Fox & Lillie Rural Stock & Land Contribution
Supporting young people to get their foot in the door to the wool industry, and exposing them to the various career opportunities it offers, has always been an important part of Fox & Lillie Rural’s business operations.
There are several areas the company focuses on to encourage young people to progress up through the sector, including its cadetship program, student scholarships and various forms of industry placement.
Last month, Fox & Lillie Rural had Victorian student Michelle Grover come in for work placement at its rural services and export division.
She was awarded the company’s work experience scholarship prize as part of a Rona Youth Sheep Expo essay competition.
This was an online junior judging and handling competition, which was established to fill some of the void that was left after most agricultural events were cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in the past 12 months.
Work experience is a good opportunity for young people to gain hands-on industry experience and strengthen their resume for future career prospects.
This is why Fox & Lillie Rural has included it as part of its scholarship offering at Longerenong College, which is one of Victoria’s leading grassroots agriculture colleges.
The company has been supporting students at Longerenong College for several years.
It awards two $5000 student scholarships each year that go towards offsetting student course fees and student accommodation at the college for their two years of study.
It is during their second year that students undertake work experience at Fox & Lillie’s trading and rural services divisions.
This placement has led to career opportunities for some.
Tom Roughead, Fox & Lillie Rural’s 2016-2017 scholarship recipient, is an example of this – having secured a cadetship position at the company after completing his course.
He recently moved into a new position at the company as a wool marketing representative, servicing woolgrowers in central Victoria.
We encourage people who are looking to enter into the wool industry to be proactive and approach companies you are interested in working at – or even if you would just like to undertake work placement to gain more exposure.
Fox & Lillie has an “expressions of interest” job listing on its website, which remains open even if there are no current jobs available.
This is an excellent way to approach a company and, you never know, your dream job might be just around the corner.
Full contribution in the Stock & Land can be found here.