Broken Hill City Council, NSW
Outstanding Trainee—Katelyn Schenk
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The Project
Katelyn Shenk was nominated by her council as an outstanding employee in the new category of Career Starter. Katelyn's development as an integral member of the Broken Hill City Council events team has been recognised by senior management because of her ability to absorb and learn the business more quickly than was anticipated by her supervisors.
Her ability to anticipate customer needs and requirements is an ability that you would expect from an events officer with several years' experience. Katelyn commenced with Council in March 2021 as Events Trainee and enrolled in Certificate III. She has one module left to complete. Katelyn has worked across all aspects of the industry from administration, planning and through to delivery. However, it's not just Katelyn's capacity to manage events that impressed management. Katelyn's demonstrated alignment to Council's values, in particular teamwork, is evident in the way that she works and interacts with her colleagues and the public.
Council has a strong cultural program and Katelyn has played her role in team meetings and organisational cultural days which has ensured that she is highly respected by her colleagues and people she interacts with. Katelyn's ability to perform at a higher level has been recognised and since May 2022 has working in a higher duties role as Council's Events & Conferencing Officer. She successfully completed her first solo Civic Reception Event for Council (28 July 2022). Katelyn is an extremely valued and competent team member and has consistently worked above expectation for her peers, supervisor and community
The Award Category
This category recognises outstanding career starter initiatives in local government that:
- support entry level employment opportunities in local government through apprenticeships, traineeships or cadetships
- implement initiatives in the workplace which help to improve the progress and representation of junior employees
- establish programs to support and encourage emerging leaders, including mentoring, networking and training opportunities or
- demonstrate an outstanding apprentice, trainee or cadet that is making a difference to their community and workplace and that has been outstanding in all aspects of their training.
Successful projects in this award category benefit communities by:
- promoting greater roles for young people, new entrants and those seeking a career change
- increasing workforce participation from people of all ages, and supporting succession planning and knowledge retention in the council and community and
- creating new opportunities for members of the community to work and stay in their region while being able to reach their potential.