TAFE NSW is helping to fill the surveyor workforce shortage, forecast to reach a shortfall of 2,000 professionals by 2029.
TAFE NSW is helping build a pipeline of skilled surveyors needed to deliver the nation’s new homes and infrastructure, and helping to solve the workforce challenge for one of Australia’s most critical yet often misunderstood professions.
Among them is Wodonga career-changer Shaun Sargeant, who made an unlikely career pivot from farmhand to surveyor, saying it was one of the best decisions of his life.
Unsure of his career path after leaving school, Sargeant fell into a job as a farmhand at a wagyu beef property in the Indigo Valley, a position he held for seven years.
“I woke up one day and just thought, I want something more fulfilling, more career-worthy,” Sargeant, now 25, said.
He organised a session with a careers counsellor at TAFE NSW Albury and, after a discussion with the counsellor and filling out a questionnaire, a career in surveying was suddenly on the table.
Sargeant completed a Certificate III in Surveying and Spatial Information Services at Thurgoona’s TAFE NSW National Environment Centre in 2024, studying via virtual classroom to help him fit the qualification around his farmhand job.
“When I started looking for a job, I saw a lot of opportunities and I got multiple interviews, and a job offer,” Mr Sargeant said.
Now a survey assistant at Axis Surveys in Ipswich, Sargeant is also building his practical skills and knowledge by undertaking a Certificate IV in Surveying and Spatial Information Services, again through TAFE NSW.
A technologically advanced career
According to Jobs and Skills Australia, there are about 9,700 surveyors nationally, with industry modelling predicting a professional shortfall of 2,000 surveyors by 2029.
The median full-time earnings for surveyors and spatial scientists is about $120,000 per year.
“My favourite part of the job is that you add a new place every day; one day I’m on the Gold Coast and the next I could be Toowoomba or the middle of Brisbane city,” said Sargeant. “I’ve found my career now.”
“And to have built my skills and knowledge through TAFE NSW gave me a huge advantage,” he added. “My teacher had so much experience and had been a licensed surveyor for decades.”
TAFE NSW National Environment Centre surveying teacher, Libby Evans, said Shaun Sargeant is a powerful example of how TAFE NSW helped students discover their professional passion.
“Surveying is one of those professions people often know very little about, but virtually every new home, road and major infrastructure project relies on the work surveyors do,” she said.
“It’s also a far more technologically advanced career than many people realise, with modern surveyors using sophisticated equipment and technology including GNSS and GPS systems, drones, laser scanning and digital mapping.
