • The seventh stage considers the organisation’s workforce, including its current training, skills, rewards and benefits. Because employees are often one of the significant aspects of an organisation that experience the effects of change, managing them adequately and appropriately is a top priority.

  1. ADKAR Change Management Model

Another model you’ll learn about in change management training is the ADKAR model. ADKAR stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement. This five-stage change model supports employees as individuals rather than the structures or strategies of the entire organisation.

  • The awareness stage involves communicating the change to employees to ensure they are aware of it. The purpose of this stage is not just to ensure they are aware of the change but to ensure they are aware of why the change is happening.
  • When employees desire to adapt to change, they typically have the commitment and motivation to adapt, which can be one of the most crucial elements of a successful change process. Motivating individuals can usually be achieved by outlining how they can benefit from change.
  • After employees understand the need for change and its benefits, they usually require the knowledge to adapt to new procedures and processes. This stage aims to provide employees with training, education and development to ensure they can adapt effectively.
  • This change management model’s fourth stage refers to the ability to apply knowledge. It provides them with opportunities to practise their newly gained knowledge.
  • Reinforcement The final stage is reinforcing change to ensure employees maintain their commitment and motivation. This is usually through constructive feedback, positive reinforcement, rewards, appreciation, and accountability methods.

  1. Kübler-Ross Five Stage Change Management Model

This model is based on the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist who developed a theory of the five stages of grief, known as the Kübler-Ross model. This is a unique change management model because it focuses on employee emotions. It is not necessarily a strategy but rather a guide to understanding how some employees might feel when experiencing change. The five stages are:

  • Denial. This may be the first emotion employees feel, and regarding organisational change, it usually refers to a reluctance to accept change.
  • Anger. After accepting that change is unavoidable, some employees may experience anger and express it through different channels.
  • Some employees may then attempt to bargain for a better situation or solution. This doesn’t necessarily involve negative emotions, but can involve resistance to change that can hinder the process.
  • Depression. Some employees may have feelings of depression when experiencing change. They may also lack a sense of purpose and commitment and have low energy.
  • Acceptance. In this final stage, once employees have understood that change is inevitable, they will become more accepting.

  1. Kotter’s 8-Step Change Management Model

As you’ll learn in change management training, this model is often a popular choice. It focuses mainly on preparing employees for change and communicating the change process. It involves:

  • Creating urgency. This can motivate employees, outline the importance of change and foster commitment in the workplace.
  • Forming a powerful coalition. This typically refers to identifying the leaders in an organisation who can implement change and inspire employees to adapt.
  • Creating a vision forThis can help employees identify their long-term goals and expectations of the change.
  • Communicating the vision. This is where a leadership team is formed that communicates the vision, ensuring employees understand the reason for the change.
  • Removing obstacles. Once employees understand the reason for change and the actionable steps, this is the stage where potential challenges are identified and solutions are sought.
  • Creating short-term wins. This can help employees succeed and allow an organisation to monitor progress.
  • Building on the change. During the change process, employee commitment and motivation can be maintained by rewarding them and recognising their continued contributions to the organisation.
  • Anchoring the changes in corporate culture. This involves continuous efforts to ensure the change is seen in every aspect of the organisation.

  1. Lewin’s Change Management Model

This change management model incorporates three primary stages. Similar to the McKinsey model, it focuses on the change from an organisational and structural perspective. The three stages are:

  • This is the preparation phase of the model, and it aims to minimise employee resistance. It involves communicating to employees why the change is important, how it can benefit them and their role in the process.
  • In this stage, the leadership team will then work towards implementing the changes. It usually involves continuous communication with employees and a regular review of the progress of the process.
  • In this final stage, leaders typically reward employees and show gratitude to ensure their continuous contribution and commitment to the change process.

 

Feel confident to lead change and implement successful strategies in an organisation with change management training, such as our Certificate of Change Management.

25 Amazing Facts About the Human Body

The human body is a complex structure of vital organs and interconnected systems that work hard daily to fulfil the functions necessary for everyday living. Here are twenty-five amazing facts about some of those systems that will offer plenty of inspiration for our human anatomy and physiology course!

The respiratory system

  1. Did you know that our lungs float on water? In fact, they are the only organs that do. This is because they contain millions of balloon-like structures called alveoli.
  2. The human nose is a heater (it has small bone-like “shelves” called turbinates which contain blood vessels that can heat the air), a humidifier (it has “goblet” cells that help humidify the air), and a filter (the air we breathe is filtered before it goes to our lungs).
  3. Sneezing and coughing is one of the body’s natural mechanisms to help keep away foreign substances.
  4. Even with optimal health, our lungs are never sterile or germ-free.

The digestive system

  1. Whenever we eat something, our esophagus acts like a giant wave, involuntarily relaxing and constricting. This is known as peristalsis.
  2. The middle part of our intestine is called the jejunum. It is located between the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) and the ileum (the last part of the small intestine).
  3. There is a bond between our brains and digestive systems, known as the gut-brain axis. Any brain disorders or even stress can affect how our bodies digest food.
  4. Hiccups often occur when the temperature changes.

The nervous system

  1. The brain uses more energy than the rest of our organs, with only 20 per cent of energy reserved for the rest of the body.
  2. Our brains keep working hard even when we are asleep.
  3. Because new neuronal connections are constantly occurring and the brain’s structure is constantly changing, the density of our brains keeps increasing.
  4. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body, and it runs from the spinal cord down to our toes.

The skeletal system

  1. Bones may present as hard substances, but are filled with a spongy substance called bone marrow.
  2. The smallest bones in the body are in our inner ear. They are called the incus (anvil), the malleus (hammer) and the stapes (stirrup). They are known collectively as the ossicles (Latin for “tiny bones”).
  3. The longest and strongest bone in the body is in the leg and is called the femur (thighbone).
  4. Bones can heal themselves by producing new cells — that’s why broken bones are often placed in a cast.
  5. The biggest joint in the body is the knee.

The reproductive system

  1. The human reproductive system contains the smallest and the largest human cells.
  2. A man produces more than 500 billion sperm cells in his entire lifetime.
  3. Some women are born with a rare congenital condition where they have two uteruses. It is known as uterus didelphys.

The muscular system

  1. The human body contains more than 600 muscles.
  2. The largest muscle in the body is the gluteus maximus, which is the primary extensor muscle of the hip.
  3. The body’s smallest muscle is inside the inner ear, and connects the inner ear and the eardrum.
  4. More than forty per cent of your body weight is made up of muscles.
  5. The heart is the hardest working muscle in the body, typically pumping over 7000 litres of blood daily.

A brief history of anatomy

The history of human anatomy and physiology extends from the earliest examinations of sacrificial victims to the sophisticated analyses of the body that modern-day scientists and anatomists have performed. And we are still learning!

Written descriptions of parts of the human body can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian papyri, where highly elaborate burial practices required much attention to detail.

Theoretical considerations of the function and structure of the human body didn’t develop until far later. Ancient Greek doctors like Hippocrates and philosophers like Empedocles and Alcmaeon paid much more attention to the causes of disease and the body’s different functions.

Aristotle performed dissections on animals to understand the causes of biological forms. Dissection of human beings took place for the first time during the Hellenistic Age with the work of Erasistratus and Herophilos. Galen also made important anatomical discoveries through his dissections and medical practice.

The Renaissance brought a reconsideration of classical medical texts, and Jacques Dubois, Berengario da Carpi and Mondino de Luzzi carried out important anatomical work in this period. This culminated in the books by Andreas Vesalius (De Humani Corporis Fabrica), which is Latin for “on the fabric of the human body in seven books”. It was a significant advance in the history of anatomy and has been an integral part of medical practice ever since.

 

Gain a strong foundation in human anatomy with a course in human anatomy and physiology such as our Certificate of Human Anatomy.

How to Write a Research Report with Confidence!

Learn how to write … right! Whether you are a student or business professional, report writing will often form part of your study or working life. This course will teach you how to write a research report, including confidently navigating the area of professional research.

In our Professional Research and Report Writing course, you will learn to plan and conduct research for any industry and discipline, and discover how research can improve your student results or the performance and sustainability of your organisation. You will also learn about statistics, research methods, and the fundamentals of research report writing.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a course on how to write a research report include:

  • Learning how to identify research needs, the research goal and the research question
  • Exploring sources of information, what information is required and the depth and breadth of data
  • Gaining an understanding of realistic research parameters and constraining factors
  • Studying how to write a report and examining the introduction, method, results, references, glossary and appendices
  • Exploring how to search for information and the kinds of exploratory research
  • Gaining an understanding of primary and secondary data research
  • Studying literature reviews and the steps of a literature review
  • Examining referencing
  • Understanding research methods, key research terms and methodology
  • Attaining knowledge of experimentation, controlled environments and field trials
  • Gaining insights into the collection and analysis of data
  • Learning about running a crop trial and setting up a comparison trial
  • Exploring records and recording and interviewing skills
  • Gaining an understanding of asking questions, the different types of questions and ways of handling difficult questions
  • Studying the definition of statistics and official statistics and why they’re important
  • Examining the reasons and advantages for using statistics
  • Understanding that statistics are about our previous experience and are useful guides and motivators
  • Attaining knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of statistics and what issues to consider
  • Gaining insights into descriptive statistics, observed and expected rates and confidence intervals
  • Learning about standardising (by age), the reliability of statistics and presenting statistics
  • Exploring pie charts, bar charts and histograms
  • Gaining an understanding of descriptive statistics and the standard error of the mean
  • Studying standard deviation, the coefficient of variation and probability
  • Examining how to conduct statistical research, collect quantitative data and conduct a survey
  • Understanding exploratory research attitudes and the procedure to develop a survey
  • Attaining knowledge of forms of data, designing a questionnaire and common mistakes in questionnaires
  • Gaining insights into research reports, report writing tips and the structure of a report
  • Learning about front matter, the body of a report, the introduction, background, method and results
  • Exploring discussion, references, glossary and appendices
  • Gaining an understanding of the report outline, research papers and referencing

And more!

Tips on how to write a research report

Report writing is common in a vast range of disciplines and professions. Reports are a specific form of writing typically organised around identifying and examining events, issues or findings from research. They often involve investigating and analysing a problem and coming up with a solution that follows clear reasoning.

Regardless of the type of report, it should be clearly structured, well-written and targeted at the right audience. Analysis and results should be clear, accurate and objective, and the structure should support the key message.

