TRACQS has been supporting people across Far North Queensland since 2019, and the Career Coaches behind that work are part of what makes us different. We work with people who are ready for something different: a new industry, a return to work, or simply a clearer sense of what’s available to them. Spread across more than 20 remote and regional communities, the Career Coaches who help make that happen bring a lot to those conversations, and none more so than Peggy, Mavis, and Karen, who’ve each been through the process themselves.

Pictured, left to right: Peggy, Karen, and Mavis

Meet Peggy

After 11 years in retail and a period of unemployment, Peggy knew she wanted to work in employment services, she just needed the right opportunity. As a mum of three, the roles she’d come across hadn’t fit around her family. She reached out to TRACQS to look at her options, including potential pathways in the corrections sector. When a position came up at TRACQS, her Career Coach encouraged her to apply. She got the role, and worked out an arrangement that suited her family as well.

Today, Peggy pays that support forward every day. “Anything is possible,” she tells her clients. “If you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know.”

Meet Mavis

Nearly 12 months into her role at TRACQS, she’s spent her working life across a wide range of industries: cleaning, administration and HR, bar work, and more than 20 years in youth work across the Northern Peninsula area.

When she was ready for a change, she moved to Kuranda. As a TRACQS participant on Centrelink, she spotted a job opening within the organisation. The team encouraged her to put in an application. She did, and she was successful.

That experience of being supported, and now doing the supporting, shapes how Mavis shows up for her clients. Her advice is simple: “Keep going forward.”

Meet Karen

Five years into her role at TRACQS, she spent 20 years prior running her own Indigenous art business at the Cairns Night Markets, driving in daily from Dimbulah in the later years. After selling the business, she became a full-time carer for her father-in-law, and eventually transitioned onto Centrelink.

She came to TRACQS not knowing what came next, and found both a path and a career. When a role opened up, she applied and got it. She got to work, learned quickly, and five years later she’s one of TRACQS’ most senior Career Coaches.

“Have a goal, be willing to learn, and remember it’s never too late to change,” Karen says. It’s a philosophy she lives, and one she shares with every participant who walks through the door.

Experience that can’t be taught

Good Career Coaching across remote and regional Queensland takes more than knowing the local job market. It takes understanding what it actually feels like to be the person on the other side of the conversation. When Peggy, Mavis, or Karen are sitting with a participant, they’re drawing on their own experience of going through the same process, with the same questions and the same service. That’s not incidental to why we hired them. It’s a big part of it.

Being locally-led has always been central to how TRACQS operates, and our people reflect the communities we serve. Peggy, Mavis, and Karen are living proof of what’s possible, and a reminder of why TRACQS invests in the people we work with, not just the outcomes we achieve. We’re proud to have them on the team.

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