Aussie Childcare Network Forum

Hi all. I had a Casual educator's interview last Wed and the recruiter said she would send out a contract last Friday. But I did't receive anything from her until this morning, so I ring them to remind her. As a result, I received a email about 3 hours trail this afternoon.

I'm so serious about this role, so it is a bit disappointing at this stage. Could anyone give me some tips on the trail work? It's just a cert3 casual position, should I focus on interacting with children or keeping eyes on house works?

I've got my cert3 on 2012 and doing my diploma now. I have a bad experience on a 4 hours trail work with another centre. I tried my best to get everything done immediately in both preschooler room( experienced) and baby's room(not experienced but I have 2 my own kids at home). They count me into the ratio but did't pay me and no any following up. I ring them 1 week later, but they said it is under processing.

I really don't know what to do this time. Do they just put me on a back up list?

Hi,
When I was doing my Certificate 3 placements, one of the centres counted me in the ratios and also paid me. From my understanding, students should not be included in the ratios. I was effectively employed by the centre I did my placements in,so this is slightly different. I am slightly confused about your post. When I did my Cert 3, we had to do 60 hours with each age group as our placement hours. This means 60 hours with babies, 60 hours with toddlers and 60 hours with the 3-5 age group. Are you saying that you only have to do 4 hours?????

It is common for centres to have potential employees do a trial. This helps you to determine if the centre is right for you and this help the centre determine if you are right for their centre. When working in childcare, everything may look good on paper (your resume) but it really depends on your work ethics and your work practices. The centre wants to see how you interact with children, engage with them, work with others in the team etc. Even if it's only for 3 hours, you can really tell if the centre is right for each other...

According to Fair Work Australia in regards to trials it states:

Sometimes a person is asked to do an unpaid trial when being evaluated for a vacant job. This skill demonstration is used to determine if the person is suitable for the job, and is sometimes called a work trial.

A work trial is okay when:
•it involves no more than a demonstration of the person’s skills, where they are directly relevant to a vacant position
•it's only for as long as needed to demonstrate the skills required for the job. This will be dependent on the nature and complexity of the work, but could range from an hour to one shift
•the person is under direct supervision for the entire trial.

Any period beyond what is reasonably required to demonstrate the skills required for the job must be paid at the appropriate minimum rate of pay. If an employer wants to further assess a candidate's suitability, they could employ the person as a casual employee and/or for a probationary period and pay them accordingly for all hours worked.

Ref: Unpaid Trials

If you are successful during the trials you will be contacted by the centre and be given a contract of your position (even as a casual). If you are still waiting they could be still processing it and if this is the case you could ask them that when you will be starting your shifts so you can make sure you are available during that time...

Hope this helps,

,
Lorina

i*love*pugs wrote:Hi,
When I was doing my Certificate 3 placements, one of the centres counted me in the ratios and also paid me. From my understanding, students should not be included in the ratios. I was effectively employed by the centre I did my placements in,so this is slightly different. I am slightly confused about your post. When I did my Cert 3, we had to do 60 hours with each age group as our placement hours. This means 60 hours with babies, 60 hours with toddlers and 60 hours with the 3-5 age group. Are you saying that you only have to do 4 hours?????

Thanks for your reply. I'm talking about the trail for a job, not the work placement. I still believe If they count me into the ratio, they should pay me. There was 2 educators and 9 babies in the room, an extra staff was in the cot room with 2 babies. And also I changed 3 nappies without any supervision.

Louisa0616 wrote: Thanks for your reply. I'm talking about the trail for a job, not the work placement. I still believe If they count me into the ratio, they should pay me. There was 2 educators and 9 babies in the room, an extra staff was in the cot room with 2 babies. And also I changed 3 nappies without any supervision.

The ratio is 1:4 for babies so if there were 11 babies with 3 educators then it sounds fine... Were you part of the ratio? Were you the 3rd or 4th person in the room? In regards to changing nappies, maybe they wanted to see if you knew how?

,
Lorina

Hi all,
I have been doing trial for 5 hrs. Do I get paid as normally trial is around 3 hrs. And also they offer me $19 per hour for Diploma qualified. They told me all their diploma staff gets paid like that. Is that the correct paid for the diploma with 2,5 yrs experience?
Thank you very much.