However, how to write a research report can vary greatly depending on who you are writing for and the purpose of the report. For example, writing a government report can be different from writing a formal business report. Student reports can differ again (including between learning institutions), but here is a basic guide.

There are typically three main phases in reporting writing: preparation, analysis and writing.

Preparation phase

This is where you clarify precisely what is required in terms of the end result, and it could range from analysing something to solving a problem. If you are working in a group, this phase is also where you agree on the group’s communication plan.

Analysis phase

This phase is where you conduct research, gather evidence and data, and come up with your key message — the answer to a question or a solution to the problem. Your key message will then determine your report’s structure, enabling you to complete the writing phase. Reports often require you to combine your own analysis and gather research from existing sources. Some examples of sources used in reports can include:

  • Books or chapters in a book
  • Journal articles
  • Government reports
  • Newspaper articles
  • Websites

Writing phase

Determining how you’ll structure your report will make the writing phase smoother and more efficient. Once this has been determined, it’s time to get going! Key points to focus on include:

  • Setting up your key message in the introduction.
  • Developing your key message through your sections and topic sentences.
  • Supporting your ideas with evidence.
  • Summarising your findings in concluding sentences and in your conclusion.

This phase also involves considering your report’s structure. Common sections include:

  • Title page. This includes the report title, the report writer’s name, the receiver’s name and the date.
  • Table of contents.
  • Executive summary. This briefly outlines the purpose, key message, findings, conclusions and recommendations.
  • Introduction. This gives the report’s aim, scope and background and may include a suggested solution.
  • Main body. This section details your findings and analysis and needs to develop the material logically, clearly and coherently. Your findings should justify your recommendations. Subheadings can make this section easier for the reader to follow, and the structure should reflect what is outlined in your introduction.
  • This is a summary of your main findings and conclusions based on these findings. It should outline the key findings and state the recommendations from your analysis. Recommendations also often form part of the conclusion.
  • These provide details of any external evidence that’s been cited, and the style you use depends on a range of factors. Some examples of university referencing styles are covered below.
  • These include any information (like charts, tables, graphs or other data) that you’ve referred to in your report, but not included in the main body.

The “main body” section is your report’s primary element

The body can be lengthy, it’s important to break it up into manageable “pieces” for the reader. These can include:

  • Sections
  • Sub-sections
  • Points – break each section and sub-section into points
  • Paragraphs – these are points that are the building blocks of your report and should contain one main idea. Each should develop the idea in three parts:
  1. Topic sentences. This is typically the first sentence in a paragraph. It should indicate your position and be clear, as it will give insights into what the reader should expect next.
  2. Supporting sentences. These support and develop the main idea. Each should connect to the others to create a logical flow. This is where you incorporate your analysis and research and support it with evidence (and make sure it is referenced!)
  3. Concluding and linking sentences. This final sentence should summarise the idea you introduced in the topic sentence. It can also lead to the next paragraph by developing a logical link to the next main idea.

Common referencing styles

In terms of how to write a research report, referencing is a vital component as it allows you to acknowledge the contribution of other writers in your report, give credit to writers from whom you have borrowed ideas and words, and ultimately, avoid plagiarism! Some common styles used by universities include:

  • American Chemical Society (ACS). Widely used in chemistry and related disciplines.
  • Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC). The standard Australian guide for referencing in law.
  • Academy of Management Journal style (AMJ). Based on the style guide for the Academy of Management journal.
  • American Psychological Association (APA). The standard style used in psychology but also widely used in other disciplines, including the social sciences.
  • Chicago Manual of Style. This footnote referencing system is widely used in the arts and humanities.
  • Council of Science Editors (CSE). Widely used in the life sciences.
  • Not an official referencing style; however, many universities base this on other referencing style manuals.
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Widely used in the fields of computer science and electrical engineering.
  • Modern Language Association of America (MLA). Widely used in the fields of linguistics and contemporary literature.
  • A generic term for a style of referencing widely used in the health sciences.

 

Gain a comprehensive understanding of how to research and write reports for professional or academic success with a course on how to write a research report, such as our Professional Research and Report Writing.

 

Go Green With a Self-Sustainable Living Course

Tired of blind consumerism? Want to do your part to enhance the planet for future generations? Then this Self-sufficiency and Sustainability course is for you! When you learn how to embrace self-sustainable living, you will not only reduce your environmental footprint, you will live a healthier lifestyle and save money at the same time. It’s a win-win-win!

In this course, you will study how to source sustainable products and services and even start your own sustainable business. You will also learn how to plan a food garden, create cost-effective meals using your own produce, rear animals, create your own clothes from sustainable materials … and so much more!

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a course on self-sustainable living include:

  • Learning about self-sufficiency in terms of modern society
  • Exploring the meaning and concept of self-sufficiency
  • Gaining an understanding of what’s needed to make a successful change
  • Studying how to sustain good health and fitness and aerobic and anaerobic exercise
  • Examining mental health, clothing and human nutrition, including the major food groups
  • Understanding safety with fabrics and protective clothing, including gloves, eyewear, ear protection and face masks
  • Attaining knowledge of full body protective clothing, knee protection, footwear, sunscreen and a good hat
  • Gaining insights into the general care and hygiene of everyday clothing, including brushing and airing, sensible storage and mending and cleaning
  • Learning about first aid, including falls, bleeding or haemorrhage, bruises, foreign bodies, wounds, burns, bites, stings and spinal injuries
  • Exploring horticulture, including planning the crop, cropping programs and crop rotation
  • Gaining an understanding of soils, no-dig techniques, no-dig raised beds and building no-dig bed retainers
  • Studying how to grow mushrooms and tomatoes (growing conditions, nutrient requirements and planting)
  • Attaining knowledge of herbs, including medicinal, culinary, aromatic and ornamental herbs
  • Understanding the cultivation of herbs including soils, protection, pruning, harvesting, drying, handling and cooking
  • Attaining knowledge of herb vinegars, oils, cheeses, salts, honey, biscuits, confectionery, mustards, teas and baths
  • Gaining insights into companion planting, repellant plants, attractant plants and plants which affect the soil
  • Learning about bait, companion, soil-improving and poisonous plants
  • Exploring herbal pest management, propagating herbs and seeds and cuttings
  • Gaining an understanding of the mints
  • Studying animal husbandry, including shortcuts in animal rearing

Plus!

  • Gaining an understanding of building
  • Studying how to make mud bricks and the soil used for mud bricks
  • Examining brick size, mixing the mode, casting the bricks and foundations
  • Understanding how to lay mud bricks, wall finishes, tools and the difference between paint, stain and sealer
  • Attaining knowledge of alternative energy, using renewable energy sources and the realities of solar energy
  • Gaining insights into wind power, wind speed conversions, solar house design and solar design principles
  • Learning about energy conservation, wood as fuel, wood treated with preservatives and selecting, drying and storing firewood
  • Exploring how to build and light a fire, safety issues, the environmental aspects of using wood as fuel and firewood plantations
  • Gaining an understanding of choosing a wood burning appliance, installation and wood heating appliance use
  • Studying cresote formation and flue fires, care and maintenance and chimney fires
  • Examining craft and country skills, including marketing crafts, setting a price and protecting your designs
  • Understanding painting, including oil, watercolour, acrylic and fabric painting
  • Attaining knowledge of candle making, enamelling and herb crafts
  • Gaining insights into rustic timber furniture structures, what timber to use and how to join timber
  • Learning how to clean and sharpen tools
  • Exploring secateurs, shovels, spades, saws, chainsaws and their maintenance
  • Gaining an understanding of preparing for emergencies, being prepared for fire, maintaining fire hazards around the garden and maintenance for fire control
  • Studying home tourism, opening a bed and breakfast, open gardens, wedding photos, food and how to earn extra income by growing food
  • Examining subsistence crops, growing for a market and alternative crops
  • Understanding nursery production, open ground growing, tropical indoor plants and ferns, trees and shrubs and cut flowers

And more!

Top tips for self-sustainable living

Self-sufficient living is achievable in varying forms for everyone. But even if you aren’t aiming to become fully self-sufficient, there are ways you can add a little more self-sufficiency into your routine with just a few tweaks.

In the garden

  • Growing your own food
  • Keeping chickens
  • Creating a water-wise garden
  • Using plants to remove toxins
  • Mulching your plants and learn to compost
  • Growing an indigenous garden

In the home

Food and drink

  • Eating organic food
  • Eating less meat
  • Buying local and seasonal food
  • Avoiding genetically modified (GM) foods
  • Avoiding bottled water
  • Reducing dairy in your diet
  • Avoiding eating endangered fish
  • Adopting a vegetarian diet
  • Eating seasonally

Products

  • Buying recycled products
  • Buying wood and paper responsibly
  • Using renewable products
  • Buying from local suppliers
  • Wearing sustainable clothes
  • Using non-toxic cleaners
  • Using natural beauty products
  • Buying fair-trade food and products
  • Buying second-hand goods
  • Avoiding excessive packaging

Waste

  • Recycling technical wate
  • Cultivating waste reduction habits
  • Culling your belongings
  • Recycling organic and building waste

Work

  • Saving paper and buying green office products
  • Ride-sharing with colleagues
  • Recycling office waste
  • Powering-down your computer when it’s not in use

Transport

  • Using public transport
  • Reducing air travel
  • Riding a bike
  • Buying an energy-efficient car

The world’s most eco-friendly countries

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) measures the environmental performance of 180 countries, and the top-ranked countries are generally the ones that are closest to meeting their environmental policy goals. Here were the most sustainable countries in 2021 (which we assume have many inhabitants who embrace self-sustainable living)!

#1 – Denmark

With an EPI score of 82.5, Denmark has one of the lowest carbon dioxide growth rates as well as a high ranking for wastewater treatment, sanitation and marine protected areas. One of Denmark’s islands, Samso, is also one of the few places in the world that relies entirely on renewable energy like wind, solar and biomass energy.

#2 – Luxembourg

Luxembourg has an EPI score of 82.3. One of the goals the country has set is to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by a million tons in comparison to 2021. They are also aiming to reduce the sales of petrol.

#3 – Switzerland

Consistently ranking in the top five environmentally-friendly countries, one of Switzerland’s green claims to fame is that it doesn’t have landfill. Instead, all rubbish is incinerated with a minimal amount of air pollution. The country also has an industrial-scale carbon-capture plant that removes over 900 tons of carbon dioxide from the air annually.

