LILY McGough and Bronte McInnes have had a rocky start to their working life.
Lily, 18, from the Maitland area, and Bronte, 19, from Warners Bay, are both on a gap year after doing the Higher School Certificate in 2019.
Both were happy to begin full-time administration traineeships in the administration office at Hunter Christian School at Mayfield on March 23.
The timing of their appointments, however, came as the NSW and federal governments began to impose coronavirus restrictions and speculation mounted as to whether schools would shut.
"The first day was normal, there were a normal amount of kids and after that it was patchy because of the government's mixed message about whether to send children," says Lily.
With regular school administration drying up by the day before schools eventually closed, the women were steered more into dealing with archives.
The school then advised there wasn't enough work for them to stay but would like them to return when things normalised.
"We didn't think we would have a job until term four, everyone was stressing," says Bronte.
As new employees, the women had no possibility to access JobKeeper but they were fortunate to be offered a three-day administration role contract at Hunter Valley Training Company. [HVTC had initially found the girls the traineeships with its "host employer", or client, Hunter Christian School].
On June 1, the women returned to the Christian School and remain grateful to have managed to keep an income during the entire pandemic.
"It was pretty stressful when it all happened, thinking, 'How will I get a job when there are no jobs around to support myself," says Lily.
Bronte had already been stood down from another part-time job she had in high school, so she was particularly worried: "It would have been so much harder to get a job when I haven't worked for so long."
The women are settling into their administration traineeships, which they believe will help direct their career trajectory. "I deferred a teaching degree this year because I wanted to see what the school environment was like when not being a student," Bronte said.
"I guess we haven't done a lot so far but it has been interesting to see how it works from the administration office, from talking to the teachers."
Meanwhile, Lily has decided she wants to stay in the administration area and has applied for a similar role in the air force: "[The traineeship] has been fantastic - learning and applying your skills."
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