To what extent do local governments use vocational education and training as a staff retention strategy? Human resources personnel from a selection of councils around Australia believed that a lack of career development or training opportunities might cause an employee to leave their organisation. The had some reservations about the quality and value of VET, but planned to continue to use it for staff development as it is the most widely available option. This paper is by a novice researcher from the Community of Practice program, which is part of NCVER's Building Researcher Capacity initiatives.