#4 – United Kingdom

The UK is high on the list of environmentally-friendly countries due to its second lowest carbon dioxide growth rates. On the EPI index, they were also number one in terms of marine protected areas and clean drinking water. In 2020, the UK also banned single-use plastic stirrers, plastic straws and cotton buds from the country.

#5 – France

It is not surprising that the country where the Paris Climate Agreement was drafted is one of the most eco-friendly nations in the world. The country also has a law that any new buildings built in commercial zones must have their roofs partially covered with solar panels or plants.

#6 – Austria

Austria is one of the top countries in terms of producing organic food. In fact, over 20 per cent of Austria’s farmlands follow the environmental standards of organic farming. The country also hopes to reach climate neutrality (which refers to the emission and mitigation of all greenhouse gases, not just carbon) by 2040.

#7 – Finland

Finland’s air is one of the cleanest in the world according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In addition to this, Finland has been reaching the point where its renewable energy is surpassing their use of fossil fuels. This mirrors a commitment by businesses to reach 50 per cent renewable energy consumption by 2030.

#8 – Sweden

In terms of sustainability, Sweden consistently ranks in the top ten, with a large number of the population purchasing eco-friendly food and consumer products. The nation also hopes to become the first fossil-free country in the world by 2050.

#9 -Norway

The number of plug-in electric vehicles in Norway is the largest per capita in the world. In March 2022, 23 per cent of passenger cars on the road were plug-in. In recent years, the country’s electricity production has also become 97 per cent renewable. It hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the year.

#10 – Germany

Germany has set a goal to close their last remaining power plant this year, and instead, power their country completely through renewables, conservation and gas. Many Germans are also embracing a vegan diet, hoping to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Embrace sustainable environmental practices and self-sustainable living with our self-sufficiency and sustainability course.

Picture Your New Career with Short Photography Courses!

Learn how to harness the power of digital images and create flawless photographs — whether it’s for personal use or to start your own business — with our Introduction to Digital Photography

In short photography courses like ours, you will learn about photographic composition, computer specifications, and the factors impacting digital imaging. You will also learn about digital editing, scanners, digital photography software, and the types and file formats of digital files.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking short photography courses include:

  • Learning about the scope and nature of digital photography
  • Exploring the digital revolution and the characteristics of digital
  • Gaining an understanding of the differences between analogue and digital
  • Studying pixels, bits and colour depth, colour and black and white and pixels and resolution
  • Examining the two colour systems, the applications for digital photography, graphics and photo application software
  • Understanding computer-aided design (CAD), multimedia and video games
  • Attaining knowledge of social media, video and digital terminology
  • Gaining insights into equipment, CCD’s and CMOS – the sensors, linear CCD’s and computer performance
  • Learning about architecture, clock speed and memory
  • Exploring the basic components of a computer, including the keyboard and power supply
  • Gaining an understanding of data storage, the motherboards, cards and the USB
  • Studying types of computers and features of a digital camera
  • Examining digital technology, colour, sensors, camera memory and using a prism with three CCDs
  • necessary
  • Learning about image formation and lenses
  • Exploring how to select a digital camera
  • Gaining an understanding of instant cameras, camera phones and tablets, compact cameras, bridge cameras, DSLRs and video conferencing
  • Studying purchasing your camera
  • Examining camera stability and depth of focus
  • Understanding taking photos, including composition, rule of thirds and time and natural lighting
  • Attaining knowledge of the principles of photographic composition, including unity, balance and proportion
  • Gaining insights into harmony, contrast and rhythm
  • Learning about the qualities of the components and how to create effects
  • Exploring scanning and the types of scanners, including hand, drum, film and printer scanners
  • Gaining insights into transformation, retouching, sharpening images and cropping
  • Learning how to use Adobe Photoshop
  • Exploring file formats and saving images using different file types
  • Gaining an understanding of image sizes and downloading and accessing digital photographs in Photoshop
  • Studying compositing and filters, including image processing, basic filters, Bas relief, Chalk and Charcoal
  • Examining Chrome, Conté crayon, Graphic pen, Note paper, Photocopy and Plaster
  • Understanding reticulation, Torn edges, Water paper, filters used in Adobe Photoshop and Coloured pencil
  • Attaining knowledge of Cut-out, Dry brush, Film grain and Fresco
  • Gaining insights into Paint daubs, Palette knife and Plastic wrap
  • Learning about Poster edges and Rough pastels
  • Exploring special effects and advanced filters
  • Attaining knowledge of Drop shadow, Blend mode, Opacity and Angle
  • Gaining insights into Distance, Spread, Size, Bevel and Emboss
  • Learning about outputs and applications
  • Exploring the purpose of digital files and storing digital images
  • Gaining an understanding of digital presentations, digital photography as art, digital photography for newsletters and invitations, portraiture/wedding photography, and commercial, fashion or advertising photography
  • Studying printers, including dot matrix, inkjet and laser jet printers and dye sublimation printers
  • Examining digital photo labs

And more!

Australian photography competitions

Photography events and competitions are a fantastic launching pad for amateur photographers, including those that have done short photography courses. Here are some recommended by the Centre for Creative Photography for those starting out (you can find out more here).

Australian Photographer of the Year 2022

Deadline: 13/11/22

Focuses on amateur photographers and includes six portfolio categories — Landscape, Animal & Nature, People, Aerial, Travel, and Black & White, and three single-image categories — Single Shot, Creative and Junior (for those under 18 years of age).

The best entries will be showcased in a special edition of Australian Photography magazine in 2023. With more than $22,000 in prizes up for grabs, there are plenty of reasons to get involved!

Annual Photography Awards 2022

Deadline: 11/12/22

Celebrates photographers of all levels, including amateur photographers who have done short photography courses. The awards offer trophies, acclaimed awards and generous cash prizes for participating winners.

Australian Photography Magazine

Deadline: Monthly at the end of the month, except for December, which is the 15/12/22.

A monthly competition … that’s FREE to enter! A different theme is announced in the first week of each month. Monthly prizes vary and include a 12-month subscription to Australian Photography or Capture magazine.

High School Student Photography Awards 2023

Deadline: 31/12/22 

Open to high school students Australia-wide, this is an open-themed competition where creativity and originality are encouraged!

Ramsay Art Prize

Deadline: 16/12/22

Held every two years, the Ramsay Art Prize invites submissions of new or recent work by Australian artists under forty working in any medium, including photography.

Updates to Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop started the digital image manipulation revolution more than 30 years ago, and it remains as one of the best photo editing software packages available. Short photography courses like ours will introduce you to many of its fantastic features, from layered image editing to a multitude of effects.

Adobe also continually updates its software, including adding new tools powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Some recent innovations include:

  • Sky Replacement. Save time and let Photoshop do all the blending and masking for you! You can also add more drama to your photos by using slider adjustments that will blend foreground and background colours.
  • Landscape Mixer Filter. This allows you to mix multiple landscape filters to make a new one! It works almost automatically and has lots of photo presets, so you can use them to make virtually any customisation.
  • Neural Filters. These “non-destructive” filters allow you to make complex designs and edits in seconds, including recolouring and retouching scenes and removing objects. You can also zoom into parts of an image to change a person’s age, pose or expression.
  • Super Resolution. This feature uses advanced machine learning to boost the resolution of an image while keeping essential details and clean edges.
  • Enhanced Object Selection tool. This tool has been advanced to (among other things) make better hair selections in human portrait images. It recognises portraits and applies hair refinement to get a mask on par with what’s delivered by the Select Subject tool.
  • Depth Blur Neural Filter. This allows you to create natural depth to portrait photos by adding haze, film grain and tweaking a background’s lighting, saturation and tonality.

History of digital photography

The history of digital photography as we know it today began in the 1950s with the first digital signals being saved to magnetic tape. In 1957, engineer Russell Kirsch produced the first digital image through a computer. It was an image of his son, Walden.

The first semiconductor image sensor was the CCD, invented by physicists George E. Smith and Willard S. Boyle. The CCD is a semiconductor circuit later used in the first digital video cameras for television broadcasting.

The first published colour digital photograph was produced in 1972 by Michael Francis Tompsett using CCD sensor technology. It was a picture of his wife and featured on the cover of Electronics Magazine.

The first self-contained (portable) digital camera was created in 1975 by Steven Sasson of Eastman Kodak. The camera weighed over three kilograms, recorded black and white images to a cassette tape, and it took 23 seconds to capture an image! And while the first consumer digital camera was not produced until 1981, the groundwork for digital photography had been laid.

The first digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera was the Nikon SVC prototype, followed by the Nikon QV-1000C, which was released in 1988. The first widely commercially available digital camera was the 1990 Dycam Model 1. It used a CCD image sensor, stored pictures digitally, and connected directly to a computer for downloading images. Originally offered to professional photographers (for a hefty price!), due to technology advancements, by the mid-to-late 1990s, digital cameras were available to the general public.

Cultural changes also eventuated — dark rooms were no longer required for image post-production. As you’ll learn in short photography courses like ours, images could be enhanced with a home computer. This allowed photographers to be more creative with their processing and editing techniques.

The camera phone also helped popularise digital photography, along with social media, the internet and the JPG image format. Sharp and Samsung produced the first phones with built-in digital cameras in the early 2000s. They have revolutionised the capturing of images — with the touch of a few mobile buttons!

Learn how to use image editing software to gain quality control and apply special effects to your photos with short photography courses like our Introduction to Digital Photography

Counselling as a Career – 10 Specialities to Consider

Are you considering counselling as a career? If so, you might like to explore the many different areas of counselling, from relationship counselling to career counselling, to find the right direction for you.

Many counsellors gain skills in various counselling areas, while others find their niche and become experts in that field. The following are ten of the most common areas of specialisation in counselling – let us know if we can help you explore any of these in more depth before enrolling in further study.

  1. Crisis Counselling

Crisis counselling is often a short-term form of therapy that helps people to overcome the aftermath of a crisis. The focus is on helping people to confront stressful situations, treat their immediate needs and assist them in developing coping skills.

Crisis counsellors work in many healthcare settings and as phone support with hotlines. A crisis counsellor should be resilient, empathetic, collaborative, and self-aware. If you’d like to explore crisis counselling as a career option, our Certificate of Crisis Counselling is an ideal place to start.

  1. Relationship Counselling

Relationship counselling involves working with couples to explore relationship difficulties and find clarity and mutually agreeable solutions. Helping people understand their issues and change their perspective to resolve conflicts is at the heart of what relationships counsellors do.

