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)

4:49 - High five, you went to clap.

4:50 (laughter)

4:53 Thank you guys.