Meet our newest Plant Assessor team member!

Our team is growing, so find out more about Plant Assessor's newest team member!

Karla Notman – People and Culture Manager

Background: I was born in Newcastle, and grew up in Ashtonfield attending East Maitland Public School from year 2. I frequented all ends of the Hunter region footprint as a child with grandparents at one end in Caves Beach, family holiday home in Nelson Bay, and regular camping trips to the Upper Hunter. Further out of the Hunter footprint, my grandparents were first generation immigrants from the Molise region of Italy, so Italian food is always on my agenda. As a very young child, I was bilingual and spoke fluent Italian until I went to school.

Education: I attended Maitland Grossmann High School, and from about year 8 I was certain that I was going to be a Graphic Designer. My career plans never wavered until I went straight from school to uni and then decided that I wanted a break, so I took some time off and just happened to fall into recruitment. I was about halfway through completing a double masters degree in Business and Human Resources Management when my life was turned upside down (in a very good, albeit sometimes crazy way) when we welcomed twin boys to our family.

Career: Most recently I was in a Federal Government appointed role as the Hunter Region Employment Facilitator. My role required me to work in-step with the region’s labor market, ensuring that industry and education/training were aligned to establish available workforces with the right skills, at the right time. For example, working with AGL to ensure that their workers across the Liddell Power Station were re-skilled and available to take up roles in the growing Defence and Defence Supply industry across the Hunter, or working with schools to ensure that young children are engaging in STEM skills.

Outside work: I’ve been married for 4 years now; my husband Dean and I eloped with 16 of our mates in Mexico. I have fraternal twin boys, Rocco and Oliver, who are 8 months old and polar opposites. A typical weekend for the Notman household includes a nice spinach and feta scrambled egg breakfast and a good, strong coffee (in lieu of the sleep-ins we used to have before kids), watching Dean play AFL, and maybe a Sunday walk around the beach. When we have a night off kid duty, we love an afternoon drink in the sunshine, anywhere by the water with friends.