John Jessop
Managing Director

Better Training and Consultancy Pty Ltd

John has successfully worked in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in Australia predominantly in the fields of vocational education and training, community development, local economic development and employment services. This has been blended with working in the private sector in a range of fields and at various levels. He has also spent a number of years working with homeless people, juvenile offenders, and ward of state both in the not-for-profit sector and as an officer of the crown. This included 3 years working in a maximum security juvenile detention centre.

He has demonstrated experience from the 'factory floor' to national planning and policy development in the vocational training and employment services industries. This has included designing and implementing all manner of labour market programs, local community and economic development programs, and various diversional responses both with juvenile offenders and the homeless. This has included the design and implementation of national projects involving numerous stakeholders and the ongoing project management of these programs. I am proficient in the theory and practice of management in areas such as communication, IT, planning, evaluation, purchasing, finance, risk and asset management.

He can claim a significant contribution (usually as CEO) to the forming of, and delivering on the vision for nine organisations over the last twenty years, ranging in size from $10k to $13m per annum operations. John is proficient as to the theory and practice of management in areas such as human resources, communication, IT, planning, evaluation, purchasing, finance, risk, and asset management. He has managed up to 170 employees at any one time.

John entered consulting when he formed PDF Management Services Pty Ltd in 2000 with Michael Gordon. This successful Tasmanian consultancy continues strongly today. John left PDF to return to the no-for-profit sector in 2003 and then returned to consulting in 2007 forming Better Training and Consultancy Pty Ltd with Keryn Smith and Michelle Meehan. John's education has included a B Sc. (Melbourne University) 1978; Ba Th. (Melbourne) - one unit Pastoral Care & Counselling 1982; Grad Dip. in The Business of Professional Management (TSIT) 1990; as well as numerous training programs including DACum, NLP, an DiSC.

He has extensive experience in:

Small Business Development.

John has an entrepreneurial background coming from a long line of merchants (the Lowry Emporium chain in the UK). Commencing as a sales manager selling to butchers John has ran all organisations he has managed as small businesses with a value for money - money for value approach - whether it be providing services to homeless people or selling giant oysters to the Sydney restaurant trade. John has hands on experience in a number of small business fields including: retail, food production, seafood production, woodcraft, toy manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, training, consulting.

John has been involved in a number of small business development programs including:

• New entrant small business skills development courses.
• NEIS Trainer.
• Small business job creation projects including wood craft, tourism, forestry, and cleaning.
• Strategic Planning and Business Planning - for a number of not-for-profit organisations (from BECs to Nursing Mums).
• Mentoring new small business.
• Providing training in various performance enhancement areas for managers.
  

He has recently commenced in partnership with two other consultants the first small business development program for the Resource Recovery sector in Australia in Tasmania. This $230,000 AUSIndustry program will provide business training and mentoring to 35 businesses in areas ranging from auto parts recovery to recyclers involving about 80% of the Tasmanian's small operators.

Sector Experience.

John has worked across a range of sectors either as the leader of organisations working in these sectors or as a consultant. These sectors have included:

• Employment Services - getting people into work
• Vocational Education - applying the training system to grow capacity and to assist organisational growth and economic returns.
• Local Economic Development
• Community Development
  

Employment Services .

John has designed, tendered, and delivered almost every Commonwealth Labour Market program offered nationally since 1979. Over a 10 year period he was often rated by the national peak body for Employment Services (a $1.5b Australian business sector) as leading a top 10 national performer. This included forming Mersey Skill Training in Devonport in 1989 one of only 22 top funded SkillShare programs of the 480 providers nationally. As recently as the last DEEWR Job Network tender round (2007) John devised, and wrote a tender response that won $8.5m additional work when only 19% of bids received being successful.

John has developed a broad and international perspective of how to engage people into the world of work. This has included:

• Introducing enterprise learning methodology to the delivery of vocational training.
• How to build employability in highly disadvantaged job seekers.
• How to develop sector recruitment and pre-employment training programs that support industry development.
• How to integrate social and community development into skills development.
• How to link different schemes and government programs with industry to cause economic development particularly across regions and sectors.
  

Vocational Education .

John is a national leader in the application of the vocational education to pre-employment preparation and the application of Apprenticeships to develop and grow the sector, the organisation, and the individual. This has included:

• Transition to work programs. John has devised, established with stakeholders (including government, communities, employers, and service providers); organised and managed over 150 different vocational programs over the last 18 years. This has covered a broad range of industry areas ranging from aged care/childcare/cleaning to forestry/manufacturing/transport. In 2003 John established, and lead a training division team that delivered a diverse range of pre-employment courses (ranging from childcare to forestry covering 11 industries) that trained 780 job seekers (most of whom had been unemployed over 12 months) achieving 630 job outcomes (measured as at least 13 weeks off benefit and working). This training program was established in four months. John has established some of the states best training facilities setting up full industrial joineries, metal fabrication, spray-painting and mechanical, kitchen, restaurants, and IT labs around the state.
• Pre-employment programs. Specific programs established for specific employers or groups of employers including industries such as hospitality, tourism, transport, waste management, and retail. Recently this has included projects with Forestry Tasmania, private tourism operators, Hobart based restaurants, K&D Hardware, and Eastlands.
• Job placement programs. Using 26 week work or landcare base funding programs to create both pathways back to work for people who have been out of work a long time and to achieve local economic or community development goals. This included projects such as completing the City of Devonport foreshore walking track; the salvage and relocation of Sherwood Hall to Bell's Parade as a museum; significant improvements and developments at the Tasmanian Arboretum, and Sheffield Farm School; restoration of various marine treasures including whalers and signal stations; a number of interpretive tourism trails in Latrobe and Devonport; and the Lillico Penguin Viewing facility.
• Existing worker skill development projects. John has instigated, promoted, signed up, and then project managed large existing worker Australian Apprenticeship projects across Australia. This has included signing over 2,500 people in areas such as civil, horticultural, local government, waste management, education, and transport, aged care, disability work, water, extractive industries, manufactured mineral products, construction, frontline management, business, laundry, funerals, seafood processing, forestry, and asset maintenance. John has successfully undertaken various national projects including in 2000-01 the Q4A Project for Jobs Australia guiding, training, and supporting 69 RTOs nationally to sign over 65,000 existing workers to Australian Apprenticeships in five states and both Territories. Jobs Australia is Australia's second largest network of RTOs outside of TAFE with 270 RTOs and 480 community based employment agencies members.
  

Local Economic Development.

John has played a significant role in the development from inception of the Tasmanian local economic initiatives program (LEI) commenced in 1992. John established the Business Enterprise Centre Mersey Inc. guiding its development for 5 years (now trading as Business & Employment, Choice Employment, and NGT Tasmania). He was Chairman of the LEITN organisation and has advised a number of Enterprise Centres over the past 15 years. John has also devised and implemented a number of local job creation schemes including: Tourism projects - tour guides working with small bus operators to provide services to day trippers on the Spirit, eco guiding and white water projects; Woodcraft projects - assisting home based wood workers to develop product lines and to share markets; cleaning services; gardening services; and recreational services. This has also involved providing advice and mentoring to many new business start ups across a whole range of business areas.

Community Development .

John has worked extensively in community development both as a member of a community, as a practitioner, committee member, or as a consultant. This has involved everything from Nuclear Disarmament selling sheep manure as a community fund raiser.