One of the most common barriers to people exploring career options is not necessarily capability. It is visibility… writes EWIT General Manager Melinda Davis
For many people, particularly women and young people, industries like construction, manufacturing, infrastructure, energy and transport still feel hidden behind fences, gates and assumptions.
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If you have never stepped onto a site, met someone in the role or seen yourself reflected in the workforce, it can be incredibly difficult to imagine a future there.
That is exactly why EWIT’s Talk & Tours are building momentum across the country. Talk & Tours have been delivered in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia with more planned in the second half of 2026 including also delivering in South Australia. We have been to places like Komatsu, Nestle, Coca Cola Europacific Partners, Alstom and BlueScope Steel as part of the series.
EWIT has delivered Talk & Tours with organisations across the manufacturing sector as part of the AMWU Breaking Barriers Project funded by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations Building Women’s Careers funding. We have walked participants through advanced manufacturing facilities, energy sites, training academies and workplaces many people have driven past daily but had no idea what happened beyond the gate.
Seeing is believing
At their core, Talk & Tours are simple. We bring people into workplaces to see industry firsthand. Participants hear from employees, tour facilities, ask honest questions and gain insight into what a career in that environment could look like.
But the impact goes far beyond a site visit.
What we are seeing through these experiences is the power of exposure. Once people physically step into a workplace, touch the equipment, hear the stories and connect with the humans behind the industry, something shifts. The unknown becomes accessible. The intimidating becomes achievable.
Every single time, we hear the same thing:
‘I didn’t realise opportunities like this existed.’
‘I never thought I could see myself here.’
‘I wish someone had shown me this earlier.’
More than a workplace visit
That is why these experiences matter. Importantly, they also allow employers to showcase something that is becoming increasingly valuable to future workers: culture.
Today’s workforcve wants more than a pay cheque. People want to know:
What does this workplace feel like?
Will I be supported here?
Can I see people like me succeeding?
Do I belong?
Talk & Tours provide organisations with an opportunity to answer those questions authentically.
Some of the most impactful moments during these tours are not the machinery or operations, they are the conversations. The apprentice sharing how nervous she was on her first day. The supervisor talking openly about creating a more inclusive team culture. The mature-age worker explaining why they changed careers. These are the moments that create connection.
Impact on both sides of the gate
We have also seen the impact flow both ways. While participants leave inspired and informed, employers and the team involved also walk away empowered. They shared their skills and knowledge with people who wanted to learn and they gained a deeper understanding of the importance of visibility, language and representation within their own workplaces.
As industries across Australia continue facing critical workforce shortages, the solution cannot simply be louder recruitment campaigns or posting the same jobs to the same audiences. We need to create genuine connection points between industry and people who may never have previously considered these pathways possible. That is where Talk & Tours are making an impact.
Because sometimes changing someone’s future is not about a major intervention. Sometimes it is as simple as opening the gate, welcoming people in and allowing them to see what is possible for themselves.
And once people can see it, they will know they can be it.
