Welcome to Kahla McKinless!
In August, we welcomed Kahla to Team St John as our new Queensland Training Manager. The first thing that strikes you about Kahla is her enthusiasm and her energy, and she’s a fantastic addition to the team. She’s also had a super interesting career to date!
Our training team play a super important role at St John Qld. As well as leading our ‘profit for purpose’ model, as an organisation, we are dedicated to ensuring that our communities receive essential first aid training, no matter where they are in the Sunshine State.
We hit Kahla with some questions in the aim of getting to know her a little bit more and we thought we’d share this with you!
Tell us a little about where you’ve come from and what you’ve done in your work life?
I got in to training at the age of 15 where I was employed as a lifeguard working for Royal Life Saving Society Qld. This role progressed to working in the RTO overseeing student enrolments, course delivery, and trainer professional development. After some 5-years I was employed by Dreamworld on the Gold Coast to run the waterpark and deliver First Aid and Pool Lifeguard training to internal staff. After 7-years of working in the theme park industry, I moved back into the RTO space working for a peak industry body as the National Training & Compliance Officer. My passion has always been in training and I’m so grateful for the opportunities that have come my way.
What would be your career highlights?
My career highlights that I’m most proud of are playing soccer for Manchester City in England and receiving Dreamworld’s Leader of the Year award in 2017. Both career highlights didn’t come without hard work, dedication, and commitment. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to learn from the leadership that has surrounded me.
What are you most excited about with your role at St John Qld?
As the new Training Manager of St John Qld, I’m most excited about working with a dynamic team in a place where I can interact with wonderful minds. I’m a true believer that you should follow your passion and live by the rule that if you find a job you love you, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
