KALLI Brown was unsure what career path to take when she left school, but the chance to apply for an administrative trainee role at Wattle Range Council was an opportunity she could not let slip.
“When this role popped up I thought it would be the best opportunity to work in local government and I thought that it would be a good foot in the door for other roles,” Kalli said.
“It definitely has been great – when another traineeship pops up, if it does, I would definitely encourage students from the schools to go for it because it’s an amazing opportunity.”
Kalli is in the final stages of her two-year traineeship, which ends in April next year.
The interview process itself was an eye opener into how much council does on a daily basis.
“It was definitely surprising how much council does,” Kalli said.
“In my interview when they asked me, ‘what do you think council does?’ and I said, ‘um… cut the trees?’
“But it’s a lot more than that – roads, maintenance, development applications, dog registrations, rates – I did not realise how much they do until I started working here.”
As the first point of contact between the public and various local government departments, a typical day for council workers in administration is constantly busy.
“Answering phones and serving customers with all sorts of inquiries,” Kalli said.
“It can be anything from paying rates to dog registrations to trees being down.
“Road maintenance as well, all sorts of inquiries that we have to report back to the responsible officers.
“So we get anything and everything – any kind of correspondence with council, we pick up the phone and go from there.
“We sort of have to know everything, so if someone calls with something that’s in consultation with council we have to briefly know about it so we can put them through to the right person.
“You never really know what you’re going to get from day to day.”
Challenging the idea administrative staff were akin to receptionists, Kalli said broad knowledge of all areas of local government was needed.
“I do not think that people know that you have to be so knowledgeable and your job is not to just pick up phone.
“Most departments, if you’re in finance for example, you need to know all about your financial role.
“But when you’re in customer service you have to know about the outdoor crew, the rates and the development side of things as well.
“You get a good idea of all the departments.”
While she occasionally fields calls from irate customers, Kalli said plenty of people were full of praise for council.
“When people ring up about something the guys have done outside, it does make you think there’s positive people out there.”
