4 February 2019

According to TAFE NSW research, Tourism and Experience Services was one of the five industry areas employing the most people in the Western Sydney region in 2018, and is forecast to remain the largest to 2021.

Over 37 million people attended more than 412,000 business events across Australia in 2013-14, with New South Wales and Victoria hosting the largest number of events and delegates. Since 2002-03, the industry has also made a growing contribution to the Australian economy; with direct industry, expenditure increasing by over $10 billion, from $17.4 billion to $28.0 billion[1].

Planning and managing large events may not seem like everyone’s ideal job, but for Jessica Mercuri it was a career path she became interested in while completing a business course.

It is a well-chosen career path in a growing industry; jobs in the events sector according to TAFE NSW research have the largest employment growth over the next three years, with 70 per cent of job postings requiring employees to have a certificate level qualification.

In order to gain as much industry experience as possible, Jessica started hosting annual fundraising gala dinners. The first event was held before she enrolled to obtain formal qualifications, which lead her to the Diploma of Events at TAFE NSW Granville

Not long into her course, Jessica landed a job as the NSW & ACT Events Coordinator for The Smith Family.

“I was searching for event courses and what attracted me to TAFE NSW was that that it offered the most flexible study options, plus the course also touches on PR and marketing aspects, not just events,” said Jessica Mercuri.

“The best thing about studying at TAFE NSW was the actual real life experience we were exposed to as part of our studies. I was able to work on the Flowers in Motion event which has 100-150 guests, that hands-on experience with real colleagues and a client definitely gave me a head start in the industry.”

In her role at the Smith Family, Jessica is responsible for managing the organisation’s events across NSW and ACT, which she does on her own, as well as coordinating the annual Christmas toy drive

“It’s a challenging, exciting and completely fulfilling job and it has really ticked many of the boxes I was in search for when wanting to move forward in my career.

“My teachers were fantastic and they all have such great experience. Some are still working in industry so skills we were taught is very relevant, they were very helpful with sharing their knowledge. We were able to gain the work placements we did due to the relationships they have within industry, something that is really valuable to a student who is starting or changing careers.”

The Diploma of Events Management can be studied at TAFE NSW Granville or as online via TAFE Digital. For more information visit www.tafensw.edu.au or call 131 601.