Bismillah Haidari proves there is more to red meat processing
Bismillah Haidari is now a local in Toowoomba; he works at JBS Beef City and is proud to call Queensland home, but his life started far from the Darling Downs.
Born in Afghanistan, Bismillah moved to Pakistan at nine before immigrating to Australia, where he settled in Gatton and completed secondary school.
Keen on a career in engineering, Bismillah enrolled at the University of Southern Queensland and earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering.
Bismillah looked for different career paths in engineering and soon landed a position in the three-year-long JBS graduate engineering program in Toowoomba.
Embracing the move to Toowoomba, Bismillah says he enjoys the variety of work and ongoing mentoring at JBS Beef City in the maintenance team.
“The advantage of the JBS graduate program is that it opens up a lot of career opportunities for you, you’re not working on the same thing every day; you’re exposed to different machinery and systems,” said Mr Haidari.
Red meat processing provides local economic opportunities in Toowoomba, creating career opportunities for people like Bismillah to learn valuable skills.
There are lots of different jobs in red meat processing; at JBS Beef City, they employ around 850 staff in a range of positions, making them one of the largest employers in Toowoomba.
CEO of the Australian Meat Processor Corporation, Chris Taylor, believes JBS in Toowoomba is a great example of the different jobs and skills being developed by Australian red meat processors.
"Across Australia, we are seeing red meat processors increasingly require university educated employees while continuing to develop existing staff through apprenticeships and training, " Mr Taylor said.
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