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Finding work in new industries
Want to want to work in a shop or a café? No problem, then you’ll be fine in Richmond, but if you don’t then that’s another story…
Most of the City of Yarra’s residents enjoy an unemployment rate comparable to the national rate at 4.2%, but tell that to the many of the residents in Richmond’s housing commission flats says a local not-for-profit employment agency.
WISE Employment’s Richmond Site Manager, Sue Smith, has been working with job seekers in the Richmond area, in particular the public housing flats, and sees the challenges they face on a daily basis. The Richmond office offers a cost-free service to job seekers through it Job Network, Disability Employment Network and special ex-offender programmes at its office in Church St, Richmond, and recently celebrated its 1st birthday in the Richmond community.
“Many of our clients have been long-term unemployed, may have English as a second language, and some may have been through traumatic experiences in their country of birth,” Sue said.
“Many of our clients were used to working in factories and these days there’s just not that type of work available in the Richmond area.”
“The local work opportunities in the Richmond area can be quite limited – most of the work available in this area is in the retail or hospitality area which is great for some but not for others.”
Despite this, she believes that the job seekers are keen to work and they need to look at other work options as well as considering travelling further for work opportunities.
“While it is true that many of our job seekers are disadvantaged in many ways, we shouldn’t confuse that with people not wanting to work – many of our job seeker are using their existing skills to work in new areas,” she said.
“They might have done cleaning work, so they can look at doing cleaning work in the hospitality area.”
“Our clients can be school leavers or people in their 60s – they come from a range of nationalities and may be highly disadvantaged – but they all really want a job.”
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