Government Media Release: 70 jobs in Warwick region Indigenous Employment project

Up to 70 Indigenous jobseekers from Warwick, Stanthorpe, Goondiwindi, St George and Dirranbandi will be part of an employment project thanks to the Australian Government’s Indigenous Employment Program.

Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development Mark Arbib said the Warwick Employment Service Area Industry project, delivered by Mission Australia, showed a commitment to boosting the skills of jobseekers so they could find meaningful employment in the local area.

“The project comprises pre-vocational training, industry-specific training, job placement and post-placement support for the participants and employers,” Senator Arbib said.

“Mission Australia will assess each participant and work with them to draw up an individual action plan outlining the steps the participants needs to take to move into a job. Once employed, participants will receive ongoing assistance for the first six months.

“Some of the key industries in the Warwick Region include transport and logistics, retail, wholesale, horticulture and primary production, food processing, aged care, hospitality and government.

“Industry-specific training will be given to participants based on what skills local employers have identified they need.

“This training can include things like licences and tickets for transport vehicles, forklift and machinery operation or short courses in retail, business administration or hospitality.

“The important thing with this project is that we are showing our commitment to getting Indigenous Australians skilled and employed in a meaningful way, not just providing training for training’s sake.”

Senator Arbib said the project was a result of more than $675,000 from the Indigenous Employment Program and would employ two mentors and a project coordinator with Mission Australia.

“This project follows on from the success of a 2009 Mission Australian Indigenous Employment Project in St George, which saw more than 97 per cent of project participants placed into employment,” Senator Arbib said.

“Thanks to this partnership we are able to continue to build job and training opportunities in regional and remote Queensland for Indigenous Australians.”

Senator Arbib said Treasury predicted 500,000 jobs would be created over the next two years and it was critical that Indigenous Australians had the support and training they needed to take up employment.

“Indigenous employment is not a short-term issue. Over the next four years the Australian Government has committed almost $650 million to the Indigenous Employment Program and $50 million to the Indigenous Youth Careers Pathway Program,” Senator Arbib said.

“This is part of the Australian Government’s target to create more than 100,000 jobs for Indigenous Australians by 2018.”

This media release was issued by Senator Mark Arbib on 17 August 2011

Media coverage - South Coast Register: Video links workers with employment

Mission Australia Employment Solutions at Nowra has achieved a first, placing a jobseeker through a video.

Mission Australia recently launched its visual resume program Meetseeker, and Shoalhaven Excavations operations manager Kris Peters was one of the first prospective employers to look at the program.

Mr Peters gave up his time to attended the new program's launch day on June 23 in which he got to meet some of Mission Australia's jobseekers, and also give his feedback on the program.

After regularly turning to Mission Australia for help finding new staff, Mr Peters used Meetseeker to hire Lino Nuualiitia.

"Despite Lino having no previous demolition experience I really liked his enthusiasm and the way he presented himself on Meetseeker, that's what really sold me in the end," Mr Peters said.

Mission Australia Shoalhaven business manager David Rawson said the response from the business community had been overwhelming, with several local businesses "really taking this new technology on board as the way of the future for recruiting new staff".

Above image:  MA sales representative at Nowra, Arnie Schunmann, is on hand as jobseeker Lino Nuuiltiia is welcomed to his first day of work by Kris Peters from Shoalhaven Excavations

Story originally published in the South Coast Register on Monday 8 August.

New awards recognise excellent employers

Mission Australia Employment Solutions’ Employer Awards are a celebration of the support given by Australian employers in giving people a ‘fair go’.

Employment makes a tremendous difference to a person’s life, and helps them to engage with the community in which they live.

Some people face challenges, both large and small, on their journey towards gaining sustainable work. The Employer Awards strive to recognise employers who are willing to overlook and help overcome the challenges that job seekers face, and help make a real difference in their lives.

By recognising the support that local employers give in hiring unemployed job seekers, Mission Australia Employment Solutions hopes to reduce negative perceptions of unemployed people that may exist within local communities.

Award recipients will benefit from the status of being recognised as an employer that transforms the lives of local unemployed people and gives back to the local community.

Employers can be nominated by completing a printed nomination form (available at your local Mission Australia Employment Solutions site) or by completing our online form.

