Women and apprenticeships
Your energy can lead to a new career in our Apprenticeship Program.
Are you a woman who loves the outdoors? Do you enjoy working in a hands-on role? Have you considered a career in the energy industry? We have fantastic women working as apprentices and tradespeople across our organisation, and we’d love to see more women apply for roles with us.
We know this is an awesome career for women. If you’ve ever contemplated a hands-on role working in beautiful Queensland, we’d love to share some more information with you about what our apprenticeships have to offer.
Why consider a career with us?
We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation where everyone feels welcome and supported to shine. Our apprentice program is focused on ensuring you have the best opportunities to learn and grow. Our apprentices will have both on-the-job and off-the-job formal training to teach you the skills you need to be a successful tradesperson.
We also offer a flexible work environment and value work/life balance. But don’t take our word for it, listen to some of our current and former female apprentices talk about their experiences on the apprenticeship program below.
Hear from some of the women who've been part of our apprentice program
Melinda Williams - Apprentice Electrician
Skip to descriptionI’m Melinda. I am an electrical apprentice with Ergon and Energex.I am a mum of two, and that’s who I am.
I started the electrical apprenticeship because I wanted challenge, I wanted change, and I just wanted to be outside and hands on and making a difference. There’s so much diversity every day I don’t know what I’m doing. Like I could be one day in the truck going out bush, or I could be climbing a pole, or I could be in the workshop fixing a transformer. So, the diversity in what I do is awesome.
It is a very male dominated industry that I work in, and I thought I would struggle. Diversity in the industry like I thought oh I’m coming into a man’s world, but it hasn’t been that way. There’s been so much support, like it’s mateship there, respectful, there’s not a question I can’t ask, um helpful, um they push me, they push me every day to do better than what I did the day before.
So, both my children are really proud that I’m doing this. My son is an apprentice also. Ah we fight each day about who is the better apprentice in the house. Obviously, it’s me because I am older and wiser.
Every day is a highlight for me, I love coming to work every day. I can’t pick one particular highlight. I guess I never thought I could climb a pole. I climbed a pole, put a harness on, climbed a pole, I transferred out of an EWP onto a pole. That was probably one of my highlights because I thought I would never do that ever, and I didn’t think I could do that, but I did. And I had great support from my other apprentices helping me do that.
Highlight is just every day coming to work, I love this place, I really do. So, my advice for anyone, any females wanting to get into the electrical industry, start working with Ergon and Energex.
My advice is don’t be scared to try something new, don’t be scared to work outside of the box. If this is what you want, this is what you go for. Don’t be scared that it’s a male dominated area, there is so much support here, and you can do this. If I can do this, anyone can do this.
Hear about Melinda's experience as an Apprentice Electrician.
Chloe Bradford - Apprentice Electrician
Skip to descriptionI’m Chloe and I’m a first year apprentice electrician with Ergon Energy.
So, at the moment I’m in the workshop. So, fixing transformers, draining oil, doing PCB samples, just all that kind of stuff. Just get your hands on straight away. Love it.
I’ve never really been a fan of like the books side of things, just love the pracs, so it’s been awesome.
The most challenging aspect would probably be my age, because everyone just is a lot older, and they seem a lot wiser than me, and I feel like I would never be right. But they are all very welcoming and make you feel very comfortable.
My advice to school students would be to just give it a crack. It’s honestly very rewarding and even for females it’s just the best career option.
The support from the other apprentices, especially the female ones, has been great, because they know like what it’s like to be a fresh apprentice, female, in a very male dominated career.
So, they are all supportive and they’re in helping you every step of the way.
My advice to someone wanting to try out for an apprenticeship would be just to apply, give it a go, go out do work experience.
Just do what ever you can to get a leg up to try to get into it, because it’s an awesome career.
Hear about Chloe's experience as an Apprentice Electrician.
Melissa Mathews - Telecommunications Development Lead
Skip to descriptionSo, my current role in Ergon and Energex is a Telecommunications Development Lead. And that entails working with our asset team around our broader telecommunications infrastructure and technologies and developing and implementing new solutions into the business.
I’m lucky to have only recently started this role. I’m returning from maternity leave late last year. So, I’ve done a few project roles leading into this one.
So, my background is a communications technician, and so I spent 15 years in the business as a tradesperson and now I’m moving into an office kind of role that suits life a little bit better, with a little bit of flexibility, and allows me to use my technical skills and apply them into the business moving forward.
What I loved about the apprenticeship was just the variety. I completed mine across South West Queensland, so one day you could be in Toowoomba or in the eastern area, or the next day you could be in Charleville on a cattle station. So yeah, a really great opportunity to see different places and different technologies.
Everything from radio to fibre optics, it’s just a really broad mix, yeah, a good mix of different things. So, out of school I thought Uni was going to be the greatest this ever and I did a couple of, or started some double degrees in IT and Sciences, and got a little way through those and realised that I kind of was going to be behind in the world before I even finished those degrees in technology.
Um, being a practical person, farming background, I always thought I could do something, something more and managed to find an avenue that allowed me to get out and do physical things and combine that technical knowledge and IT kind of space as well. So, it’s been a great mix of the two.
I did a business traineeship in some apprenticeship programs as well, so it kind of just cemented that concept that this is a great way to learn and to start a career.
Hear about Melissa's experience as a Telecommunications Development Lead.
Why join our apprenticeship program?
- A hands-on role in the great outdoors keeping the lights on for Queenslanders
- Career opportunities - with a workforce of more than 7,000 there are many ways to grow your career beyond an apprenticeship
- Work/life balance - enjoy a 9-day fortnight and opportunities to work flexibly
- Highest quality development and training with nearly 95% apprentice completion rate
- Exciting, dynamic work in an essential industry that makes a meaningful impact
- Highly supportive teams
- All tools and equipment supplied
- Socially conscious and inclusive organisation, committed to supporting and energising Queensland communities
- Competitive salary.
Our approach to diversity and inclusion
We know that a diverse workforce and inclusive work environment help us to deliver better outcomes for our business, our employees and our customers.
Our approach to diversity and inclusion is about reflecting Queensland communities, making a place where everyone belongs and putting our people at the heart of what we do. You can read more about how we do it on our Energy Queensland Diversity & Inclusion web page.
For more information
Go to frequently asked questions and click on women in apprenticeships, or if you'd like to talk to us about our apprenticeship program, please phone 1800 262 353 or email us at ApprenticeRecruitment@energyq.com.au.