Group Training Champions – Why MIGAS is an exceptional GTO

6th August 2012

Author: MIGAS
Categories: News & Blogs Staff Blog

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Group Training

A question I often get asked is: “Why is MIGAS the best Group Training Organisation?”  The first thing that jumps into my mind is that it is the staff that make MIGAS the best Group Training Organisation/Scheme.  Although staff are the underpinning reason that we are the best Group Training Scheme in Australia, there’s a lot more to having a great service organisation.  When I joined MIGAS I didn’t know anything about Group Training and that was probably a good thing, because I came in with no preconceptions of what a Group Training Scheme should do.  Many people have heard me say that as I went around to all of our hosts when I first joined, I listened to what they complained about and just did the opposite.  Fairly simple logic, but it seems to have worked.  One of the main tenants of our Group Training Scheme is that we do everything we can to look after our apprentices and trainees, right down to making sure that we put their tools for trade claims in, helping them get ancillary qualifications and sorting out personal problems that other group training schemes may not do.

So, let’s look at the services that our group training scheme offers:

• Free advertising of vacancies
• Free interviewing and short-listing to your specifications
• Free aptitude testing
• Regular performance assessment/monitoring
• Rotation ability
• Book and monitor TAFE
• Take care of all Government paperwork
• Complete signup and administration
• Full comprehensive Induction with a large focus on safety
• Payroll and timesheets
• Cover Superannuation
• Supply clothing/boots/basic PPE
• Coordinate licences
• Coordinate specialised tickets
• Organise Tools for your Trade
• Coordinate tool purchases
• Book Capstone tests
• Ensure e-Profiling is up-to-date
• Offer crisis counselling
• Discipline
• Workforce development
• OH&S consulting
• Personalised service

You’d have to admit, this is a pretty comprehensive service that I believe other Group Training Schemes would find hard to match.  That’s not to say we do everything perfectly - after all, we are human, but the staff of this Group Training Scheme often go above and beyond the normal levels of service to ensure our apprentices, trainees and hosts are well looked after.  In the current economic climate and since the GFC hit in 2007, other Group Training Schemes that I’m aware of found it hard, and are finding it hard, to maintain their numbers.  At MIGAS, we fell from 860 apprentices and trainees, back to 640.  Since then we have re-grown our numbers to back up 750.  You can only do this through offering a comprehensive Group Training Service.

David Brown
MIGAS CEO

Group Training