By Molly Magennis
The Western Bulldogs Community Foundation has just wrapped up its new Adult Employment Program, aimed at helping migrants in the west boost their employment skills and training, making it easier for them to find pathways into the workforce.
The program, run in partnership with employment services provider Asuria, has just finished for term one, with over 60 recently arrived adult migrants taking part in four sessions at four different locations across the west.
During the program participants learn about skills and qualifications that are needed to gain employment, as well as possible volunteering opportunities and pathways to work.
Employment pathways coordinator Louise Lane said in creating this program, the Western Bulldogs felt that it was a good way to not only support migrants in the west who often struggle with unemployment, but also to integrate recent migrants into their existing community programs.
“People in the western suburbs are unfortunately [at] a greater risk of unemployment due to a variety of factors and if we look at the migrant population [they] have those systemic barriers to employment when they arrive in Australia,” she said.
“Because we run so many different programs already in the community, we felt that it would be a really good way of integrating some of that pre-employment content and support people that are already engaged in our programs or to use that as a way to engage more people in the Foundation’s programs.”
Participants engaged in a variety of pre-employment activities during term one of the program, such as goal setting, looking at skills in relation to hobbies and interests and work rights provided by WorkSafe Victoria.
“We did some activities around diversity and how diversity can be or should be valued in workplaces,” Ms Lane said.
“The teachers were all really, really receptive, the students really enjoyed all the activities. We did actually have some evaluation questions at the end of each session and so far, it’s all been really positive.”
The Adult Employment Program will be running again in term two and three this year with a cohort of new participants.