Relationship counsellors work in private practice and other healthcare settings. Relationship counselling as a career requires a high level of interpersonal skills, tolerance, compassion, ethics and patience. If you’d like to build a career in relationship counselling, consider an introductory course like our Certificate of Relationship and Communication Counselling.

  1. Grief & Loss Counselling

Greif & Loss Counselling (also known as bereavement counselling) involves helping bereaved individuals, families, young people and children to work through the stages of grief and loss in healthy ways. Grief counsellors provide a safe space for clients to talk about their lost loved one and can help them maintain a connection with that person.

Grief and loss counsellors work in private practice, hospitals and other community and healthcare settings. If you feel you’re right for a counselling career in grief and loss, consider our Certificate of Grief & Loss Counselling to explore your aptitude further.

  1. Child & Adolescent Counselling

Child and adolescent counsellors help young people facing challenges develop coping strategies. They liaise with parents, carers, teachers and other care providers to improve a child’s happiness and emotional well-being.

Child & adolescent counsellors can work in private practice or as a team in other healthcare and community settings. If you’d like to explore a counselling career working with young people, our Certificate of Counselling Children is an ideal place to start.

  1. Aged Care Counselling

As our aging population grows, older Australians need counselling services that are unique to them. A counselling career specialising in aged care will help you better understand more senior people and provide for their needs.

Aged care counsellors work in the community and retirement, aged care residential, and hospital settings. Explore the aged care counselling specialisation with our Certificate of Aged Care Counselling.

  1. Trauma Counselling

Trauma has a profound impact on an individual’s wellbeing and functioning. Trauma counselling is a specialist field that focuses on helping those who have suffered trauma.

These type of counsellors work in various settings, from hospitals to community centres and private practice. If you’d like to learn more about trauma counselling, take a look at our Certificate of Trauma Counselling.

  1. Addiction Counselling

Helping people with alcohol or drug dependency requires specialist knowledge in addiction support.

Addiction counsellors work across community settings, hospitals and private practice. If you’d like to give your counselling career the edge, enrol in our Certificate of Counselling/Certificate of Alcohol and Other Drugs dual program.

  1. Career Counselling

Career counsellors provide guidance on choosing study and work options to those looking for direction. If you aspire you help people navigate educational endeavours and career opportunities, career counselling as a career is an excellent choice for you.

Career counsellors (or guidance counsellors) work in universities, schools, colleges, and private practice. If you’re interested in this counselling career, explore our Certificate of Career Counselling.

  1. Family Therapy

Family therapy is a type of counselling that focuses on helping families to navigate difficulties. It’s a therapy that incorporates coping mechanisms that promote recovery of relationships.

Family therapists work primarily in private practice. If you’re interested in developing insights into a range of techniques in family therapy, take a look at our Certificate of Family Therapy.

  1. Youth Work

Are you passionate about working with young people in need? A counselling career in youth work and justice might be your calling. Youth workers make a real difference in the lives of young people. They organise activities and delivering interventions and critical counselling services.

Youth workers work in community centres, schools, youth refuges or private organisations, such as Scouts or Guides. If you’d like to explore youth work, take a look at our Certificate of Youth Work.

Is a counselling career for you? If you’re still unsure about what course to choose, talk to one of our Course Counsellors via phone, Live Chat or email today to gain clarity. We can’t wait to help you find your new direction!

Leverage Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

Claimed to be one of the keys to success in life and in business, many people (including recruiters) also believe that our “emotion quotient” (EQ) is even more important than our “intelligence quotient” (IQ). And this seems to be a continuing trend, with the World Economic Forum citing emotional intelligence as one of the top 15 skills for 2025 in their Future of Jobs report.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is often defined as the ability to “perceive, use, understand, manage and handle emotions”. People with high emotional intelligence can typically “recognise their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, and adjust emotions to adapt to environments”.

Having EI is also particularly valuable for those in management positions. According to Indeed, emotional intelligence in leadership can help leaders:

  • Collaborate and communicate more effectively.
  • Build stronger relationships.
  • Form more effective teams.
  • Understand the emotion of others to help achieve team goals.
  • Relate well to others and help them be recognised for their contributions.
  • Decrease employee turnover.
  • Demonstrate empathy and communicate effectively when addressing conflict.
  • Assess challenging situations calmly, respond appropriately and inspire others to take positive action.
  • Set the tone for leadership within an entire organisation.

This emotional intelligence in leadership course will teach you how to develop and apply EQ for personal and professional success. In our Certificate of Emotional Intelligence, you will also learn about the biology and physiology of EQ, how to measure it, and its crucial applications in marketing, management, education and relationships.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking an emotional intelligence in leadership course include:

  • Learning about IQ or intelligence quotient, social intelligence and emotional intelligence.
  • Exploring how to understand emotions and the definition of emotion.
  • Gaining an understanding of mood versus emotion, models of emotions, the wheel of emotions and the function of emotions.
  • Studying emotional development; motivation, cognition and emotion and the elements of emotional intelligence.
  • Examining self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.
  • Understanding why studying EI is valuable and which type of intelligence is more important.
  • Attaining knowledge of the biology of emotions, emotions as feelings and the development of emotions.
  • Gaining insights into emotional intelligence in infancy, toddler to early childhood, middle to late childhood and adolescence.
  • Learning about the nervous system and emotions and the theories of emotion.
  • Gaining an understanding of facial feedback theory links to emotional intelligence, unusual sensory states, highly sensitive people and synaesthesia.
  • Studying models of emotional intelligence, including EI models, the Salovey & Mayer ability model and Goleman’s performance-based model.
  • Examining self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management.
  • Understanding the Bar-On competency-based model, five dimensions and intrapersonal and interpersonal skill
  • Attaining knowledge of stress management, adaptability and the 15 competencies contributing to an individual’s overall emotional intelligence.
  • Gaining insights into measuring emotional intelligence and why to measure intelligence in leadership.
  • Attaining knowledge of low EI and the ethical considerations of using EI in recruitment.
  • Gaining insights into EI applications in terms of managing employees.
  • Learning about how EI can be applied to leadership and workplace management?
  • Exploring the five EI competencies, social skills, motivation and self-awareness.
  • Gaining an understanding of empathy, leadership training, training employees, the limitations of training programs in EI and empirically-based training programs.
  • Exploring how to recognise and define self-awareness; self-awareness, emotional intelligence and well-being and negative self-talk.
  • Gaining an understanding of major problems with negative self-talk, procrastination, the procrastination management framework and stress.
  • Studying EI and romantic and other relationships and building relationships.
  • Examining arguments and discussions, conflict management, EI and relationship strategies and setting goals.
  • Understanding how to consider alternate perspectives, writing redirection phrases and feeling statements ahead of time and tools for developing self-awareness.
  • Attaining knowledge of emotional observation and how to recognise and channel strong emotions.
  • Gaining insights into EI applications in education and training, and how our emotions affect our attention and emotion.
  • Learning about EI and studying, EI an academic performance and teaching and emotional intelligence.
  • Exploring the self-assessment of EI, how teachers model emotional intelligence in classroom settings and classroom tools for developing emotional intelligence.
  • Gaining an understanding of resilience, social and emotional learning, mood monitoring, journalling and reflection.
  • Studying education at work, communication, facilitation and engagement and motivation.

And more!

The Five Components of Emotional Intelligence

Although the term “emotional intelligence” first appeared in the mid-1960s, it gained popularity in the book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, written by psychologist Daniel Goleman in 1995. Goleman defined EI as the array of characteristics and skills that drive leadership performance, including emotional intelligence in leadership, and he cited five different components.

#1. Self-awareness

  • The capacity to recognise and understand emotions.
  • Have a sense of how actions, moods and the emotions of others take effect.
  • Keeping track of emotions and noticing different emotional reactions.
  • Being able to identify emotions correctly.
  • Recognising that how we feel and what we do are related.
  • Having awareness of our own personal strengths and limitations.

#2. Self-regulation

  • The appropriate expression of emotion.
  • Coping with change, being flexible, and managing conflict.
  • Diffusing tense or difficult situations.
  • Being aware of how actions affect others and taking ownership of them.

#3. Social skills

  • Interacting well with other people.
  • Applying an understanding of the emotions of ourselves and others to interact and communicate with others.
  • Verbal and non-verbal communication, active listening, developing rapport, and emotional intelligence in leadership.

#4. Empathy

  • Being able to understand how other people are feeling.
  • Respond appropriately to other people based on recognising their emotions.
  • Understanding power dynamics and how these affect behaviour and feelings.

#5. Intrinsic motivation

  • Being driven to meet personal goals and needs rather than being motivated by external rewards such as fame, money and recognition.
  • Being action-oriented and setting goals.

Models and Frameworks of the EI Concept

The three major models of emotional intelligence have been developed from analysis, research and scientific studies. And as you’ll discover below, many of them have similar components.

Goleman’s EI Performance Model

In addition to the five components of EI, Goleman also suggests twelve sub-scales of EI.

  1. Emotional self-awareness
  2. Emotional self-control
  3. Adaptability
  4. Achievement orientation
  5. Positive outlook
  6. Influence
  7. Coaching and mentoring
  8. Empathy
  9. Conflict management
  10. Teamwork
  11. Organisational awareness
  12. Emotional intelligence in leadership,including being inspirational

Bar-On’s EI Competencies Model

Psychologist Reuven Bar-On suggested that EI is a system of interconnected behaviour that arises from social and emotional competencies that influence behaviour and performance. His model consists of five scales — self-expression, self-perception, decision-making, interpersonal and stress management. He also proposed fifteen sub-scales:

  1. Self-regard
  2. Self-actualisation
  3. Emotional self-awareness
  4. Emotional expression
  5. Assertiveness
  6. Independence
  7. Interpersonal relationships
  8. Empathy
  9. Social responsibility
  10. Problem-solving
  11. Reality testing
  12. Impulse control
  13. Flexibility
  14. Stress tolerance
  15. Optimism

Mayer, Salovey and Caruso’s EI Ability Model

This model, developed by academics John D. Mayer, Peter Salovey and David R. Caruso, suggests that “information from the perceived understanding of emotions and managing emotions is used to facilitate thinking and guide our decision making”. The framework emphasises a four-branch model of EI in terms of the ability to:

  1. Perceive emotion — including the ability to identify emotions in the postural and facial expressions of others. It reflects emotional expression and non-verbal perception to communicate via the face and voice.
  2. Use emotion to facilitate thought — including the ability to use emotions to aid thinking.
  3. Understand emotions — including being able to “analyse emotions and awareness of the likely trends in emotion over time, as well as an appreciation of the outcomes from emotions. It also includes the capacity to label and discriminate between feelings”.
  4. Manage emotion — including managing an individual’s personality with self-knowledge, goals and social awareness shaping how emotions are managed.

