Bringing younger people into the industry and giving them all-round training is something Australian Wool Network (AWN) takes very seriously.
This has been highlighted by the number of new, young people who have joined the team in recent years.
National wool and livestock marketing manager Mark Quartermain said AWN has been very fortunate in the past five to seven years to be able to pick up talented, younger people.
"We now have nine staff under 30 and 18 under 40," he said.
"We are very comfortable with how things are moving forward.
"We are now doing so much that is outside the square so we need to ensure our staff are well trained and are fulfilling the needs of each client when there is so much on offer.''
Furthering its commitment to provide its staff with a thorough and complete understanding of the wool and sheep industries, five young AWN team members recently participated in the National Merino Challenge.
They formed the first industry team to participate in the event.
Central and Western NSW manager Brett Cooper was the team mentor and could not speak highly enough of the event.
"This is a great learning environment and offers one component of our aim to expose our staff to all facets of the sheep and wool industry as there are so many directions to aim for within the industry," he said.
Current UNE student and budding wool marketer, Ally Colwell, has started off her graduate traineeship in a wool administration role in AWN's Sydney Head Office.
Miss Colwell spent a week in Central West NSW, where she gained a broad-spectrum view of AWN's wool marketing operations.
"It was a great opportunity for me to travel through Central and Western NSW, meeting clients and gaining a better understanding of the processes and the people behind the wool industry," she said.
"The week allowed me to broaden my skill set within the sheep and wool industry gaining advice and knowledge from both AWN wool brokers and clients."
- Visit: www.woolnetwork.com.au