Victoria’s career path takes her to Gunnedah

Gunnedah has earned its title as a mining and farming town but the reality of career opportunities for the town is diverse.

Victoria Judson is one of the newest staff members employed at Gunnedah’s GBP Cranes and Heavy Haulage where she is in her element.

Ms Judson said that while an office job may be in her future, at the moment she prefers to keep moving.

She proves there is no one right path for young people, being well into her Bachelor Of Business degree without intending to use it straight away in an office role.

For her, the degree will assist as a backup if she needs to move away from the field.

She wants to continue to operate cranes after she has finished studying.

“It will be good one day, say if when I have kids, I will be able to maybe transfer into an office role and having the knowledge of the field, I can then understand things more,” she said.

Ms Judson enjoys the variety of the job with each week unlikely to be the same as the last.

“Say if you were working at the mines and you are a dump truck operator, you go in every day, you probably do the exact same route every day … it would get a bit boring – or it would for me at least,” she said.

“There is farming and I have done that but it is weather dependent and it is stressful.

“You do not really know what you are going to do [at GBP Cranes and Heavy Haulage] until the day before and it is always a bit different, you are working with different people all the time. You just get to learn different things from different people.

“You could do a job building a house and then the next day be at the mines [assembling] a dump truck – there is a lot of variety.”

Originally from Bogan Gate, Ms Judson is a relatively new face to town although she had previously worked at the Tamworth branch.

She says the workplace has been extremely accommodating to her university commitments.

“They are really supportive of me finishing my degree which is good,” she said.

With her history of working on a farm and enjoying driving tractors along with operating machinery it is no surprise she enjoys her work.

“I am obviously not a princess, I am not scared to have a go at things,” she said.

“As long as you have got the work ethic and you are motivated and you want to try things, [GBP Cranes and Heavy Haulage] is pretty good.

“Everyone is very friendly and they really look out for you, they look after me really well, if I am not sure about something, someone always helps me out.

“It is also good working here because you can upskill yourself, they are really supportive if you say, want to get your forklift ticket … they will put you through your course.”