A taxpayer-funded employability course is under fire after jobseekers complained that much of the compulsory training involved being shown irrelevant, inappropriate and, at-times, bizarre YouTube videos.
Under contracts signed by the Coalition last year, the federal government will pay private providers about $500m over five years to run Employability Skills Training (EST) courses as part of the commonwealth’s $7bn Workforce Australia program.
On its website, the department says the program offers “practical support” and “helps you become job-ready by providing intensive pre-employment training”.
But Arthur, a 26-year-old honours graduate who was compelled to do the training to keep receiving jobseeker payments, said much of the course he completed consisted of watching YouTube videos.
These included a motivational montage created from a YouTube channel called “Law of Attraction Coaching”, as well as videos about safety protocols at a Dutch gas company and the application guidelines for a Victorian government tender.
In another session, the instructor encouraged jobseekers to use ChatGPT to write cover letters and research industries.
“It was like having a substitute teacher come into class and say: ‘Watch these videos, because I need to keep you here for an amount of time,’” Arthur, who did not want his surname used, told Guardian Australia.
The Department of Workplace Relations and Training, the contracted EST provider, Wise Employment and its subcontractor, Paramount Training, all said Arthur’s course had deviated from the usual curriculum.
The case raises further questions about the privatised employment services system after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, recently warned the system was more about “ticking the boxes rather than providing that support”.
Last year, Guardian Australia reported on the use of taxpayer-funded online modules in topics such as body language, and complaints from jobseekers about other taxpayer-funded appointments and activities.
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union and the Australian Council of Social Service have long warned about the quality of programs such as EST and work for the dole.
‘Not curriculum-endorsed materials’
Arthur said he was aware of a parliamentary inquiry to employment services and found his experience so bizarre that he decided to document the three-week course in detail.
He said he had been required to select an EST course through the Workforce Australia online portal because he had been on the jobseeker payment for four months after graduating university.
He chose a course run by Paramount Training, which he later learned was Wise’s subcontractor. Wise, a not-for-profit company, is one of the biggest providers in the system and holds a five-year employability skills contract worth $30m, on top of a $120m Workforce Australia contract.
Some of the content was more conventional, including a video from the jobs listing site Indeed that gave advice about responding to interview questions. Other videos explained concepts such as “soft” and “hard” skills, the “hidden jobs market” and “barriers to employment”. There was also a workbook, although Arthur said this was a minor part of the course.
Other videos were a mixed bag. Arthur said one video was about barriers to employment in the UK and appeared to be promoting a British job agency.
Another, titled “SMART Goals Quick Overview with 21 SMART Goals Examples”, gave advice on setting professional goals, but also included advice on romantic relationships and spirituality, including becoming closer to God.
Several others were bizarre, irrelevant or, to Arthur at least, condescending.
These included a Ted Talk called “Drawing your dreams into reality”, which advocated creating “vision boards” for success, and a video titled “Make Body Language Your Superpower” in which Stanford students gave tips on the topic. The jobseekers were also shown a motivational video from a YouTube channel called “Law of Attraction Coaching”, which appears to promote the pseudoscience beliefs of the same name. The video did not make reference to the “Law of Attraction” and simply included a montage of motivational speeches and quotations.
Arthur, who got a job shortly before he was required to complete the course, was unimpressed at jobseekers being required to watch two videos on personal hygiene, and was unsure whether several of the videos were shown by mistake. This included one explaining the process to submit tender applications for a Victorian government WorkSafe program, and another that outlined the internal safety policies for working with gas pipelines and infrastructure at a Dutch gas company.
Arthur said that in another session, participants were told to use ChatGPT to research job roles and write cover letters.
“I’d be pretty embarrassed to try to prove that it was worth all of the time and money [for] what they provided,” he said.
A Paramount Training spokesperson said the company was “deeply concerned to learn one of our trainers may have delivered a course that does not measure up to the high standards set”.
“Paramount is treating the concerns raised very seriously and has commenced an internal investigation, having suspended the trainer in question until this matter is resolved,” the spokesperson said.
“To be clear, the videos that appear to have been aired, and the use of ChatGPT, are not curriculum-endorsed materials and run contrary to the way in which our courses are normally structured.”
Paramount said it would reach out to all participants of the affected course to “offer re-enrolment in the next course to meet their needs”.
“If any other breaches of our course structure are identified through our investigation process, we will make the same offer to all other affected parties,” they said.
Wise Employment said it had recently been made aware of the situation and the course as described was “not curriculum-endorsed”.
“To ensure all Wise partners are delivering content adhering to course outlines, an immediate audit of materials for all EST partners will be undertaken by our contract adviser.”
A Department of Employment and Workplace Relations spokesperson said Wise Employment was “fully responsible for the performance of EST services, including any subcontract”.
“The department is actively engaging with Wise Employment Ltd about the appropriateness of services delivered by its subcontracted provider,” the spokesperson said.
• This story and its headline were corrected on 23 May 2023 to clarify that jobseekers were advised to use ChatGPT to write cover letters, not résumés.
