School leaver James Kriskovich showing spark despite others not leaving ‘job ready’

Carl Copeland has seen the bad and the good when it comes to teenagers being ready to take on a job.

The chief executive of WA’s biggest employer of electrical apprentices, Electrical Group Training, said third-year electrical apprentice James Kriskovich, 20, is one of the good ones.

“He’s got good communication skills and he’s doing really well at college,” he said. “He’s very good at what he does for the employers — he does what he’s asked and he’s good at his studies.”

But Mr Copeland said many other school-leavers struggled with communication and with skills such as time-management, being able to plan and organise themselves.

“They’ve got very good digital literacy, but the actual communication in the workplace — and even just structuring a basic email — is a problem,” he said. “They can send each other texts, but they find it very hard just to sit and talk to each other.”

He said electricians needed to be able to use algebra and calculus.

“Maths is very important to us, but also the language side for reading circuit diagrams,” he said.