The branches are ordered from “emotion perception” to management via more basic skills through to more sophisticated skills. Branches one and two represent the separate parts of information processing that are thought to be bound in the emotion system. Branch four is integrated into an individual’s plans and goals.

This model can be measured using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). It measures four aspects of EI. The ability to:

  1. Accurately identify the emotions of people and symbolised by objects in pictures. Question types: identifying and reading emotions in landscapes, people and designs.
  2. Use emotions and solve problems with emotions. Question types: comparing and matching emotions to sensations such as light, colour and temperature.
  3. Understand the cause of emotion. Question types: multiple choice emotion vocabulary (scenario presented) questions.
  4. Be open to emotions and fuse emotions with thinking. Question types: answering which emotional strategy would be best in social relationships, as well as managing one’s self.

Learn valuable knowledge and skills that will help you apply your knowledge of emotional intelligence in your personal and professional life with our Certificate of Emotional Intelligence.

In-Demand Skills (and Jobs) For 2025

The job landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years, particularly with the advent of COVID-19. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2.1 million people left or lost a job, and 1.3 million people changed jobs. That’s the highest annual job mobility rate since 2012.

The types of in-demand skills have also changed. The World Economic Forum (WEF) projects that nearly half of the world’s workers will need to re-skill in one way or another over the next five years. Their 2020 Future of Work report has identified “the potential scale of worker displacement due to augmentation and technological automation, alongside effective strategies for empowering job transitions from declining to emerging jobs”.

And a recent study conducted jointly by RMIT Online and Deloitte on the “future of work” has revealed that digital literacy skills will be in high demand in Australia in the next few years. The study reports that Australia will need over 156,000 more digital technology workers by 2025, representing one in four jobs created during that period.

WEF’s top skills for 2025

However, it is interesting to note that the WEF report also cites the top 15 skills for 2025 — and many aren’t directly connected to technology, cybersecurity or software development. They are based on being better at learning, thinking and adapting to an ever-changing world. Many of them cover management and leadership skills and others can be gained with personal development courses. Some of the in-demand skills they forecast are:

Analytical thinking and innovation

Analytical thinking skills help you take an in-depth look at complex issues, determine how to fix problems, and come up with solutions. Innovation is the ability to generate ideas that create value and improve processes to develop and adapt to change.

Active learning and learning strategies

Active learning involves being motivated to learn new things, engaging, applying and reflecting on knowledge gained, and retaining knowledge that can be built upon.

Complex problem-solving

Beyond just finding solutions to problems, complex problem-solving involves considering future changes to resources, circumstances and capabilities that may affect the success of the solutions. It can also include assessing the solution’s impact on individuals and the surrounding environment.

Critical thinking and analysis

Critical thinking allows us to understand and address a situation based on all the available information and facts. These skills enable you to sort and organise data, facts and other information to define a problem and develop effective solutions.

Creativity, originality and initiative

Creativity, in particular, is another one of the in-demand skills as it allows you to increase efficiency, develop new ideas, and devise solutions to complex problems.

Leadership and social influence

Leadership in the workplace refers to the ability of an individual to “manage and supervise a company and its fellow employees”. It also refers to the “ability to positively influence others to perform their jobs to the best of their ability”.

Technology use, monitoring and control

The use of technology in the Australian workforce covers many platforms and programs such as Information Security, E-Commerce, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Drone Technology (among many others!)

Technology design and programming

These jobs involve developing creative, tech-based solutions, and can cover everything from engineering to graphic design. Here are some of the top careers in design and technology, according to Indeed.

Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility

Resilience is the ability to handle disappointment and face and adapt to challenges and overcome them. It can include identifiable skills like self-confidence, optimism, flexibility, responsibility, patience, problem-solving, self-awareness, communication and teamwork.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify and regulate one’s emotions and understand the emotions of others. A high EQ helps build relationships, defuse conflict, reduce team stress and improve job satisfaction.

Jobs in demand by 2025

Globalisation, new ways of working and COVID-19 have all played a part in what is known as the “future of work”. According to LinkedIn’s Jobs on the Rise in 2021 report, some of the current jobs in demand include:

  • Mental health specialists
  • Healthcare/medical support workers
  • Customer service workers
  • E-commerce professionals
  • Digital content writers
  • Education roles
  • Finance professionals
  • Digital marketing specialists
  • Recruitment professionals
  • ICT managers
  • Cyber security specialists

Inspiration alert! Read more about these high-demand jobs and find courses to match here!

Jobs in demand according to WEF

Looking ahead, here are the jobs that will be in demand by 2025 according to the WEF (which offers great inspiration for fine-tuning the in-demand skills for the future):

  • Data analytics and scientists
  • AI and machine learning specialists
  • Big data specialists
  • Digital marketing and strategy specialists
  • Process automation specialists
  • Business development professionals
  • Digital transformation specialists
  • Information security analysts
  • Software applications developers
  • Internet of Things specialists
  • Project managers
  • Business services and administration managers
  • Database and network professionals
  • Robotics engineers
  • Strategic advisors
  • Management and organisation analysts
  • FinTech engineers
  • Mechanics and machinery repairers
  • Organisational development specialists
  • Risk management specialists

Jobs of tomorrow

And looking ahead even further, in their report, the WEF also lists a range of “jobs of tomorrow”, which are jobs over the coming decade that will include newly-created roles in new occupations or existing occupations that will undergo significant transformation in terms of their in-demand skills and requirements. They include jobs in the following:

  • Cloud computing — cloud engineers, cloud consultants and DevOps engineers.
  • Content production — content specialists, creative copywriters and social media coordinators.
  • Data and AI — AI specialists, data scientists, data engineers, data analysts and analysts consultants.
  • Engineering — full-stack engineers, Javascript developers and back-end developers.
  • Marketing — digital specialists and E-Commerce
  • People and culture — HR professionals and IT recruiters.
  • Product development — product owners, quality assurance engineers and digital product managers.
  • Sales — business development specialists, sales development representatives and customer specialists.

LinkedIn Strategies for Professionals

LinkedIn is the largest business-oriented networking website in the world, with over 700 million members in over 200 countries. According to LinkedIn statistics, there were 12.7 million LinkedIn users in Australia as of April 2022, which accounted for 48.7 per cent of its entire population.

A professionally written LinkedIn profile allows you to create an online professional brand, showcase your profile, expertise and achievements, and help open doors to networks and career opportunities. LinkedIn’s features are constantly being updated to increase its capabilities, and many are free with a Basic account. Subscribing to Premium subscriptions up the ante on your job searches, and lead generation and, if you are a recruiter, helps you find and hire talent. Here are the top LinkedIn strategies for professionals.

Choose a decent profile picture

One of the most essential elements of a LinkedIn profile is your profile picture. It is your introduction to other users, helps to build your personal brand, and can enhance your referral and response rates. LinkedIn offers some advice on choosing the right profile pic, but some quick tips include ensuring your photo:

  • Is high resolution.
  • Is recent.
  • Doesn’t have anyone else in the shot.
  • Highlights your face (it should take up 60 per cent of the photo).
  • Is taken by someone else (avoid selfies).
  • Looks like you!

Include a background photo

This is another important visual element of your profile, and sits at the top of your profile page. It helps tell your professional story, makes your profile more visually appealing, and enables you to stand out to recruiters, prospective clients, future employers and other LinkedIn users.

Maximise your headline

Your profile headline sits at the top of the page and is another chance for you to enhance your personal brand. Impactful headlines typically include more than just a job title. You can use it to showcase your role, your skills and experience, why you do what you do, what you are capable of, and what inspires you.

Leverage your summary

Surprisingly, many LinkedIn users don’t include a summary. But it’s a valuable piece of LinkedIn real estate! It is an excellent opportunity to set yourself apart from everyone else and inject some personality into your profile. It is a personal piece of content marketing and a great platform to sell yourself, from why your skills matter, to how your experience has shaped you, what motivates you, and what your career aspirations are.

Be careful using buzzwords

Buzzwords are terms regularly used in business to boost morale, gain attention, and describe social and cultural situations. They often change over time to reflect trends in how people talk to one another and what attributes are most desirable in a particular business. However, the overuse of business jargon can lead to negative reactions, from frustration to boredom and confusion. Here are some of the most over-used buzzwords, according to LinkedIn.

That said, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t necessarily include these in your profile. However, one of the LinkedIn strategiesrecommended is that you back them up with tangible examples, including how you describe yourself, your career history, and your skills and experience.

Grow your network

Another one of the valuable LinkedIn strategies is to sync your profile with your mobile address book. This enables LinkedIn to identify which of your contacts are already using LinkedIn and is an easy way to find and connect with professional contacts and grow your network. You can select who you’d like to connect with and who you’d like to invite to join LinkedIn, and you can also turn off syncing anytime.

List your relevant skills

LinkedIn offers a super-efficient way of including your skills on your profile. You simply scroll through the options available and identify those that are relevant to you. This will help boost your headline and summary and provide a platform for other users to endorse you. But keep them relevant! A long list of skills that aren’t reflective of who you are and what you’ve done may come across as vague or even unsubstantiated.

Showcase your services

Another handy LinkedIn feature is their “Services” feature which helps those who work for smaller businesses (like freelancers and consultants) showcase what they offer. It’s a great way to boost visibility in search results.

Generally, a potential client submits a project request to a provider, and the provider then responds with a proposal to express interest in the project. Once the client receives a desirable proposal, the provider and client agree on the terms of the project. The provider then completes the work. Payment for project completion happens through the service provider’s typical process outside of LinkedIn.

Use the Skills Assessment tool

This feature on LinkedIn enables you to demonstrate the level of the skills you’ve added to your profile by completing assessments specific to skills such as technical, business and design skills. A typical assessment consists of fifteen multiple choice questions, and each tests at least one concept or sub-skill. You can then display a Verified Skills badge on your profile. Find out more about the complete list of available skill assessments and sample questions here.

