BACKGROUND

From mid-2010 to end of 2011, 53 Indigenous job placements were delivered in the Goulburn Murray region through a pilot program run in partnership between Jawun and four local Indigenous organisations: Kaiela Institute, Ganbina, The Academy of Sport Health and Education (ASHE) and Rumbalara Football and Netball Club (RFNC). Originally named the Employment Broker Program, it was aimed at encouraging more Aboriginal people to apply for and gain employment with Wesfarmers companies located in Shepparton. The pilot concluded at the end of 2011.
In March 2013, this program became the Shepparton Employment Partnership, funded by donations from Wesfarmers ($75K for one year, with a further $75K contingent on an evaluation of performance) and the Victorian Department of Business & Industry (DBI), which put forward $300K over 16 months to further expand the program. An employment broker, Chris Giblin from Kaiela Institute, was contracted to develop and run the project until the end of June 2014 when the DBI funding milestones were completed.
When the DBI funding ceased, Wesfarmers continued to fund the program, with Chris maintaining his role as employment broker.
Since then the Rumbalara Football Netball Club has successfully operated the Algabonyah Employment Program which is funded by the Victorian government. 
In the last three years, 119 people were placed into employment and over 87% were still engaged after 26 weeks. 
​This generated 298,000 hours of employment and $6.5 million paid wages.

APPROACH

As more than 12 months had lapsed between the completion of the pilot program and the establishment of the new program (Shepparton Employment Partnership), Kaiela Institute engaged Jawun to provide a series of secondees to assist with the reintroduction of the program among local employers. Initially, the focus was placed on Wesfarmers divisions operating in the Goulburn Murray region.
John Ciantar was the first of three secondees to participate. A Store Manager from Kmart with a background in management and recruitment, John conducted a survey of the Wesfarmers brands across Shepparton, Mooroopna and Echuca to gain an understanding of the following:

• The recruitment process, target numbers and timeframes for hiring for each division
• The approach towards recruitment of Indigenous job seekers
• The current number of Indigenous people employed in their organisation

From this, Kaiela Institute was able to take a more targeted approach to securing employment for Aboriginal people across the region.
Following this analysis, a second secondee was brought in to design and pilot a work-readiness program. Tim Wark from Coles carried out this piece of work, aimed at preparing individuals for the world of work within a typical Wesfarmers retail store. The work-readiness program included:
 

• An outline of the expectations of each of the local Wesfarmers brands
• Basic mock interview templates and interview skills
• Resume basics
• Online application processes and what to expect of the application process
• What to expect in the role
• Typical challenges in the role and how to manage them
• How to create a great first impression and break down false perceptions

 
To maximise the benefits of the work-readiness program, Jawun identified the need to engage another business to create more employment options for local Indigenous people. An opportunity arose when Jawun entered into a new partnership with Woolworths Liquor Group.
 
In 2014, a third secondee, Amanda Zappala, Area Manager for BWS, was sourced to design a work-readiness program for the Woolworths brands. A key part of Amanda’s work was to facilitate introductions and build working relationships between local store management and Kaiela Employment Broker, Chris Giblin, to secure jobs. Amanda also worked with Woolworths’ Victorian HR business team to assist with ‘on-the-ground’ engagement.
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OUTCOMES

As a direct result of the work of the three secondees, Kaiela Employment Broker, Chris Giblin, now has structured work-readiness programs to assist local Aboriginal people in applying and preparing for jobs. The work-readiness programs also help to manage employer expectations across the Wesfarmers and Woolworths divisions.
 
Two weeks after Amanda Zappala completed her secondment, Chris successful placed eight Indigenous people into jobs in Safeway stores in Shepparton, Mooroopna, Echuca and Moama, with a 100% retention rate at the 26-week mark. One of these original eight, two have now left school and are successfully engaged in full-time employment.
 
In addition, Wesfarmers’ and Woolworths’ store managers who saw their colleagues contribute to the Shepparton Employment Partnership have become increasingly open to discussing job opportunities for local Indigenous people.
 
Chris Giblin, Kaiela Employment Broker, commented on the value of the Jawun secondees: ‘The secondees are a fantastic resource for employment brokerage, especially when they have day-to-day knowledge and expertise in running a store. I believe the secondees learn from the experience as well – they learn how to see things from the point of view of the job seeker. Speaking with both Tim and Amanda, they could identify difficulties in the processes and were able to take these insights back to their companies. I know Amanda was very keen to implement a few of the things she had learnt while she was here to engage with the Aboriginal community in her region.’
 
Khiara Harrison, Indigenous community member, reflected on the value of having an employment broker: ‘Chris helped me get my resume together and helped me get my first job. He taught me how to approach employers and different businesses to hand in my resume.’

nEXT STEPS

Confident of the value of the Shepparton Employment Partnership, in June 2015 Wesfarmers entered into a new agreement with Kaiela Institute to extend the program until 24 December 2016. The following employment targets have been set for this 18 month period:
 

• Place 100 Indigenous people into jobs in Shepparton, Echuca and the surrounding towns
• Of the 100 placements, a minimum of 20 placements in Wesfarmers businesses

 
Jawun has sourced a Wesfamers secondee to help with this next phase of the program.