MatchWorks employment consultant wins major industry award
19 August 2008
MatchWorks’ Senior Employment Consultant Van Ngo has been recognised by peak body, National Employment Services Association (NESA) at their Excellence Awards held in Cairns Thursday night. The MatchWorks staff member won Employment Consultant of the Year after being recognised by senior staff as being an extraordinary consultant.
Van has worked for MatchWorks since 2005, and has had significant success working with people who are very long term unemployed, as well as facing significant barriers to employment, including language difficulties.
“I initially came to MatchWorks as a jobseeker and one day the job search trainer was absent so I decided to have some fun and take over the class,” said Van. “After that the Site Manager called me out for a brief chat and 10 minutes later I was having a pre-screening interview. I attended a job interview the following day and was offered a position two hours later. It all happened very quickly and I have been with MatchWorks ever since,” she said.
Personally, Van has overcome several barriers to her success. Van grew up in Vietnam without her father who had left with her two older siblings as refugees on a boat. In 1992 she arrived in Australia with her mother and five siblings as refugees. Van later completed her VCE and a Bachelor of Accounting, and throughout this time volunteered with many community groups in her local area, including as a translator (read more here).
According to MatchWorks general manager Michael Wasley, Van embraces her work with disadvantaged jobseekers, and her dedication and enthusiasm appears to be infectious to all clients she assists.
“Van's commitment to her clients is reflected not only in her outstanding ability to successfully place them into sustainable employment but also in the feedback I consistently receive from grateful clients who have gained life-changing opportunities through their interaction with Van,” said Michael.
“Van has a wonderful ability to connect and communicate with people from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. She clearly embraces her work and her dedication and enthusiasm seems to be infectious to all clients she assists.”
MatchWorks is an enterprise of Karingal, a Geelong based, not-for-profit community organisation working to improve the lives and options of people with a disability and those who are disadvantaged. It has 13 offices.
Read more about Van's story here.