Ask for endorsements

In terms of LinkedIn strategies, endorsements from other LinkedIn members can increase your credibility and substantiate your skills and experience. You simply go through your network and identify connections you’d like to endorse. This can often lead to them returning the favour. You can also request an endorsement from your relevant contacts via a message.

Request recommendations

Recommendations take things a step further. These are personal testimonials written to illustrate the experience of people who have worked with you. Although you can only request one recommendation from a connection at a time, there is no limit to the total number of recommendations you can request or receive.

Share content

Content that you produce and share is another one of the valuable LinkedIn strategies worth considering, as having an active role in your LinkedIn network can add another dimension to your profile. Whether it is white papers, case studies, E-books, blogs, comments or other branded content, it can give others personal insights and demonstrate your commitment and passion. Long-form content can also enhance your expertise and thought leadership credentials.

How to Write a Good Resume – Strategically!

Your resume is a critical marketing document — in any career at all levels — and is typically the first impression a recruiter or potential employer has of you and your study and/or career achievements. It can also set the tone for the rest of the recruitment process. In our digital world, there are some scenarios where a resume may diminish in importance compared with other factors.

In the IT space, demonstrating on-the-job skills may land you a job without you submitting a resume. For example, Google often uses Code Jams to hire developers. In the digital marketing space, an active Twitter profile can often lead to job offers. And in many fields, LinkedIn is a valuable business tool for recruiters, giving them faster access to relevant professionals. However, a concise and accurate resume still plays a vital role in recruiting. It allows a recruiter and prospective employer to find out more about you, your skills and your background in a “digestible” manner.

In terms of how to write a good resume strategically, it involves going beyond including short-term, “tactical” elements (designed to gain an objective) to longer-term “strategic” elements (like complex activity, operational patterns, activity and decision-making) that lead to the execution of tactics. Factors to consider include:

Length

According to Indeed, a one-page resume is a standard length for students, new graduates and professionals with up to ten years of experience. Multi-page resumes can be acceptable if you have many years of experience, achievements, projects and other relevant information.

However, it’s a delicate balance, as you don’t want to frustrate recruiters and potential employers by including pages of irrelevant information to make you appear more qualified. The key is to create the most relevant, concise and easy-to-read document possible. Length is secondary to high clarity and quality content.

Structure

In terms of how to write a good resume, most resumes are typically organised into the following sections:

Heading and contact details

The main heading should be your name and contact details, including your phone number and email address. You don’t need to include the word “resume”, as it’s safe to assume recruiters will know what they’re reading! Ensure your email address and phone voice message are professional. You may also want to include the following:

  • Your current job title if it is relevant to the job you are applying for. Alternatively, you could indicate your career goals. For example, “Aspiring chartered accountant”.
  • Links to your professional online profiles, including LinkedIn, Twitter and your personal website if you have one.
  • Your location. A full residential address isn’t required. You only need to specify your city or region.

You don’t need to include the following:

  • Your age
  • Your gender
  • Your date of birth

Summary

Often called a “personal profile”, “overview”, or “career objective”, a summary is used by experienced candidates to tie together their years of experience into a common theme. It should be concise, relevant to the potential employer, and include a clear value proposition in line with the position requirements. You should also avoid subjective terms (like “team player”, “detail-oriented”, and “effective communicator”), as they usually come across as bland or generic and rarely add value to a resume.

Education

A critical factor in how to write a good resume, this section can include qualifications or other relevant training, licenses or accreditations such as industry certifications. If you graduated within the last ten years, you could also include your school results if they reflect your academic success.

You should list qualifications in order of their timing, importance and relevance. The amount of information you include will depend on the role you are applying for. Generally, you should only delve into subject-level detail if it’s relevant to the job. For each qualification, you should include information on the following:

  • the institution
  • start and completion dates
  • degree grades
  • any relevant academic awards
  • any subjects, dissertations, research projects etc. that are relevant.

Experience

You don’t need to list every role you have had. Instead, focus on highlighting experience relevant to the position you’re applying for.

List your employment in reverse chronological order, and include the following:

  • the organisation name, including a description
  • your job title
  • your role and responsibilities, including what you contributed, accomplished or learned. The “STAR” framework(Situation, Task, Action, Result) is useful for clarifying these details.
  • start and finish dates
  • a short description of what each experience involved.

Other examples worth mentioning, if relevant, include:

  • voluntary positions
  • fundraising positions
  • contributions to University clubs, societies or other membership bodies
  • roles in sporting organisations
  • freelance assignments
  • part-time work
  • internships
  • temporary, freelance or contract work.

Try to focus on your actions and results, and back up your claims by using direct action words (like “designed” or “organised”), and include evidence you can quantify, like data or statistics that show how much, how many and how often. Don’t use industry jargon to show off your knowledge, and again, avoid vague and subjective buzzwords like “detail-oriented”, “effective communicator”, and “team player”.

For example, instead of “Detail-oriented data entry and analysis in Excel”, consider “Modelled 20 years of historical financial data in Excel to determine the relationship between commodity prices and profitability”.

Instead of “Launched internal team productivity reporting dashboard”, consider “Liaised with senior leadership and colleagues to develop a productivity reporting dashboard that cut team task allocation time by approximately 50 per cent”.

Instead of “Researched CRM options”, consider “Collaborated with a team of four to evaluate alternative software platforms to drive sales productivity, ultimately saving an estimated $500,000 per year”.

Skills and attributes

This is another important factor when it comes to how to write a good resume. This section gives you the opportunity to list all of your relevant skills, and group them into themes that will enhance your resume’s readability.

Your skills may include “hard” skills, which are technical skills that help you perform a specific task, and “soft” skills. According to LinkedIn, the top 16 in-demand soft skills for 2022 are adaptability, communication, critical thinking, digital literacy, time management, initiative, teamwork, leadership, proactivity, networking, life-long learning, negotiation, self-care, emotional intelligence, confidence, and resilience.

In terms of a specific role, evaluate the job description. Hard skills are normally listed explicitly in job ads, but you should also consider your education, qualifications, certifications, training, other languages you speak, machinery you can use, software you are familiar with, and industry or role-specific knowledge you have gained over your career.

Soft skills are also increasingly being listed on job ads. If they’re not, develop your own list of what might be required by considering the company’s culture, your past experiences in similar positions, and networking with those who are currently in similar roles. Any awards, accolades or achievements you’ve obtained in your career can also often mirror your strongest attributes. You can also include any extracurricular interests or activities, including sports, travel, volunteering and hobbies — but make sure they are relevant!

Format

Knowing how to write a good resume is only part of the process. Formatting is also essential, and although resume layout and design can vary greatly, the primary consideration should be readability for the recruiter or prospective employer. Some guidelines to consider, include:

  • Keeping it simple and consistent. Consistent formatting, in particular, will help recruiters with “skimming”. They will also know where to look if they need to refer back to something.
  • Considering the font you use. A safe default font is Calibre, which is clear and scales well for both content and headings. An 11 or 12-point font size will ensure readability, and you can use bold and italicised text to draw attention to headings and key points.
  • Including bullet points, subheadings and white space. These can enhance clarity, readability and visual style.

Our Top Tips on Career Transitioning

Career choices don’t have to be permanent. Changing circumstances, goals and interests, or an unplanned change in career status can lead many of us to explore new industries and roles. And although it can be a daunting experience, statistics show that during the year ending February 2022, 1.3 million people (or 9.5 per cent of employed people) changed jobs. That’s the highest annual job mobility rate since 2012.

Here are our top tips if you are considering career transitioning, including gaining clarity on what you want and taking action to achieve it.

What drives career change

There is a range of reasons people decide to change careers. They include because you:

  • Want a better quality of life — mentally, physically and/or emotionally.
  • Want to reduce stress.
  • Want to increase your self-esteem.
  • Want a more meaningful job that aligns with your values, passions and life goals.
  • Have become apathetic to change.
  • Are jealous of your friends’ jobs.
  • Want a better work-life balance, including working remotely or having a more flexible work schedule.
  • Lack energy or are bored or frustrated with your current job.
  • Have been made redundant or experienced a reduction in work hours.
  • Need to earn more income. Some inspiration … according to a recent article by the Australian Financial Review, skilled workers in demand who change jobs could be rewarded with a pay rise of up to 20 per cent. This is partly due to forecasts for record-low unemployment, falling inflation, and the decades-long downward trend in job movement being reversed thanks to Australia’s historically tight labour market.

Before you transition careers 

Before considering career transitioning, it’s vital you make a plan, set goals, develop a timeline, and take some steps to prepare yourself. They can include:

Self-assessment

This is a great place to start. Significant challenges can result from changing careers, so you should be clear about what you want in the future. Some questions to yourself: What do I want from a career? What is my “dream job”? What sacrifices am I prepared to make to achieve it? What financial commitments need to be covered? What are my strengths and weaknesses?

Identifying your skills

These include technical or “hard” skills that help you perform a specific task and can include qualifications, education, training, certifications and role or industry-specific knowledge you have gained over your career. They also include “soft” skills, which, according to Indeed, aren’t about the knowledge you possess, but rather the behaviours you display in certain situations.

According to LinkedIn, the top 16 in-demand soft skills for 2022 are adaptability, communication, critical thinking, digital literacy, time management, initiative, teamwork, leadership, proactivity, networking, life-long learning, negotiation, self-care, emotional intelligence, confidence and resilience.

Experimentation

According to a quote by Herminia Ibarra in her book, Working Identity, “By far the biggest mistake people make when trying to change careers is to delay taking the first step until they have settled on a destination”. It sums up her view that career transitioning is not necessarily just a product of careful planning but comes from experimenting — including in your current role.

According to a LinkedIn article, career experimentation is a risk-free way to try out new “identities”, roles or responsibilities while still connected to the security of your current identity and career. It could be

taking on an additional role, a temporary project, finding a coach or mentor, or seeking new types of training or educational opportunities.

Networking

Building and leveraging networks to support your career change progress can be enormously beneficial. Connecting with industry professionals — in-person at industry events or via associations, or online through sites such as LinkedIn — can give you guidance and advice about your new career path. They may also introduce you to valuable contacts or recommend job openings that might suit you.

During your career transition

Career transitioning requires commitment and a variety of action plan steps, including:

Leaving your current job

It can be tempting to quit in a dramatic fashion if you are unfulfilled or unhappy at work, but it’s always wise to be professional. After all, you may need a reference for your new career! When the time comes, request a meeting with your boss and let them know your intentions. Give them a formal resignation letter and adequate notice. Finish any existing projects, and document your workflows and job duties for a smooth transition. It’s not only the “right” thing to do; it ensures you maintain your professionalism and leave on good terms.

