Claire’s shaping her own path

JUGGLING a traineeship with her own successful car detailing venture, Poowong’s Claire Bartlett is proving you don’t need to finish Year 12 to succeed in business.

The 20-year-old suffered a serious illness in her final year of school and spent months in hospital, resulting in her leaving school early.

She had moved out of home and taken a job in an abattoir, but Claire was motivated to continue her education and started searching for a traineeship, which would allow her to work and earn money while studying a business course.

Claire is now a trainee at Lee Property Valuers & Advisors in Traralgon, studying a Certificate III in Business (BSB30120) at Chisholm Institute. 

Success in her work and studies has seen Claire announced as a finalist in the Trainee of the Year category in this year’s Victorian Training Awards.  

These awards are hosted by the Department of Education and Training and recognise the outstanding achievements of students in the Victorian TAFE and training sector.

As part of her job, Claire schedules inspections for the valuers and checks over valuation reports before they are submitted to the bank.

“I love that every day is different,” Claire said. 

“For example, there may be a hiccup with the valuer’s appointment that you have to resolve because the valuer is on the road. I’m also learning so much about how to draft up a report and all the little things that are important to include.”

Claire travels 2.5 hours a day to work, but says the commute is worth it because her traineeship is a chance to gain useful skills and a qualification. 

“I would encourage more employers in regional Victoria to employ trainees,” Claire said. “Young people in regional areas would benefit from access to traineeships and employers would benefit in gaining staff who understand how their businesses work.”

The skills Claire has developed in her traineeship have also helped her with setting up her own successful small business.

“When I bought my car, it’s bright red, so I really wanted to make sure it always looked clean,” says Claire. 

“I started looking into products for my car, then it progressed to cleaning my friends’ and family’s cars. 

“All of a sudden people were recommending other people and it just snowballed thanks to word of mouth.”

Claire decided to name her business Bedazzled Car Detailing, embracing the fact that she was a woman in an often male-dominated space.

“Cars have always been associated with men, but girls can be into cars too, and that’s why I gave it a girly name,” Claire said.

Claire’s advice to other young people who were considering leaving high school early was to consider a traineeship.

“At high school you may have a maths textbook and learn things you’ll never use in the real world, but a business traineeship you literally have a textbook teaching you how businesses should operate and it’s very useful in your work,” she said.

 Winners will be announced on Saturday 10 September.