23 April 2019
Yardley Polsen is a passionate and talented cricketer, who plays for the Campbelltown-Camden Ghosts. That same passion and talent has seen Yardley shine in her Business Administration traineeship with Camden Council.
Yardley’s traineeship is part of an initiative between the Ghosts cricket club and Council, to provide a traineeship pathway to one of the team’s players. The initiative encourages further educational and career development, while allowing the trainee to continue to focus on their sport commitments. Yardley was successful in gaining the traineeship and has been working hard in her Council roles for over six months now.
Yardley works across two teams at Council: Events & Tourism and Sport, Recreation & Sustainability. This is one of her favourite parts of the traineeship, and Yardley seems to move between the teams effortlessly, according to her supervisor Kristy Finlayson, Team Leader, Events & Tourism.
“Yardley’s always looking for new opportunities to learn new skills, even when times are really busy,” said Kristy.
Yardley’s other supervisor, Bernadette Mackinnon, Manager, Sport, Recreation & Sustainability, echoed Kristy’s sentiments about their trainee.
“We’ve found Yardley to be a really valuable team member,” she said. “She’s always positive, always willing to give any task a go.”
Yardley has applied herself to her traineeship in similar fashion to how she applies herself to cricket.
“I think working with a group of people at work is very similar to working with people on a sports team,” she said.
“Everyone is there to help each other and for everything to go smoothly, everyone needs to work together.”
Juggling a full-time job and busy work commitments is something Yardley believes anyone can do, as long as the drive is there.
“I think if you enjoy both, you will find the time to be able to do both,” she explained.
“I also find that the two [her traineeship and cricket] balance themselves out. I find that work gives me a chance to take my mind off sport for a bit and to have my mind on something completely different, and being at sport takes my mind off work and being able to run around and playing sport keeps me calm and I feel like I’m in my happy place.”
What makes Yardley stand out, according to her supervisors, is the effort she puts into every task she takes on, even the smaller things. This is something Yardley herself is also proud of.
“I always want to make sure that I put in 100% effort and get as much out of everything as I can, so asking questions and seeking feedback as much as I can so that I can improve on what I need to,” said Yardley.
“Little things like being on time for work each day and wearing the correct office attire are also small goals I have for myself.”