Undertaking more study

Career changes often mean additional study, particularly if you are looking to enhance your career prospects. This can include learning new skills or obtaining a certification, license or other educational qualifications. Volunteering or obtaining an internship is also a great way of gaining experience in a field that perhaps you’ve not worked in before, before taking the plunge!

Updating your resume

Make your resume as concise, accurate, relevant, and readable as possible, as it is generally the first impression a potential employer or recruiter has of you and your achievements! Here are our top tips for How to Write a Good Resume.

Answering questions

Finally, consider how to position your career change to others including recruiters and potential employers. Don’t wait until you are in an interview to consider how to explain the reason for your career transitioning. Because you will be asked this weighted question, it’s best to be prepared.

Prepare a positive, strong, confident, and future-oriented response. And never lose sight of the fact that you are a multi-faceted person capable of accomplishing many things, and your skills and experience apply to more than one job and possibly more than one career. The more clearly you can articulate your value and connect the dots between your past experience and new opportunities, the more possibilities that will be available to you!

Career Options for School Leavers

Life after school can offer many interesting and exciting opportunities, including developing new skills, discovering new passions and learning more about what you want out of life. However, change is often challenging, and COVID-19 has presented many of these!

The workforce and education landscape is also continually changing, but there are lots of options for training, education and work in 2022 that can help you further your career. The Australian Government’s School Leaver’s Information Kit (SLIK) can help you discover what options are available, so you can make your next life-changing move. It also offers support and guidance to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, or those living with a disability or special education needs. The SLIK has also been translated into additional languages. Here are some of our tips on career options for school leavers. You got this!

Start work

If you’ve decided to jump straight into the world of work, the Your Career website can help you navigate your career options. You can find out which occupations match your preferences, whether you need further training and education to secure a job, what skills employers are looking for, and what your estimated pay might be. The tool asks you things like what are your interests? Do you have any deal breakers? And do you have an industry in mind?

Undertake study

If you are keen to undertake some further study to enhance your knowledge, skills and career options, consider:

  • Higher education courses. These include studying at university or other higher education provider for an undergraduate Certificate, Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Associate Degree, Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. The length of time it takes to complete higher education varies. As an example, most Bachelor’s degrees take a minimum of three years to complete.
  • Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses. These include apprenticeships and traineeships that typically combine paid work with structured training. They focus on real skills, knowledge and attitudes and can be delivered off-the-job, on-the-job, or both. VET courses aren’t just for traditional trades either. They included hundreds of different industries and occupations, from retail, accounting and technology to arts and hospitality. Apprenticeship usually involve structured training for three to four years. Traineeships are usually between nine months and four years, depending on the vocation and Certificate required.
  • Short-term courses (including online courses like ours) are also a great option if you don’t want to commit to the time and financial commitments of a degree. These can also sometimes be credited towards a full qualification if you decide to continue further study. Plus, if your career goals change, you don’t have to stick with the qualification you started with. You can move between different types of training and courses if your priorities and interests change!

Other career options

Want to try something new and different? There are so many options for you to explore after leaving school. And the best part? You don’t have to pick just one!

Short-term work placements

Early experience in the sector you’re interested in can help you decide whether a particular job is right for you, and it might also help further your career. You can find out more tips on short-term work placements here.

Volunteering opportunities

These can help you build valuable skills and give you the chance to make a real difference to people’s lives. You can get involved with many sectors and organisations, depending on your location, interests and availability. Find out more information on volunteering opportunities in your state or territory here.

Start your own business

Keen to turn one of your passions into a business idea? Even though starting your own business is generally a long-term venture, if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, it shouldn’t stop you from giving it a go! The Australian Government’s Business website has some great tips. You can read more here. Starting your own business might also involve you joining what’s called the “gig economy”. This can involve being employed by an employer as a contractor or freelancer.

Take a gap year

Taking a gap year used to be about meeting lots of new people and exploring new countries. But with COVID-19 still affecting our lives, including our ability to travel, the idea of a gap year has changed. If travel is something you are passionate about, why not think about travelling within Australia instead?

There are lots of opportunities for seasonal work in Australia. Whether it’s pruning vines, picking fruit or veggies or working on a dairy farm, you’ll be helping farmers while topping up your savings along the way!  And if you’re at least 17 years of age and have graduated from Year 12, you may also be eligible for reimbursement of up to $6,000 to cover the cost of accommodation, travel and some work-related items. You can find out more here.

Do some research

If you are exploring your future career options, an excellent place to start is to think about the types of industries in Australia and the range of roles that might be available in terms of your interests, skills and abilities. Some of the biggest sectors include:

  • Hospitality, tourism and events
  • Agriculture and horticulture
  • Arts and recreation services
  • Construction
  • Education and training
  • Electricity, gas, water and waste services
  • Financial and insurance services
  • Information, media and telecommunications
  • Manufacturing
  • Mining
  • Professional, scientific and technical services
  • Public administration and safety
  • Rental, hiring and real estate
  • Retail trade
  • Transfer, postal and warehousing
  • Wholesale trade

Continuing globalisation, new ways of working, and the challenges of COVID-19 have also changed the career landscape, the “future of work”, and your career options. According to LinkedIn’s Jobs on the Rise in 2021 report, some of the current high-demand jobs are for:

How to Find a Job You Love!

Finding a job is one thing, but finding a job you love is another. This fact may contribute to the current, much-talked-about trend known as the Great Resignation, which is an anticipated higher proportion of employees quitting their jobs this year.

This trend is backed up by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which cited that 9.5 per cent (or 1.3 million people) changed jobs during the year ending February 2022. This is the highest annual job mobility rate since 2012! So whether you are a graduating student or one of the 2.1 million Australians that left or lost a job during this period, job satisfaction is critical. Here is our guide on how to find a job you love.

Think about what you value most

Prioritising what you value most in a role is a great first step towards finding a job — and a possible career — that you love. It may be salary, location, work/life balance, employee benefits or company culture (or a combination of one or more of these). Regardless, it is probably something you don’t want to compromise on, which will affect the jobs you apply for.

Find your passion

Take time to identify things in your life that make you feel excited, satisfied, fulfilled and motivated. Pay attention to what you spend your time and money on, including the topics of magazines, books and podcasts you consume. And consider what you love to teach or talk to others about. All of this can help you pinpoint the types of jobs or careers that will engage and inspire you.

Explore career paths

In terms of how to find a job you love, once you have identified a few areas of interest and passion, spend some time exploring different types of roles. Reading job descriptions on job sites may help you come to some conclusions, but also allow you to research others that are related but might be an even better fit!

Some of the best job sites in Australia, according to Workable, include:

Job sites for all industries worth perusing (in alphabetical order) include:

  • Adzuna – The Australian version of the global employment portal Adzuna is focused on expanding employers’ outreach to a broader audience.
  • Career One – A partner of Monster in Australia, it is popular with job seekers because they can not only find jobs, but get career advice and request a resume evaluation.
  • Career Jet – A global job search engine that operates in 94 countries (like to work overseas?), including Australia.
  • Gumtree – This site doesn’t just include classified ads. It is also a popular tool for promoting jobs in the services, hospitality, construction and manufacturing industries.
  • Indeed – According to their site, they have over 10 million monthly visitors. Its resume database also allows you to upload your CV for potential employers to view.
  • JobSearch – The Australian Government built this portal to increase employment rates. Sign up, and new jobs (by title and location)will be sent to your email inbox.
  • Seek– One of Australia’s biggest employment marketplaces, the site also has lots of advanced filters that can help you narrow down your search. These include searching by location, title, work type, salary and the time period in which the job ad was listed.

There are also lots of specialised job platforms that post jobs specific to particular sectors, including:

  • ArtsHub – This site focuses on the creative industry and advertises publishing, cultural events and fine arts jobs.
  • FlexCareers – Focuses on flexible job opportunities and helps organisations get established as progressive employers.
  • GradConnection – Assists students and recent graduates secure employment or internships according to their field of study or qualifications.
    Job Seeker – Now known as Pro Bono Australia, this is Australia’s job posting site for non-profit organisations.
  • Paddl – This platform connects employers with graduates and students in a modern way. Instead of only relying on resumes, employers can use scorecards to test applicants. This can help highlight your specific skills and professional interests.

Do your research

If you are keen to explore tips on how to find a job you love when evaluating vacancies — and even job offers — research is essential to help you decide what you will apply for and accept. Organisations’ websites and social media profiles often give great insights into employee benefits and company culture.

Leverage your skills

Skills typically fall under two categories: “hard” skills and “soft” skills. Hard skills cover your technical knowledge or those gained through training or life experience, including via education or previous jobs. Soft skills are personal traits that shape how you work, engage with others and solve problems. Here are the top 16 in-demand soft skills for 2022, according to LinkedIn.

Connect with those in the know

LinkedIn is an extremely valuable business platform, and Australia’s largest online professional network. According to Social Media News statistics as of June 2022, it was the fifth most popular social media platform with over 6,500,000 monthly active Australian users. If you know the sector you’d like to work in and/or potential employers, you may be able to connect with those that can help you make a more informed decision about whether to pursue a job or career path. It also offers lots of helpful advice on how to find a job you love.

Consider your ideal working environment

Part of narrowing down the type of organisation you want to work for is considering what kind of environment you will be working in. It could be as simple as them having values and a company culture you align to. But it could also involve more practical elements, such as the size of the company and its commitment to employee development.

For example, do they offer mentoring, training and/or management/leadership and personal development opportunities? Is there room for career progression, or will you have to look elsewhere to move up the career ladder?

Build a personal brand

Take the time to fine-tune the avenues where you “brand” yourself, including carefully managing your social media messages via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn by changing your privacy settings and removing anything unprofessional.

It’s also vital to have a comprehensive and up-to-date resume. This is your “pitch” document, which will answer all the questions a recruiter will have about you. Here are global recruiter Hays’ tips for writing a professional resume.

Build and maintain relationships with recruiters

Another valuable resource if you’re wondering how to find a job you love is by leveraging recruiters’ professional skills and expertise. From interview tips and help with drafting a resume to finding exclusive job opportunities, they could be a critical step to landing a role you’ve always wanted. Here are some LinkedIn tips on cultivating the ideal relationship with recruiters.

