Blake Morrison was our first employment transition to another employer after he had gained geospatial skills from our paid on-the-job training. ASA’s Employment Transition Program, which sits under our Talent Services offering, goes beyond placing talented candidates with other inclusive organisations. It addresses the need for long-term and sustainable workforce development in the geospatial and engineering professions, which are facing severe skills shortages.
After struggling to find stable employment for many years, Blake has worked long-term at the University of New England (UNE) in the Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre. His contract was recently extended for another three years, a testament to his strong work ethic and technical skills.
Find out more about Blake’s journey below and in the above video.
Blake Morrison: I have a Commerce degree with a major in accounting. But after university, I found it hard to land secure, long-term work. I’ve been an accountant, an admissions officer, and worked in a plant nursery. I’ve sold car paint and batteries, cleaned air conditioners, and telemarketed way too many times! I also did day labour work. I’ve forgotten more jobs than I’ve listed here!
I always struggled to maintain the energy to perform appropriately at a full-time job. My pattern was usually about three months of heavy masking and then two months of mental collapse before getting fired. But then I got a chance with ASA in early 2021, working on geospatial projects. I worked part-time for four months between Brisbane City Council and ASA as I had an opportunity arise there as well.
“When I was at ASA, I loved the variety of work and applying my brainpower and having it benefit ASA’s projects. ASA has the most genuine management, which gave me greater confidence. I feel freed from the shame cycle of Centrelink and feel like ASA has allowed me to maintain and enhance my job prospects.”
After a year at ASA, an opportunity came up with the UNE in early 2022. I thought it would be silly to pass up the opportunity to focus on a new employment path I didn’t know existed before! I bet ASA would have me back should the new role not work out. I thought if I did a good job at UNE, I could potentially open doors for other people at ASA and provide encouraging advice. At first, I started working casually. I made (Chief People Officer) Samantha keep me on the ASA books for almost a year until I felt like a piece of the furniture at the UNE. For a short time, I would spend a day at ASA each week doing my UNE work. My hours increased to the point where I was offered a multi-year contract. I was happy they did; the workplace and colleagues made me feel safe.
At UNE, I’ve learned that there are managers I can respect who are willing to put in the effort and see the value in working with me. I had to learn to trust and be open at first. I’m still learning! I now work in a small research team of around 12 people, four of whom are based in Queensland (the main campus is in Armidale, New South Wales). We focus on mapping horticultural crops and using that data for research, adding extra value to the product, which we can sell to government or industry.
“At UNE, I started purely mapping. For example, I’ve personally mapped every greenhouse in Australia! I’m currently building and maintaining the apps that use the maps we’ve built. I work directly with the citrus, avocado and macadamia industries to help them spatially enable their own grower databases. I scope out their current situation and needs, then build a database structure and the apps to enable them to populate their own map and then dream up ways to help them with biosecurity, yield predictions, emerging situations, etc.”
I like that I’m always learning here. There are super varied tasks, and I’m always building and applying logic. My point of view is always respected. I’m not perfect—I still have heaps to learn about communication and moderating the amount of energy I invest in trying to do a perfect job. Luckily, I can be open about this and ask my manager for guidance.
“My advice to anyone from ASA who is thinking about an employment transition– take the leap!”