Career transition program helps Chris secure new job.

Patience, resilience and hard-work, coupled with the right support, helped Chris secure a full-time job in a school book warehouse.

The 63 year Cabramatta job seeker had a lengthy employment history as an Accounts Officer, including nearly 20 years of owning a Newsagents before coming to MatchWorks.

“When I first met Chris, he was on a mission to find work and was adamant about finding a role as an Accounts Officer,” MatchWorks Employment Consultant, Nicole Yousif said.

“I had several conversations with Chris about finding suitable work and the restrictions of finding his dream job during a global pandemic. So we focused on roles within the administration industry, yet Chris felt that his age was holding him back.”

Building new skills and ideas

Nicole encouraged Chris to participate in the Skills 4 Success program to boost his confidence and job searching skills.

“Chris received excellent feedback from the trainer and it gave his self-belief an extra boost,” Nicole said.

“The program gave me ideas to use for interviews as I hadn’t been to an interview for more than 20 years,” Chris said. “It was very good and got me up-to-date.”

The experience also helped Chris be open to other work opportunities and he successfully interviewed for a role. Then the second wave of COVID-19 hit Sydney, and the placement was put on hold.

Feeling disappointed, Nicole encouraged Chris to attend the Career Transition Assistance Program with MTC where he built his employability skills to become more competitive in the local job market.

Finding happiness and the right job

Then MatchWorks Employer Solutions Consultant, Laura Albertin discovered an employer ready to hire for warehouse role. After a successful interview, Chris landed the job at Five Senses Education.

“The role involved quite heavy lifting so I told them about years of lifting bundles of newspapers at the newsagency and they were quite happy to look at what I was good at,” Chris said.

“Working is different and I am back to my old self again. I was used to working 7 days a week at the newsagents so being at home for over a year was very boring. Now I am happy.”