Orange TAFE trying to get more women into trades

Tafe Orange will be running (COVID restrictions permitting) a women's only pre-employment program and services coordinator Karen Pratt couldn't be more excited.

"It will change their whole future if they are looking to get into that career path," she said.

"It's an eight week program, Monday through Friday and purely targeting women because there is a skill shortage and women are a resource that is sitting there who may not have signed up for fear of how to start the process of getting into that line of work.

"We're looking at country women, because we are such a high profile mining and construction area, we wanted to look at how we could bridge the gap.

"It can be a fear based thing about 'where do I start'. A lot of these women may be stay at home mums in the first instance but now their kids are at school which is why we've targeted the 9am-3pm time frame."

Those who take part in the course will learn things such as basic levelling, operating an excavator, skid steer loader, wheeled front end loader, roller and telescopic materials handler.

"We're trying to introduce these women to mining, construction and infrastructure as a career path that they might not have otherwise thought about doing," Ms Pratt added.

"You can come to us without any skills whatsoever.

"Interest has been off the hook. It's a door opener and a game changer for these women."

This will be the first time an all-female trade program like this will be run at the Tafe.

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