‘Dream job’ attainable through Access course

Press, 6 December 1989, Page 39

‘Dream job’ attainable through Access course

By

MARITA

VANDENBERG Mrs Sheila Weddell’s idea of a dream job has always been to do secretarial work. It would still be a dream if she hadn’t gone through the Access training course she completed at the Christchurch Polytechnic last week, she says. Mrs Weddell graduated from the clerical typing and word processing course — one of 240 Access students who graduated in two ceremonies at the polytechnic last week.

Mrs Weddell said she had taken the Access course in an attempt to improve her qualifications. “I was 32 years old. I had no qualifications, my daughters are growing into teenagers — I saw no

future and no career for myself. I decided to do something positive,” she said. Mrs Weddell learned a variety of office skills including typing, word processing, data entry, audiotyping and Pitman’s shorthand. “The course really built my confidence right up. Before I went on the course I wouldn’t have said ‘boo’ to a goose. All the extra lessons we had were helpful too — such as what clothes to wear and how to use make-up. “We had an hour and half every week of recreation in which we did everything from making a pottery pig to having combat lessons,” she said. Mrs Weddell is full of praise for her tutors. Mrs Weddell and her family

emigrated to New Zealand from Newcastle, England, nearly two years ago. She said the course had proved a great place to make friends. In January she will begins working in the office of Dooley Associates, one of the South Island’s biggest private investigators. Mrs Weddell got the job on November 15 — her birthday — and described the start of her new career as a dream come true.

The Christchurch Polytechnic held two graduation ceremonies because of the high number of graduates. During each ceremony, course representatives spoke about their experience of the course they had just completed.