For Townsville-based transport operator Tayla Connolly, the idea behind Careers in Gear came from a simple realisation: the industry is so busy trying to fill vacancies that it has stopped looking far enough ahead.
“I still look at myself as a young person in transport,” Tayla, 33, said.
“But I can see that our workforce, our own and the industry’s, is absolutely ageing. We’re all really busy working in our businesses, covering empty spots where we can’t get people employed – and then we’re not fixing the problem because we’re too busy working on the problem.”
Careers in Gear, which Tayla launched last year and currently operates as a not-for-profit, is her attempt to change that narrative by starting at the source – school students who may not yet understand just how many career paths exist within transport
The program is designed to introduce students to the diversity of roles across the transport sector, from entry-level positions through to trade-based and degree-qualified careers, by giving them firsthand exposure inside real transport businesses
Tayla, who is the business manager at Oakdare and a director of Careers in Gear, is a second-generation transport operator. Her parents, Wes and Kristein Connolly, started Oakdare in 1990, and she was born into the industry two years later.
“I was very fortunate to be born into transport. It’s been around me my whole life, and it’s something I hold a great deal of respect for,” said Tayla, who is also on the Queensland Trucking Association’s board of directors.
“If you’re not born into it, then you probably don’t know a lot about it.”
Oakdare today runs around 23 prime movers, primarily in road train configurations, hauling quarrying materials and servicing major road construction projects within six to eight hours of Townsville.
Like many operators, Tayla said the business has seen a sharp decline in job applications over recent years.
“Five years ago, I might have received 50 applications in a year and only needed 10 drivers,” she said. “Now we might be lucky to receive 25 applications a year, and sometimes I could put on 10 drivers and we just don’t get the knocks on the door from school kids.”
Her first step into education engagement came through a tour for vocational teachers. Tayla hosted 19 teachers from the Townsville region, taking them through seven transport businesses in one day last year.
“The big takeaway for me was that they don’t know what they don’t know,” she said. “They turned around at the end of the day and said, ‘I’ve never thought about talking to some of my kids about these career paths because I just didn’t know they existed.’”
That response helped shape Careers in Gear’s approach, which now includes full-day industry tours covering multiple businesses and job roles, as well as 60-minute in-school sessions and careers expo appearances.
The student tours followed a similar pattern, with three groups of around 15-20 students drawn from public, private and distance education schools in Townsville.
“The reaction from the kids was really good,” Tayla said. “Very similar to the teachers – they don’t know what they don’t know.”
She said one of the most valuable outcomes was showing students how varied working environments can be, even within the same trade.
“Working at a dealership like Brown and Hurley or Gilbert and Roach is very different to working in the workshop of a transport depot,” she said. “It opens their eyes to how many different options there are within one career.”
Brown and Hurley and Mick Murray Welding Townsville were among the first businesses to support the program, committing from its inception through 2025 and continuing into 2026, alongside several other local operators. A key message Tayla delivers to students centres on the role transport plays in everyday life.
“In North Queensland we joke that kids think bananas grow on the shelves in supermarkets,” she said.
“Nobody explains the process – planting the tree, picking the fruit, forklifts, packers, transport to distribution centres, and the distance that one banana travels.”
Her go-to question during school presentations is simple: “Tell me something that’s not delivered by a truck.”
Careers in Gear targets students from Years 7 to 12, with early engagement focused on awareness and later years aimed at connecting students with employers for work experience and “try before you buy” opportunities
Looking ahead, Tayla said 2025 has been about building the foundations, with many businesses contributing support in kind through their time and access to worksites.
In 2026, the focus will shift to securing sponsorships and expanding into regional and remote areas including Mount Isa, Hughenden and potentially Cairns.
“My message to businesses is that not everyone has the capacity to host work experience or take on entry-level roles, but there is some way every business can contribute,” she said.
“Whether that’s financial support, loaning a truck for a day, or providing merchandise – it all helps spark interest. It’s just really turning our mind to we have to be solutions-based. We can’t keep just saying there’s a problem. We’ve got to start somewhere.”
Tayla’s 60-minute career and safety information sessions within the North Queensland region are available by request.
She hopes the program can act as a blueprint and expand, rather than stay as the one-person operation it is today.
“There’s plenty of room for growth. My vision isn’t to personally roll this out in Sydney or Melbourne,” she said. “It’s to inspire other businesses or people in their regions to duplicate it in a way that’s relatable to their local kids.”
Tayla believes transport is too often overlooked in the training sector. She sits on a couple of employment boards and groups in Townsville and is constantly frustrated at the lack of financial support transport gets in comparison to other industries.
“Transport is taken for granted,” she said. “Every other industry depends on it, yet it’s not always prioritised. If nobody else is doing anything, then we have to start somewhere – and Careers in Gear is that start.”
• For more information about Careers in Gear, including school tours and partnership opportunities, contact Tayla by emailing sheisreal@outlook.com.