Our Organisation

OCTEC is a successful community business based in Central West NSW and a leader in the important work of empowering disadvantaged members of our communities through education, training and employment services. We also support busineses, large and small, by supplying great staff and getting them trained. Our history: OCTEC started as a two person youth service in Orange (Central West NSW) back in 1976 and has grown to be an award-winning service provider operating across large parts of NSW. Our services: Our services are wide ranging. We deliver vocational education and training in aged care, business, civil construction, diability services, health and safety services, hospitality and waste management. We help people wth disability to find and maintain employment. We provide businesses with temp staff through our labour hire service. We support youth at risk of disengaging from the education system to stay engaged and get a qualification. And we run Huntley Berry Farm, an Australian Disability Enterprise and tourist attraction just outside Orange. Our success: There is no particular secret to our success. It’s based on a simple philiosophy of local people providing high quality services in their local communities, and doing what they say they will do

Our Coverage and Locations

Our Mission

Working across rural and regional NSW to provide individuals with training and employment opportunities, assist industry recruit and develop skilled workforces, and contribute to communities becoming more sustainable.

Our Purpose

To develop and manage projects that assist people to acquire and improve their ability to seek, obtain and retain employment. To research, initiate and develop programs that provide support services for local people, in particular young or otherwise disadvantaged people. To seek support in the community to assist people to develop their capacity for obtaining and retaining employment and to become more self-reliant and better skilled during periods of unemployment. To research, initiate and develop programs that provide industry training and employment opportunities. To provide services and programs which address and relieve poverty, sickness, distress, misfortune, destitution or helplessness.

Our Clients - “Testimonials”

OCTEC provides its programs and services to all members of the community and in particular, to members of the community who traditionally face barriers to accessing employment, education and training services.  OCTEC’s target client groups include school leavers, youth at risk of not making a successful transition from school to work, women, sole parents, Indigenous Australians, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disabilities, mature age workers and job seekers, people with learning difficulties including people lacking in literacy, numeracy or social skills, people living in rural and remote locations, people displaced from traditional areas of employment, people seeking retraining for a new career, people unable to progress from insecure employment arrangements, particularly casual and temporary employment, and the long-term unemployed. We estimate that more than 80% of individual clients who access our services fall into one or more of these categories.

OCTEC Limited  Phillips Centre is a state-of-the-art Training Studio in the grounds of its already popular and picturesque training facility at Croagh Patrick College, in Park Street, Orange, New South Wales.

Features of the new studio  includes:

• A semi-enclosed Study Court and other 'smart house' architectural features to maximise favourable weather conditions and reduce lighting and heating/cooling costs
• Wall mounted computer workstations to maximise floor space for manual training exercises
• High speed internet access to allow lessons to be shared country- or world-wide
• Camera coverage and computerised recording and mastering facilities for the creation, editing and sharing of training programs
• Storage room for different training materials, e.g. Beds for Aged Care, resuscitators for First Aid, etc.
• Accommodation, bathroom and kitchen facilities for travelling students and lecturers
• Fully Disabled Access compatible.

Download our Phillips Centre information booklet from one of the links below:

1. PDF format version1 : version 2

OCTEC has been in the important business of finding people work for more than 20 years. One of our guiding principles is the belief that the best welfare work you can do for someone is to help them find and maintain meaningful employment. Equally, we believe that one of the best ways to support local communities is to help employers recruit and develop skilled workforces.

OCTEC has experience and expertise in every area of employment service provision. For job seekers this includes skills assessment, resume development, job search training, cold canvassing, interview preparation, work experience coordination, mentoring and post placement support. For businesses, it includes workforce development planning, recruitment and selection advice, training needs analysis, traineeship advice and coordination, training delivery and support for new employees. OCTEC’s current Employment Services programs are Disability Employment Services and Q.temp labour hire

OCTEC is a specialist Disability Employment Service provider operating in regional NSW and western and south west Sydney. Our Career Consultants support people with disabilities to identify and overcome barriers to employment, find suitable vacancies, undertake cold canvassing for positions, negotiate workplace modifications where needed, and maintain their employment when workplace or personal difficulties arise. Consultants also work closely with OCTEC Training Services and OCTEC Q.temp to identify traineeship and short course training opportunities, as well as opportunities to gain work experience through temporary labour hire positions.

Another key part of our role is to work with local employers to identify suitable positions for our job seekers and to promote the benefits of employing someone with a disability. Research shows that people with disability have lower absenteeism, higher retention rates and fewer WHS incidents than other members of the workforce, which makes the employment of people with disability just good business

 For information on how OCTEC's Disability Employment Service can help, please contact the OCTEC consultant near you.

OCTEC is an established Registered Training Organisation with a proven track record of high quality, award-winning training delivery to a range of industry sectors. We deliver training in more than 40 nationally-recognised qualifications and units of competency. Our training services are delivered in a number of program areas including:

• Business and Service Industries
• Civil Construction
• Community Services and Health
• Health and Safety Services
• Rural Industries

Community Services and Health delivers full certificate courses and short course training in a range of qualifications from the Community Services and Health Training Packages, particularly in the area of Aged Care and Acute Care. OCTEC is a recognised pioneer and leader in this area, working with more than 50 facilities across regional NSW.

Health and Safety Services delivers a range of short course training programs in areas that contribute to safer and healthier workplaces, including Food Safety Supervisor, Safe Food Handling, General Induction for the Construction Industry (White Card) and First Aid.

The other three program areas deliver employment-based traineeships and classroom-based training in a range of industry areas including Agriculture, Business, Civil Construction, Horticulture, Hospitality, Retail and Waste Management. Under the Rural Industries program, OCTEC delivers chemical user training in partnership with other organisations including NSW Farmers Association, to hundreds of farmers each year.

The quality of our service delivery was recognised in the 2009 Community Services and Health National Accolades of Excellence, in which OCTEC was a finalist in two categories, as well as in the 2011 NSW Training Awards where OCTEC won the Industry Collaboration Award.

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