Winning the award meant the 18-year-old, who left Dungog High School in Year 10 at the age of 16, had more career options.

It reinforced her goal to finish her Certificate 2 course and start Certificate 3.

In a world where Year 12 and university degrees dominate society's view of education requirements, Miss Marshall takes on the working world one certificate at a time.

The receptionist has been working with Alliance People Solutions for a year and a half and her supervisor, Trish Petersen, said the company nominated her for the award because she deserved to be recognised.

"She is extremely capable and you can see she loves what she does and we're even more proud of her because of her youth," Ms Petersen said.

Miss Marshall will be presented with her award at a ceremony on Friday night at Western Suburbs Leagues Club in New Lambton and the achievement marks her award debut.

It means she is a candidate for the state Trainee of the Year Award in Business Administr-ation which will be announced on the night.

And she could not be more thrilled.

"This is my first opportunity to be presented with an award and it's a big thing for me because I've never been nominated before," Miss Marshall said.

"I didn't even know about the awards until I was nominated and I couldn't believe it when I read I'd won because I've only been working for a year."

Miss Marshall is responsible for 18 telephone lines in her position and she answers telephone calls for the company's offices and for five other organisations based within their service facility.

She finished her Certificate 2 in Business Administration through her employer Alliance People Solutions and had on the job training through Workstar.

Winning the award has opened many previously closed career paths for Miss Marshall and it will allow her to achieve yet another goal.

"It has opened up so many opportunities for me that I didn't have before and I want to move on from reception and winning the award will allow me to do that," she said.