UNIVERSITY students graduating this year and seeking careers involving sheep and wool have until the end of the month to apply for the 2020 Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) graduate training program.
Launched in 2018, the program currently has five graduates participating and the 2020 induction will be the program's third cohort.
AWI chief executive officer Stuart McCullough said the graduate training program provided successful applicants with a thorough understanding of the wool supply chain from greasy fibre through to fashion.
"The 18-month program commences in March 2020 and is based primarily at the AWI office in Sydney where the successful graduate applicants will gain exposure to many areas of the AWI business, from on-farm and off-farm R&D (research and development) through to marketing," Mr McCullough said.
"The graduates will also be given the opportunity to gain a global exposure to the wool supply chain through two three-month international rotations.
"The program is aimed at graduates from a broad cross section of disciplines who have a background in or connection with the Australian wool industry.
"For the 2019 program we saw a 50 per cent increase in applications from the previous year and we anticipate competition for the 2020 program to also be extremely high."
Mr McCullough said the graduate program was part of AWI's people resources program which was focussed on attracting passion and talent to the industry, as well as succession planning.
"We are focussed on attracting and retaining the best talent to the wool industry and we see the graduate program as one of the mechanisms to future proof human resources in our industry," he said.
The program is designed to foster the ambitions of graduates wishing to pursue a career within the wool industry.
Applications for the 2020 AWI graduate training program will close on Tuesday, April 30.
Select AWI graduate training program at wool.com/careers or apply through Seek or LinkedIn.