Erin Lute

Snapshot:

• Industry / Sector: Community Services, Government

• Career Type: Employed

• Education Pathway: TAFE & Apprenticeship

• Mid Coast Connection: Raised in a regional community close to the Mid Coast

The Blurb:

Erin Lute, Program Officer with the Department of Education's Regional Industry Education Partnerships, shares her remarkable journey from hospitality worker to champion of regional student career pathways. After starting in hospitality and childcare, Erin spent a season as a camp counsellor in America before returning to run hospitality businesses. Her passion for mentoring young people led her to become a TAFE teacher, then into community services and youth work, before finding her current role connecting school students with industry opportunities.

She discusses the skills that enabled her varied career path — determination, creative problem-solving, and thinking outside the box — and explains why she values following your passion, staying true to yourself, and knowing your own worth. Erin also reflects on the importance of exposing regional students to career pathways they may not know exist, and why it's OK for young people not to have their future figured out at fifteen.

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• Video Highlights

  • Current Role – Working for the Department of Education's Regional Industry Education Partnerships program, connecting school students with industry, creating career pathways, and developing events and immersions to expose students to a range of career possibilities.

  • Career Path – Started in hospitality and childcare after leaving school, spent a season as a camp counsellor in America, returned to hospitality and ran several hospitality businesses, became a TAFE teacher for hospitality, moved into community services and youth work, then joined the Department of Education in her current role.

  • Key Skills – Determination, thinking outside the box, creative problem-solving, finding alternative solutions to roadblocks, mentoring and connecting with young people.

  • Challenges Shared – Growing up in a regional area with limited exposure to career pathways compared to city students, navigating a non-linear career path across multiple industries, and working around resource limitations such as funding and transport.

  • What She Loves – Showcasing career possibilities for regional students, developing programs that help students explore their interests and passions, creating connections between schools and industry, and genuinely enjoying work that doesn't feel like work.

  • Advice to Younger Self – It's OK if you don't know what you want to do, and it's OK to change your mind. Be true to yourself, know your own worth, know your values, and don't compromise them.

• Key Quotes

  • "My pathway was a little bit all over the place."

  • "I got to spend a season being a camp counsellor in America, which was definitely an eye-opening experience."

  • "If you ask my family, they'd probably say stubborn, but I'll go ‘determined’ and being able to think outside the box for solutions to roadblocks or challenges that have come up."

  • "When I was going to school, there wasn't a lot of options in terms of career development or career pathways."

  • "If you enjoy what you're doing, it doesn't feel like work."

  • "It's OK if you don't know what you want to do. It's totally OK. And it's OK if you change your mind 25 times because you shouldn't know what you need to do at 15."

• Transcript

  [00:00] Intro

  Today we're joined by Erin Lute, who works for the Department of Education's Regional Industry Education Partnerships. Erin will share with us some stories from her journey and the skills she has used to get to where she is today.

  [00:29] Would you like to share with us what your professional life looks like at the moment?

  So at the moment, my professional life is actually really interesting. I'm working for a program called Regional Industry Education Partnerships, and the program is all around connecting school students and industry and creating career pathways and events and immersion and just being able to expose students to a whole range of different worlds that they may not know existed.

  [01:02] Can you share with us a little bit of information about the pathway you took to be where you are today?

  My pathway was a little bit all over the place. I started in hospitality when I left school and childcare and worked in that for a few years, travelled overseas, which was really cool. I got to spend a season being a camp counsellor in America, which was definitely an eye-opening experience. 

  Came home, worked in hospitality for many years, had a few hospitality businesses. Decided that I really enjoyed working with young people and mentoring them in doing new things, so I became a TAFE teacher for hospitality. I did that for a few years, found my way into community services and youth work because I really enjoyed that human component of connecting and sharing and developing young people. And then I've ended up in this role with Department of Education, which has been an eye-opening role from the word go, but is definitely one of the coolest jobs I've ever had in my life.

  [02:06] Can you share with us a skill that you might have used to help you navigate that pathway?

  I'm probably very determined. If you ask my family, they'd probably say stubborn, but I'll go ‘determined’ and being able to think outside the box for solutions to roadblocks or challenges that have come up. So if the answer's ‘no because we don't have funding or a bus’ or something, then OK, how can we work around that? What else can we do to make this happen? So I'm pretty good at being able to come up with alternative options and ideas to make things happen for the kids.

  [02:48] I think you touched on this before, but what is it that you love about your professional life?

  I love being able to showcase what's out there for our students. When I was going to school, there wasn't a lot of options in terms of career development or career pathways. It was, you went to school, you either went to uni or TAFE or to work. That was it. There wasn't a lot of exposure to different industries and career pathways and there wasn't much around how to develop you as a person and your strengths. And okay, I'm really good at jigsaw puzzles and I love maths, so what sort of careers would I be suited to? So I love being able to develop programs and projects for students to be able to explore what they like and then to be able to follow their own path and passion.

  [03:39] And did you grow up in a regional area yourself?

  I did. I grew up in a little town called Pembroke, which is at the back of Port Macquarie on a farm.

  [03:49] So working with regional students is important, right?

  Yeah, definitely. I did some of my schooling in Port Macquarie and finished my schooling in Brisbane. And the difference between the regional and the city schools were incredible, not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of exposure to different things. A lot of our regional students, back when I was at school, we just didn't get the exposure or the opportunity to experience some of what the city students did. So I suppose that's why working in the role that I'm in now, being able to develop those opportunities for our students is just really awesome.

  [04:30] And what does that say about your personal values?

  I think part of it says, follow your passion and your dream and be true to yourself. If you enjoy what you're doing, it doesn't feel like work. And I can honestly say with this job, even though I do have to get up and go to work every day, it doesn't feel like I'm going to work and I don't have any "oh my God, I don't want to go to work" days, because I genuinely really enjoy what I'm doing and I enjoy creating the connections with the students in the schools and industry.

  [05:08] What advice would you give to students who were in Year 9 as they look down the barrel of what their pathway might be? What advice would you give?

  It's OK if you don't know what you want to do. It's totally OK. And it's OK if you change your mind 25 times because you shouldn't know what you need to do at 15. But I suppose if I had to give them any advice, it'd be: be true to yourself and know your own worth. So know who you are, know your values and don't compromise those.

Please note: All content is correct at the time of recording.