Douglas and Employability Skills Training transcript

Douglas: My name is Douglas and I'm from the Qandamooka people in Qandamooka country, which is on North Stradbroke Island. I was unemployed for a while and I thought it might be a good idea to get myself more job ready and learn about extra things that I could be doing for myself in order to, you know, win that next job.

Jane: Employability Skills Training is an interactive program that caters to job seekers ready to get back into the workforce, or even for those who haven't actually been in the workforce before. We take ages from 15 right throughout, and we teach you all the magic tricks about what the employment market is looking for these days. So we cover things from motivating yourself, job searching platforms, those transferable skills that will take you into different roles. We show you how you're worthy and of value to what you're heading into. Douglas, when he first started here with EST, really talented person, but just wasn't nailing the interviews and things, potentially all the applications, getting the callbacks that he was looking for. And one of the things that I found was that the leverage of what he was looking for in, where he was applying was quite a narrow base. So a part of what we teach you is to broaden those horizons, show you what other opportunities are out there, so you can really promote yourself, market yourself, to get your foot across that line. He's growth in coming into EST, just flourished from day one. Once he opened his heart and mind to the magic that we had to offer, and what we were going to show him, teach him potentially.

Douglas: My wonderful EST trainer, Jane, I really liked her approach. She was able to get us to feel really comfortable in a safe space. What I loved best about the program was being able to relate with the other colleagues there, and not feeling like you're on your own. We're able to pull each other through and have that relatability, and then tackle those challenges from a different perspective.

Ashley: The changes that I've seen in Douglas since completing the course has been his confidence levels are back up, and he's his usual perky self now, and he's now re-engaging back into community, and also motivated to find work.

Jane: For anyone who finds himself in the same position as Douglas, if you've not heard about the program called EST before, talk to your providers, go on the Workforce Australia website, there's plenty of information on there for you. Because it's really going to help you to step forward in your job seeking journey.

Douglas: I thought I knew a lot of things, and I was pleasantly challenged. You'll really enjoy this course and find out new things about yourself, and how you can improve your chances and prospects of finding work that's meaningful for you.