8 Ways to Boost Your Focus – Part 1

There are days when concentrating feels like walking through wet cement. No matter how many times you read and re-read the material, you’re just not switched on! You’re motivated to get through the work but can’t focus. Now, before you reach for that second cup of coffee, try some of these more novel ways to switch on your brain when it wants to wander.

But first, what is concentration?

Concentration is the ability to focus your mind on one subject, object or thought at will while excluding all other unrelated stimuli (such as thoughts, ideas, feeling or sensations). Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to achieve this level of focus in a world busy distracting us – think social media, instant messenger, WhatsApp, Email and various other tech communication vying for our attention.

So, how can we focus better to achieve our goals? We’ve listed 8 online study tips that we hope will help you improve your concentration when there’s so much vying for your attention.

  1. Eliminate distractions

So, this one’s a bit obvious, but you’d be surprised how many distractions are around that you might not notice. Do you have your phone on your desk? If so, how many times are you notified to check Apps, Emails or Messages from friends? You might think glancing down at your phone is harmless, after al it only takes a few seconds, but those few seconds add up and take your focus away from your study goals. Next time you sit at your desk for a study session or to complete assessments, try turning off notifications. Or, even better, if you’re able, turn your phone off altogether. We bet you’ll notice your focus improves and your productivity is boosted just with this one simple online study tips!

The same is true of studying with any other distraction in the background, whether it’s children running in and out of your office, a television on in the background or an interrupting spouse! Make sure you study when distractions are limited, and you’ll achieve much more in less time.

  1. Focus on one task at a time

Multi-tasking might seem like a good idea, but this is one of our top online study tips – don’t do it! Just like distractions, multi-tasking constantly draws your attention away from your focus. So, while you might feel like you’re being more productive, it’s sabotaging your concentration to complete top priority tasks. It can also lead to burnout and, as a result, lowers the quality of your work. So, set the priority and stick to it for a specific time.

  1. Meditation and mindfulness

A study published in Scientific Reports showed that meditating for just ten minutes a day can improve your concentration and working memory. According to researchers from Harvard University, our minds are lost in thought 47 per cent of the time! If you’re a student, these thoughts are often about dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. So, to tame the brain and remain focused on your studies, try mediation at home, join a yoga class or even Tai Chi. The few minutes you spend meditation each day will be worthwhile when it comes to increasing your productivity by enhancing both focus and memory.

  1. Sleep hygiene

Scientists have found that lack of sleep results in lower levels of alertness and concentration. If you’re missing out on vital shut-eye, so less than seven or eight hours a night for most of us, your ability to study and complete assessments requiring reasoning or complex thought is compromised. Make sure you’re getting to bed about the same time every night and waking at the same time in the morning – even on weekends (where possible), so you don’t upset your sleep schedule. You don’t want to suffer from sleepiness as it slows down your thought processes, and impairs your memory! This is one online study tip that’s pretty simple – make sure you’re getting your beauty sleep!

  1. Blueberries for brains!

Blueberries have been shown to boost concentration and memory for up to five hours! That’s almost a whole school day! Apparently, the antioxidants in blueberries stimulate the blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which keeps the mind fresh! So, why not add some blueberries to your morning smoothy or breakfast cereal?

  1. Take breaks

Research shows that taking purposeful study breaks, from 5 to 60 minutes, refreshes your brain and body. As a result, you feel more energetic, productive and focused. So, while planning your study time, make time for regular breaks to improve your ability to achieve your study goals and reduces stress!

  1. Surround yourself with nature

Do you study in a green space? This might be one of our most practical online study tips! Simply by looking into green space – through your office window – or putting indoor plants around (or on) your desk, you’ll improve your concentration. According to researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University, a brief walk in the forest or just viewing green spaces can reduce brain fog, improve your focus and sharpen your thinking!

  1. Exercise daily

Exercise every day to get your body and your mind moving. A study in Harvard Men’s Health Watch revealed that chemicals released during exercise boost memory, concentration and mental sharpness. You don’t need to run a marathon, as just a few minutes is enough to boost your brain. A systematic review published in the journal Translational Sports Medicine found that as little as two minutes of exercise can temporarily boost memory. Longer periods of exercise (around 60 minutes) can improve cognitive function for up to two hours afterwards.

There’s no doubt it’s important to take care of your body to improve your brain power. If you’re planning to sit down to study session or tackle that last piece of assessment, make sure you’re heeding these online study tips to boost your success!

If you’re interested in more online study tips, look out for 8 Ways to Boost Your Focus: Part 2. Coming soon.

If you’d like to know more about our online professional development courses, contact one of our friendly Course Consultants today. Whether it’s changing careers, starting a business or personal development, we can help you find your new direction.

How to Be More Creative at Work!

Creativity, a soft skill that has long been celebrated as the cornerstone of innovation and problem-solving in the workplace, is a key driver of unique ideas and a fresh perspective when tackling challenges. Unsurprisingly, this dynamic skill is ranked highly in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest Future of Jobs survey, with creativity projected to be among the top five skills that companies will demand by 2025. In fact, the report’s findings reveal that creative thinking is the second most important skill in the workplace.

Fortunately, creativity is not a fixed trait but a skill that can be developed and enhanced over time. This self-improvement is open to anyone, whether you’re a business manager, copywriter, freelance writer, or work in any role that requires innovative thinking. We’ve compiled a list of top tips to help you enhance your creativity as an individual or a manager in the workplace, putting you in control of your creative potential.

As an Individual

Creativity is an essential skill that can help you grow both personally and professionally. When you develop your ability to think creatively, you can come up with innovative solutions that make problem-solving more successful. This skill is especially valuable in jobs that require strategic thinking and adaptability.

Connect experiences

Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just connecting things”. Creative people can connect experiences they’ve had and synthesise them into new ideas. This involves paying close attention to processes, ideas, and methods used in other areas of life, as well as asking yourself how you can find and define inspiration from outside the office and repurpose it in your role and responsibilities.

Dim the lights

Humans are visual creatures, and what we see often shapes what we think. Hence, it’s essential to cultivate a workspace that enables us to reflect. In terms of how to be more creative, according to the Journal of Environmental Psychology, dimming lights can downplay a room’s distractions, which encourages the generation of ideas and freedom of thought. A too-bright computer screen can also lead to eye strain, which is certainly not conducive to creativity!

Add some noise

According to ResearchGate, ambient noise — around 50 to 70 decibels — can enhance creative thinking. This is because a low level of noise “increases processing difficulty, inducing a higher construal level and thus promoting abstract processing, which subsequently leads to higher creativity”. High noise levels, on the other hand, can impair creativity.

Get messy

Although a tidy workspace can enhance productivity, research also shows that creativity can be increased with a little mess! An article published by the Association for Psychological Science claims that “being creative is aided by breaking away from tradition, order and convention, and a disorderly environment seems to help people do just that. Orderly environments, in contrast, encourage convention and playing it safe”.

Disrupt your routine

In terms of how to be more creative, changing things up can help improve our brain’s neuroplasticity and help rewire its creative side, according to the book How We Learn by Benedict Carey. This is because our brains are wired to favour security and stability. Suggestions include changing your gym workout, finding an alternative way to get to work, or eating your lunch in a new location.

Get physical

According to online mental health provider Lysn, one of the most underrated benefits of exercise is what it can do for your mind. When we exercise, we release endorphins. This provides an instant mood boost and enhances forms of thinking. It can also allow us to tap into a more extensive spectrum of our imagination and generate more original ideas.

Practice mindfulness

Another element to consider if you are wondering how to be more creative is to practice mindfulness. According to Headspace, mindfulness is the quality of being present and fully engaged with whatever you are doing, being free from judgement or distraction, and aware of your thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. A few strategies to try include breathing exercises, meditating, taking a walk outdoors, limiting social media time, and listening to calming music.

Stay open

Most problems have a solution – they just need to be discovered! Creativity often involves divergent thinking, and three great questions to ask yourself are “What if?”, “What’s a better way to …?” and “How might I …?” Putting these into practice daily can help build your creative muscle and boost your confidence in your ability to generate innovative ideas.

pexels pixabay 256514

Find your lightbulb moment by developing creativity at work

As a Manager

Creativity has a business return on investment (ROI) because there is a solid connection between creativity and business value. In fact, a global study by Adobe found that when companies invest in creativity:

  • 78 per cent increase their employee productivity
  • 80 per cent have satisfied customers
  • 78 per cent produce a better customer experience
  • 83 per cent fostered innovation
  • 73 per cent are financially successful

If you are a business manager, here are some ways you can cultivate a creative work environment and guide your employees to be more creative.

Try brainstorming

Flexible, pressure-free brainstorming in a relaxed setting is one of the best ways for employees to generate new ideas. Whether on a whiteboard or on good old-fashioned butcher’s paper, encourage them to scribble down ideas unprompted. It can enhance creativity and generate new ideas.  But it also shares the load of innovation and encourages employees to work together to create viable solutions to problems.

Facilitate anonymous suggestions

Sometimes, employees may feel a little intimidated by making suggestions publicly, even when encouraged. They may have general anxiety, a fear of embarrassment, or other reasons for not freely speaking their minds. One way of removing social barriers is by allowing employees to share their ideas anonymously. Whether via a suggestion box or an online survey that guarantees confidentiality, it will show them that their suggestions are valid and their creativity valued.

Act on their ideas

If employees think their ideas will be acted on and implemented, they’re more likely to offer suggestions. Once you’ve determined an idea will be a success, let your employees know how the idea came to be. This will encourage employees to be more creative at work by increasing their motivation to contribute.

Encourage individuality

It sounds simple, but let your employees know you value their thoughts and appreciate their individuality. Make it clear that you see them as unique individuals rather than simply employees. Most people will respond well and reward you with their ideas and insights.

Hire diverse talent

Diversity in the workplace contributes to an atmosphere of creative thinking, so consider hiring employees from different fields and different educational and cultural backgrounds. Encouraging multicultural diversity, in particular, is essential as we live in a multicultural society, so embracing differences and developing cultural competence is crucial.

 

We hope these tips will help you consistently practice creativity in the workplace to improve your skills, embrace opportunities and drive meaningful change. There’s also value in pursuing diverse experiences and embracing an open-minded approach to learning to significantly boost your creative abilities. This ongoing development of your creative powers can lead to improved job performance, enhanced career prospects, and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing industries.

Find your new direction today!

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