After more than a decade working aboard cruise ships in event management and entertainment, Grant Martin was ready to turn his experience working with people into something new.

Having spent years developing skills in public speaking, event organisation and team management, Grant knew that training and developing others was an area he was passionate about. While living in Australia on a working holiday visa, he began exploring how he could use those skills to build a new career and, ultimately, create a future for himself in Australia.

As Grant researched the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, Plenty Training continued to appear in his search. It was a conversation with Course Advisor Rosie Dunn that ultimately gave him the confidence to enrol.

“Rosie was so lovely, and she was so friendly, and just made me feel like this was the right choice for me,” Grant said.

Beginning the TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment also represented something bigger for Grant. In his mid-thirties, returning to formal study brought with it some uncertainty.

Having spent much of his working life in a completely different environment, Grant said he had a “big fear of returning to higher education” and initially questioned whether he would be able to adapt to studying again.

Throughout the course, there were moments when those doubts became particularly difficult. Grant said there were around three occasions when he considered giving up entirely.

“I’m old-fashioned. I’ve never known anything else but a teacher in front of a blackboard,” Grant said. “Doing a self-led course, that was something I wasn’t used to.”

It was during those moments that the support of Plenty Trainer Tom Fraser became particularly important, with Grant noting that Tom’s patience and support was a key motivator in completing the course.

“Tom was so amazing, and he was so patient with me and just gave me so much support throughout it that I actually felt worthy,” Grant said.

Completing the qualification ultimately gave Grant much more than a new credential. He said the experience helped rebuild his confidence in his ability to learn and showed him that starting something new later in life was entirely possible.

With his TAE40122 now completed, Grant plans to combine his qualification with more than a decade of industry experience and pursue training opportunities within event management, travel and tourism.

Grant hopes his next step will include opportunities within TAFE, but completing the course had also changed the way he thought about his own education.

Having never previously attended university, Grant said successfully completing the TAE had encouraged him to consider continuing his studies in the future.

“This whole Plenty Training course has actually inspired me to reach out and look into further education to boost myself even more,” he said.

For Grant, completing the Certificate IV represented another step towards building a new life and career in Australia, while giving him the opportunity to turn years of experience working with people into the ability to train and inspire others.

His advice to anyone questioning whether they could make a similar transition was simple.