Meet our team: Nathan Keel

Nathan Keel
Labour Hire and Recruitment Consultant (Regional)

How did you first become involved with Skillinvest?
I first became a Skillinvest (or Workco back then) trainee in January 2005. I started out working at Wimmera Office Equipment as a sales consultant completing a Certificate III in Retail Operations.

Tell us about your work journey
I had no experience working in a retail shop or with computers but the 12-month traineeship in Certificate III in Retail Operations allowed me to get my foot in the door at Wimmera Office Equipment.

Skillinvest and I worked together to choose units that we felt were most applicable to my role.

After completing the 12-month retail traineeship I did an 18-month traineeship in Certificate III in Information Technology to boost my technical knowledge in the job.

How was Skillinvest able to support you throughout this journey?
I had a Skillinvest consultant check in with me every three months for a performance review. This gave me someone to talk to away from the business I worked at.

The trainer for Certificate III in Retail also worked for Skillinvest so I had both the trainer and consultant just around the corner from me if I ever needed them.

My trainer for the Certificate III in technology wasn’t from Skillinvest, but Skillinvest were able to arrange an external trainer for me who would visit me onsite regularly.

How do you think the skills that you gained through your earlier experience with Skillinvest and your host employer helped you get to where you are today?
I ended up working as a retail team leader years later. While in that role I supervised two trainees who completed their Certificate III in Business with Skillinvest as well.

Having been a Skillinvest trainee, and managed Skillinvest trainees, I had a good understanding of how Skillinvest worked which made the transition into Skillinvest as a direct employee fairly seamless.

What does your current role at Skillinvest involve?
My role is to help businesses fill temp jobs in a wide range of industries through labour hire. This means we recruit and provide the worker, pay the employees wages and super and the business pays a fortnightly invoice.

Another component to my role is helping business recruit staff that they hire directly at an agreed fee.

Why would you recommend Skillinvest to young people starting their working journey and to host employers?
Skillinvest provided me with the support I needed to find a full-time job without any prior skills.

The Certificates I completed helped me gain the skills I needed. My employer paid the fortnightly invoice and Skillinvest looked after the training I did for both Certificates as well as my wage, super and other administration.

What started as a 12-month Certificate as a 19 year old kid, turned into a 14 year career at the same business. Now I work as the Labour Hire and Recruitment Consultant at Skillinvest, the company that supported me when I started out.

Visit our Jobs Board to learn more about employment opportunities with Skillinvest.