VETASSESS Trade Skills Assessment: How to Prepare Work Evidence Before You Apply

Check the exact trade and pathway first

VETASSESS assesses specific trade occupations and the process can differ by pathway and occupation. Use the official occupation search and trade assessment pages before collecting documents.

For Pathway 1, VETASSESS publishes minimum employment experience rules that differ between licensed and non-licensed trades and depending on whether the applicant has relevant formal training. Check the current pathway rules for your occupation rather than relying on a general migration checklist.

Recent trade work matters

VETASSESS’s current trade evidence requirements state that evidence must show at least 12 months of full-time work, or equivalent part-time work, in the occupation within the last three years. Some occupations can have additional evidence requirements.

Map recent employment clearly. If your last three years include mixed duties, supervisory work or a move away from hands-on trade activity, document the actual task split accurately.

Build a task evidence inventory

Do not start by trying to write an impressive job description. Start with the jobs you performed and the evidence you can connect to them.

• Employers, business names, locations and exact work periods.
• Typical job types or sites where you performed the trade.
• Tasks you personally carried out from preparation through completion.
• Tools, machines and equipment you personally used.
• Materials, components or systems you worked with.
• Measurements, drawings, specifications or work instructions you interpreted.
• Safety procedures and risk controls relevant to the work.
• Quality checks, tolerances, testing or inspection you performed.
• Evidence that supports employment and recent trade activity.
• Any occupation-specific evidence identified in the current VETASSESS guidance.

Example: Carpenter and Joiner preparation logic

For a Carpenter and Joiner test profile, simply saying “constructed timber structures” is too broad to understand the applicant’s work. A preparation review would ask which structures were built, how drawings and measurements were interpreted, which tools were used, how material was set out and cut, how components were assembled or installed, and how accuracy and safety were checked.

The goal is not to teach the applicant a trade they have never performed. The goal is to make genuine trade experience visible and organised against the relevant assessment process.

Avoid generic duty lists

Copying a standard occupation duty list can create a document that sounds aligned but does not explain the applicant’s real experience. Assessors may need evidence that connects the person to the claimed employment and skills.

Use occupation criteria as a review framework, then answer with your own work facts. If a major task area is genuinely outside your experience, do not manufacture an example.

Prepare for evidence questions before lodging

• Can I show when and where I performed this trade?
• Can I explain the work sequence in my own words?
• Can I identify the tools and equipment I personally used?
• Can I describe safety controls relevant to my actual work?
• Can I connect employment periods to official evidence?
• Can I demonstrate recent work in the occupation?
• Have I checked the current occupation-specific and pathway-specific VETASSESS requirements?

Preparation is not an assessment outcome

Only VETASSESS can determine the assessment outcome. A preparation tool can help organise employment and task evidence, identify gaps and prompt the applicant to collect missing factual information. It should not convert an incomplete profile into invented trade experience.