When Nathan Aird launched his business, Universal Mortgage Experts (UME), it was just him and his clients. As his business begun to grow, he knew he wanted to take on staff and he was especially interested in taking on trainees directly from High School and training them up to work in line with him.
However, as anyone who has hired staff before knows, there was a lot of work to do to set up a recruitment, training and retention model. Which is when Nathan reached out to Central Coast Group Training to help manage this new step in his business.
Central Coast Group Training employs more than 160 Apprentices and Trainees every year partnering with over 120 Businesses to help young people become qualified in their dream career.
“They helped me to set up systems that didn’t exist,” he said. “They help me to put in place items that I needed to have staff and have continued to help grow that as my staffing pool has grown. My HR requirements are half as big as businesses without a GTO.”
And just 14 years later, UME is one of the leading finance brokers on the Central Coast of NSW and he has since brought on five team members through Central Coast Group Training.
Ryan Jelley was one of those trainees, and almost six and a half years later he is still with the business as a finance broker.
After completing school, he heard about Central Coast Group Training through some friends and kept an eye on their website looking for the perfect job. When the opportunity with UME came up, he jumped at it.
“I was fresh out of school and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. This role looked interesting to me so I applied and was lucky enough to get it,” He said.
“I’ve loved it ever since I’ve started, and I can’t see myself doing anything else for the rest of my life.”
Ryan is now a very valued member of the team and also gets to help train new staff members when they come on board.
Much like Ryan, Steph Catley joined UME straight out of high school and has found it an incredibly smooth transition into the workforce.
“I came straight from high school; I knew university wasn’t for me and I wanted to start something full time and I’ve loved it,” she said.
Eighteen months later and she has completed her Cert III in Business Administration and is now undertaking her Cert IV whilst working as a Loan Processor. Through the support of Central Coast Group Training, she has found the balance of work and training incredibly manageable and has a support system in place should she fall behind.
“They make sure that I’m not falling behind, and they help me to manage my time and that I am enjoying my job,” he said.
If you’ve been considering taking advantage of the Federal Governments Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements program but don’t know if you have the systems in place to hire an Apprentice or Training – reach out to a member of our network to find out more. You can register your interest here.
