‘Learnt on the job’: Aussie dropouts smashing career goals

The changing career landscape means employers need to rethink what it means to be qualified, and these Aussies are proving the case.

Luan Memishi dropped out of school in Grade 10.

The 34-year-old Gold Coast business owner was never really cut out for academics, and found most of school boring, except for what he was learning in woodworking class.

“I did work experience for a while with my cousin who was a carpenter at the time, and then in 2006 I enrolled at Victoria University to complete my 16-week pre-apprenticeship course,” he told news.com.au.

From there, a four-year apprenticeship led to a career in carpentry and form work, something that just this year, with prompting from his entrepreneur partner Monique, he parlayed into his own business, LMMJ Constructions.

“I always knew he was very talented but just need a little mentoring in business,” explains Monique, who runs nationwide modelling agency Diversity Models.

Luan's entrepreneurial partner Monique encouraged him to start his own business.

He dropped out of school in year 10, and is now preparing to take his business national.

Monique, who worked as a teacher for 13 years, says her own experience has shown her that mentoring in business can be far more effective and impactful than formal education.

“Luan has now won a huge civil construction contract on the Gold Coast and will go national soon with it,” she beams.

“I learnt on the job,” agrees Luan. “And through a combination of meeting the right people who believed in me, and continuing to develop my skills, I’ve been able to be successful.”

Evangeline Sarney was just 13 years old when she launched a beauty blog from her bedroom, growing up in the remote Flinders Ranges region of South Australia. Just five years later, that blog would be reaching 1.2 million readers worldwide. She began working with brands at just 14 years old.

“I received my first press package,” she recalls. “And thought ‘wow, this is cool, I don’t need to buy products at Priceline anymore!’ then went on to write paid articles for brands like The Body Shop and Palmers, and create visual content for brands including Covergirl, Burt’s Bees, Schwarzkopf, L’Oreal, Priceline Australia, and many more.”

Evangeline Sarney parlayed the beauty blog started from her bedroom in rural SA into a career that's taken her around the world.

By 21, Evangeline made the move from her sleepy country town to the US, landing a job as marketing consultant for L’Oreal/Lancome in New York - a dream start for anyone in the industry.

“From there, I secured full-time contracts with Estée Lauder and Elizabeth Arden, building a reputation as someone who understands both the creative and strategic side of brand marketing,” she explains.

“Today, I work as a marketing consultant for major beauty brands in NYC, helping them craft compelling campaigns and connect with modern audiences. Everything I’ve built has come from hands-on experience, hustle, and a deep passion for beauty …no university degree required.”

Bryce Meeks (centre) started working at Subway as a teenager and has worked his way up to head office.

Bryce Meeks completed a Bachelor of Business with a marketing major at La Trobe University in Melbourne, but says his most valuable education began behind the counter at his after-school job at Subway, where he started as a “sandwich artist” at 16.

Seventeen years later, Bryce is still employed by Subway, but has long moved on from casual shifts, rising through the ranks to become a shift manager before working his way up to head office.

Having gained experience across several areas of the business since 2008 in development, operating and leasing, the 33-year-old is now the company’s director of franchise performance for Queensland and the Northern Territory.

“I started at Subway to earn some money and in the beginning, I didn’t even know that it could be a long-lasting career,” he says.

Bryce says he’s gained experience ‘no university can teach’.

Bryce has gained diverse professional experience in his different positions over the years - from helping aspiring business owners to secure their first restaurants, to negotiating leases and rolling out new technology, and says every position has taught him something valuable to help him grow.

“The majority of my learnings were at Subway on the job and that’s experience no university can teach,” he said.

In fact, the ability to learn on the job is a quality more and more Australian employers put a premium on.

“On-the-job training is an important part of what it means to be qualified,” a spokesperson from the Australian Government’s Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) told news.com.au.

“The transfer of skills and knowledge from employer to employee, supervisor to worker or peer to peer, is a valid and vital form of learning. Formal training is not always necessary before starting a role and work experience can sometimes be the preference of employers.”

New research from global recruitment outfit Indeed found that an overwhelming 94 per cent of employers globally valued on-the-job experience over formal qualifications, and with a number of companies dropping formal education requirements from their application criteria, the paradigm has well and truly shifted.

The survey found that over half of employers (55 per cent) agree that on-the-job experience is more attractive than a university degree, with 70 per cent saying they will prioritise asking about an applicant’s experience to help them decide in recruitment.

Australian HR tech company Compono also found that 74 of Aussie organisations increased Learning & Development budgets mid-2024 to build skills internally, especially to fill talent shortages.

The changing career landscape is seeing workers and employers reconsider what it means to be qualified. Picture: Sydney University

There is evidence, too, that formal studying undertaken after a building a solid foundation within an industry can be more beneficial than the reverse, which has long been held up as the “right” way to do things.

For Evangeline, who did enrol in a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2020 when she was temporarily forced to return home due to the pandemic, it didn’t seem like the best use of her time.

“I quit after two semesters when I moved back to NYC,” she says.

“When I landed the gig at L’Oreal and was working alongside people with masters degrees, it didn’t seem like the best use of my time to spend it studying.”

And while formal education still holds merit for certain careers or types of learners, our rapidly changing career landscape paints a clear picture: perhaps it’s time to redefine what it truly means to be “qualified”.

Originally published as ‘Learnt on the job’: Aussie dropouts smashing career goals