0:06 - Tell us about your first job.
0:08 - Wait, do I go?
0:09 - A bit of a weird one
0:10 My most recent job, I was a comedy writer
0:13 for a Mercedes-branded video game.
0:16 - My third job which I still have now is at Salsas.
0:19 - I was coaching soccer, so under-14 girls.
0:22 - The thrill of when I give the people their burrito,>
0:25 they just smile.
0:27 I love seeing the smile on people's faces
0:28 when they receive the food.
0:30 - Yeah, there's not much that makes you happier than-
0:33 - A nice burrito, yeah.
0:37 - Why did you want to work for the electoral commission?
0:40 - I wouldn't say that I 100% wanted to work for it,
0:42 but I went to an early voting centre which you worked at,
0:47 'cause you worked at an early voting centre.
0:49 And then this lady was handing out little sheets asking
0:51 if people wanted to work, and it said no experience required
0:54 and you'll work with young people.
0:56 So I'm just, oh yeah, why not?
0:58 - I always wanted to have a career when I was older
1:01 in like the legal, political field, so I don't know,
1:04 I was talking to a lot of people and they said kids
1:06 that have the Victorian Electoral Commission
1:09 on their resume, it shows that even from an young age
1:12 they were interested and I think
1:13 that's probably the first reason I sort of
1:15 said I'll do this.
1:16 - I remember the morning, no, the night
1:20 before I was going to start when I was 18, the first time
1:24 I was so nervous 'cause I didn't really have a shirt
1:26 that I felt was office-y enough.
1:28 You know I never worked in an office, I didn't know,
1:31 I'd only seen Ricky Gervais.
1:33 I didn't know what to expect and then I rocked up
1:37 and everyone's just, you know,
1:38 and I went oh, okay, this is a lot more relaxed,
1:41 and yeah, a much more relaxing environment than I expected.
1:46 - [Beth] So my role at the Electoral Commission was working
1:48 in the early voting centres.
1:49 We would issue ballot papers, direct them where to vote,
1:55 direct them where the ballot box was, help them
1:58 with any sort of more complicated issues such as
2:00 if their name wasn't coming up on the electoral roll
2:03 or if they moved address, we basically covered everything
2:06 bar counting the votes ourselves.
2:08 - So I had a new role and that was taking surveys
2:13 as people were exiting the area.
2:16 - Like their experience at the voting,
2:18 like if they were happy with the service or the timing,
2:21 everything about the voting really, yeah.
2:23 - It wasn't hard to understand what to do.
2:24 I think you're a bit intimidated at the start
2:27 'cause it's like, for me personally, it felt like
2:29 my first real job, if that makes sense.
2:32 - For this, it's just good for people
2:34 that don't have any experience for this,
2:35 just you can hop straight into it.
2:38 It's like on the job training so you get paid
2:40 to do the training and it's like all in the one day,
2:42 it's just like really easy and it's a really big part
2:45 especially to do with the election,
2:47 like the election is really important.
2:48 - There's something really gratifying about, yeah,
2:51 especially when I was 18, you come into a work environment
2:54 where the majority of people at the time were probably
2:57 twice my age or older and yet I was treated as a peer
3:02 and I was given a level of respect and responsibility
3:07 that I was hoping for.
3:09 - Someone came up to me and was like here's a job you can do
3:11 that you don't need 10 years experience to do,
3:14 but you'll be treated like an equal as like, you know,
3:17 just a member of society who's helping, you know,
3:20 - [Rikki] Like the community. - [Beth] the community,
3:21 helping the community and getting paid for it.
3:23 - The VEC has managed to foster a culture in which everyone
3:28 really wants to help each other out,
3:30 That there are people in their sixties who don't really
3:32 know how to use computers and hey, I was born in the '90s,
3:37 I can manage that for them,
3:40 but I felt like I imparted some, like
3:44 Gen Y minutia onto these baby boomers, you know?
3:49 - Last one.
3:51 Why is this a good role for young people?
3:55 (laughter)
3:56 - I believe in having a really diverse resume.
3:58 - Yeah.
3:59 - I think it's good to have different experiences
4:02 in different fields. - Yeah, a variety.
4:04 - The money.
4:06 - The money, it's just-- - The fat stacks, you know.
4:09 - It's not volunteer work.
4:10 - The money's really good.
4:12 - The money's quite good. - Yeah,
4:13 I was happy with that.
4:14 - It's the most flexible job
4:16 that I've ever had the experience to do.
4:21 - 'Cause it's more casual 'cause obviously there's not
4:23 an election everyday.
4:25 It's like you can still have other jobs as well.
4:27 It's not like that's your one job, that's what your doing,
4:29 you can still, you can have the flexibility with it,
4:32 it's not just.
4:33 - And like when I first did it, I heard through a friend
4:36 and they put my name up for it, but I didn't know
4:38 how to get into it initially either,
4:39 but they want you on the system.
4:41 - It was easy to apply. - They can contact you again,
4:43 and be like hey do you want to work?
4:46 - And that's a wrap.
4:47 (clapping)
4:53 Thank you guys.
