Partnerships and collaborations have further strengthened Hunter Valley Training Company’s (HVTC) position to provide the best training and employment opportunities for host employers, apprentices and trainees while adapting to new industry reforms.

In May 2015 HVTC was part of a successful bid with vocational service provider VERTO to secure an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN) contract to deliver state-wide services including the Newcastle and Hunter regions from 2015 to 2018. The new and improved AASN will make it easier for employers to find, train and retain quality apprentices and trainees by delivering a range of tailored offerings including job matching and mentoring to ensure rising completion rates for apprenticeships and traineeships.

Earlier in the year, the organisation launched the HVTC Youth Employment Skills (YES) Partnership, an innovative and customised training initiative involving 15 first year electrical apprenticeships and local host businesses. Devised in direct response to the Hunter’s growing youth unemployment and skills shortage issues the program has secured a number of permanent placements for the young apprentices.

Under another new alliance a Centre of Excellence was established with the Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA) allowing experienced welders to achieve higher qualifications which in turn will help employers across the Hunter’s engineering and manufacturing sectors. The new $5million HVTC Skills Centre at Rutherford is ideally located to support the collaboration which will create additional training opportunities particularly for heavy industries located around Maitland, Muswellbrook and Singleton.

In 2014 HVTC secured 35 finalists in 15 industry awards events, taking out 13 major accolades including two national Trainee of the Year awards. The achievements serve to demonstrate how HVTC has proven itself a national leader in workforce training by showcasing the extremely high calibre of their apprentices and trainees and the significant role business and industry partners play in securing quality employment outcomes.

Awards success continued in April 2015 when three local trades’ apprentices and a warehousing trainee took out four of the seven major student prizes at the HVTC Excellence Awards held in Newcastle. Winners in the 12 award categories were selected from finalists across HVTC’s 10 regional branches, located throughout New South Wales.

Image | VERTO CEO Ron Maxwell with HVTC CEO Sharon Smith