Nominations opened 1 July 2011, with entries closing on 30 September 2011.

Who can enter?

The Employer Awards are open to all local employers of participating Mission Australia Employment Solutions sites who have used our services within the past 12 months.

Employers will be judged based on their contribution to helping unemployed people find work.

Local presentations of 2011 awards will take place in October 2011. Local winners will qualify for entry into the national awards and will be invited to a national awards dinner that will be held in November 2011.

More information

If you’d like to find out more about the Mission Australia Employment Solutions Employer Awards, please visit the 2011 Mission Australia Employment Solutions Employer Awards page.

Mission Australia opens new Dareton office

Fifty representatives from local government, business and juvenile justice and health services yesterday joined Mission Australia Community Services staff in celebrating the opening of our new office in Dareton, far western New South Wales.

The new Neilpo Street office will serve as a base for our Brighter Futures and Youth Connections programs, which in recent years have operated in the area on an outreach basis from Broken Hill.

Chelsea Hodge, Acting Services Manager Far Western Community Services, said the new Mission Australia office would provide much-needed support to local young people and families and strengthen community capacity and engagement in the region.

“Local people in the Wentworth Shire deserve full-time support,” she said. “We are lucky to have one of our current Support Workers, Amanda Ferguson, moving from Broken Hill to the Dareton area. Mandy has previously worked in the Broken Hill Brighter Futures team, so she will be an asset to the community.”

The Brighter Futures (Early Intervention) Program is a voluntary targeted program designed for families encountering problems that impact on their ability to care for their children. The program provides families with the necessary support and services to help prevent an escalation of the problems.

Amanda will be joined by a full-time Youth Connections Support Worker in August. Youth Connections supports young people aged from 12 to 19 who are at risk of disengaging, or have who have disengaged, from education, and helped them find alternative means to learn and overcome barriers.

Shoalhaven job seekers star in video resumes

More than100 job seekers from Mission Australia’s Nowra and Ulladulla Employment Solutions offices have been given the opportunity to promote themselves to businesses using online video resumes.

This DEEWR-approved program is being piloted by Mission Australia in Nowra, NSW, with the potential to be picked up by all Job Service Australia providers.

The digital resumes – provided by Meetseeker – go way beyond the traditional print resume by including a video profile of the job seeker. The result is a resume that conveys the individual’s personality and gives potential employers the flexibility to view and review applicants at their own convenience.

Over the course of three days last week, staff at Mission Australia Employment Solutions Nowra trained job seekers on video presentation and helped them with their hair and make-up before supporting them through the recording process. In addition to the 100 job seekers from Nowra, 10 Ulladulla residents travelled to the office to create personal video profiles.

Once the profiles were loaded onto Meetseeker by our employment advisors, our sales support staff sent the new links to potential employers. Employment Solutions has already received positive feedback from local business, with two job seekers already gaining interviews based on their video resumes.

“This businessperson absolutely loved the concept of Meetseekers because they could hear how the candidate spoke and see how they presented straight away,” said Sharon Webster, JobSeeker Solutions Manager.

Gavin Carboni of Meetseekers also had praise for the way our Employment Solutions staff supported job seekers: “They team did an amazing job empowering the job seekers to believe in themselves enough to record the videos,” Mr Carboni said. “It was overwhelmingly fantastic to work with them and a real pleasure to see the job seekers enjoy themselves.”

Last Thursday’s program launch attracted local media, including WIN TV, who recorded this news item at Youtube.

The South Coast register also reported on the new initiative.

New website for not-for-profits

Did you know that the value of volunteering in the not-for-profit sector is estimated at $14.6 billion per year?

This is just one of the fast facts on the new Office for the Not-for-Profit Sector website, which was launched last week.

The Australian Government website also includes a Sector Guide to the Budget, with measures of interest to not-for-profit organisations.

It features downloadable rich-text format (RTF) and PDF documents outlining broad reform measures such as the establishment of an independent regulator for charities and tailored support for job seekers, as well as a list of programs that not-for-profits can access.

The site also features information on the new Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission (ACNC), which aims to improve the accountability and transparency of the sector while removing reporting overlap for general reporting requirements at the Commonwealth level.

