5000 Jobs in 50 Days: Celebrities reveal secrets to getting their first job

THEY are some of Australia’s most instantly recognisable faces who have come from very humble beginnings. Find out their secrets to career success.

YOUTH unemployment is at alarmingly high levels but youngsters are being urged to still try to crack into the workforce for the first time.

Some of Australia’s most well-known faces can reveal kickstarting their careers from jobs that include a kids’ party entertainer, supermarket shelves stacker and doing a daily paper run.

The national youth unemployment rate is at concerning levels with one in seven young Australians out of work, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

But for many familiar faces their careers had humble beginnings.

Personal trainer Tiffiny Hall, with student Isabelle Gray, became a taekwondo instructor at the age of 16. Picture: David Smith

Author and physical trainer Tiffiny Hall started her first job at just 14 working as a birthday party entertainer at a taekwondo studio and is now one of TV’s best-known fitness role models, while TV host and Port Adelaide president David Koch’s first job was stacking shelves at Woolworths.

“I became a taekwondo instructor at the age of 16 and still work as a taekwondo instructor today, working with kids and fitness was a great way to support myself through university,” said Hall, who appears on Channel 10’s The Living Roomand The Biggest Loser.

MY FIRST JOB: CLICK TO READ MORE

Koch is one of TV’s most popular personalities and has come a long way from his first job stacking shelves and packing shopping bags.

“I went up to the local shopping centre and asked for the store manager,’’ Channel 7’s Sunrise host said.

“Originally they were hiring for people to restock the shelves at night, I then graduated to the checkout and also worked as a cleaner.

“I became pretty good at working the floor-polishing machine.”

David Koch, who started off stacking shelves in a supermarket, knows the benefits of working hard.

Qantas Group chief executive officer Alan Joyce — whose airline this month recorded its biggest profit of $1.03 billion for the 2015/16 financial year — started his working life delivering newspapers in Dublin.

“It taught me discipline, particularly to be on time as people expect the paper early,’’ he said.

“It taught me responsibility as people were relying on getting their delivery each day, I also learnt about the value of money and earning an income.”

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says his first job as a newspaper delivery boy taught him discipline and responsibility.

Career expert Katie Roberts, who runs her own national career consulting business, said the best thing young Australians could do to get employment was to be persistent.

“Get a resume together with all your achievements, awards and schooling and then when it comes to job hunting don’t just rely on advertised jobs because you are competing with a lot of applicants,’’ she said.

“A great thing to do is to approach employers directly which can mean walking into the nearest food outlet or clothing shop, or aim for something that interests you, for example if you like hospitality contact cafes.”

Bachelor heart-throb Richie Strahan jokes that working in his mother’s lunch bar was “slave labour” but that it gave him a strong work ethic.

While Channel 10’s Bachelor Richie Strahan started his working career working at his mother’s lunch bar in Perth.

“It was slave labour, I got five cents for every customer I served,’’ he said.

“I used to wake up the crack of dawn, sometimes at four in the morning and go into the lunch bar and chop tomatoes and onions, serve customers and make coffees.”

But he said he taught him the importance of having a strong work ethic.

To help connect jobseekers with work, the 5000 Jobs in 50 Days campaign is calling on employers to consider whether they really need an experienced worker when they hire, and instead employ an inexperienced jobseeker and give a young person a start in their career.

This amount has already been eclipsed with more than 5200 jobs pledged but employers are still encouraged to get on board.

Youths, meanwhile, are urged to make themselves more employable, returning to finish school if need be or pursuing the best tertiary or vocational study option for them, as well as honing what employers call “soft” skills, such as communication.

TWITTER:@sophieelsworth

EMAIL:[e-mail]

Originally published as 5000 Jobs in 50 Days: Celebrities reveal secrets to getting their first job