The Office for the Not-for-Profit Sector was established in October 2010 to drive and coordinate the not-for-profit sector policy reform agenda and the National Compact - working together.

Visit www.notforprofit.gov.au for more information.

Long-term unemployment rises: ABS

The percentage of long-term unemployed people (unemployed for one year or more) rose from 16 per cent in July 2009 to 18 per cent in July 2010, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this week.

For long-term unemployed people the most common main difficulty in finding a job was '”too many applicants for available jobs'” (14 per cent), followed by “too far to travel/transport problems” (13 per cent) and “own health or disability” (13 per cent).

However, the majority (82 per cent) of unemployed people are short-term unemployed (that is, they have been unemployed for less than one year), with one in four having been unemployed for less than four weeks.

Of those people who had been unemployed for under eight weeks, 20 per cent reported “no difficulties at all” in finding new work and the most common main difficulty reported was “too many applicants for available jobs” (13 per cent).

According to the ABS, for young people aged 15 to 24 years, the main difficulty in finding work was “insufficient work experience” (17 per cent), while for those aged 45 years and over it was “considered too old by employers” (17 per cent).

Of all unemployed people, 21 per cent had never worked before and 17 per cent had worked, but not in the past two years.

Last year Mission Australia worked with more than 154,000 Australian jobseekers, helping them to find and maintain sustainable employment.

Mission Australia Employment Solutions operates eight Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations programs nationwide - including Job Services Australia and Apprenticeship Solutions. Our challenge is to prevent more Australians from getting caught up in the long-term cycle of unemployment.

Six-week course connects job seekers with hospitality industry

Fourteen job seekers in Pialba, Queensland recently graduated from a specialised training course developed by Mission Australia Employment Solutions and Better Development & Training.

The students, who trained in front-of-house and back-of-house hospitality skills for six weeks, now have the skills and practical experience necessary to obtain full-time jobs in the hospitality industry.

Regional Manager for Mission Australia Employment Solutions Mitch Ryder said he is excited for the students that have graduated.

“All students have shown great dedication and commitment to completing this training course,” Mr Ryder said.

“Mission Australia Employment Solutions aims to assist job seekers source quality jobs through employment assistance and training, and we hope this training course has provided all graduates with the skills and confidence necessary to take the next step into employment.

“As the hospitality and tourism industry is one of the key employers in the region, I’m sure the students will be in a great position to capitalise on their newfound skills and find employment.”

---

Mission Australia Employment Solutions national contact phone numbers:

• Mission Australia Employment Solutions - 13 11 24
• Mission Australia Apprenticeship Solutions (Australian Apprenticeships Centres) - 1300 626 227
• Mission Australia Australian Apprenticeships Access Program - 1 300 626 227

---

Mission Australia opens its doors to the Woodridge community

Mission Australia will officially launch its new Job Services Australia site in the southern Brisbane suburb of Woodridge today.

The opening, to be officiated by Brett Raguse MP, Federal Member for Forde, will celebrate Mission Australia’s commitment to the jobseekers and employers of Woodridge.

Mission Australia Employment Solutions launched the new Woodridge Job Services Australia (JSA) site on 1 July 2009 as a result of the Federal Government’s new JSA scheme, which focuses on a new approach to employment services - tailoring the services offered to the individual jobseeker.

Since opening its doors, Mission Australia’s JSA Woodridge site has helped dozens of local jobseekers find employment in the region.

Mission Australia’s Employment Solutions General Manager QLD, Phil Schultz, said today’s launch reinforced to the local community the commitment of the staff at the Woodridge JSA site to providing the support and guidance required by jobseekers and employers.

“We’re here to help Woodridge’s community by placing as many jobseekers as possible in the job best suited to them,” Mr Schultz said.

“We can offer jobseekers advice on their career options and our employment programs, as well as help them prepare their resumes, enhance their interview techniques and undertake the skill development or professional training they may need to help find and keep a job.

The Woodridge JSA site has so far helped place numerous jobseekers in suitable employment and currently has more than 450 jobseekers on their books.

“We’ve established strong relationships within the Woodridge community and we’re looking forward to building on these relationships to ensure we help as many willing jobseekers as possible.”