We've made a business partnership that empowers jobseekers in Victor Harbor!

mobo Employment Services,in collaboration with our School Leaver's Employment Support (SLES) team have begun a collaboration with the Encounter Community Centre (ECC), a fellow disability services provider located in Victor Harbor! A business partnership that brings mutual benefits to both of our organisations AND empowers our jobseekers to build the skills, confidence and experience they need to find meaningful employment.

One way that we support our jobseekers with disability is through finding and providing them with work experience and training opportunities related to the career path that they want to pursue. This could take the form of supporting them to enroll in and complete certificates and training licenses, connecting them with potential employers for hands-on work trials, or, with our new partnership with the Encounter Centre, providing volunteer opportunities that does both!

Many who are finding valuable volunteering opportunities at the Encounter Centre are those who are working towards a Certificate Ill in Community Services but struggling to find a placement to put their
learning into use and complete their studies.

With the support of the Darryl, a board member at the ECC, many of our jobseekers living with a disability in the Fleurieu Region have taken on meaningful roles within the Centre, from working in the nursery, propagating plants and providing advice and services to customers, stepping behind the coffee machine and making beverages for visitors, and picking up tools in the workshop and producing wooden toys.

In turn, our jobseekers fill the volunteer roles that the Community Centre needs to operate, having lost many of their volunteers over the pandemic, and struggling to fill vacancies since. Our Jobseekers can develop and practice their skills in environments similar to open employment opportunities, while also empowering a local business to keep its doors open.

Darren (left) practicing his skills on the coffee machine, and Adrian (right) using his skills to make wooden toys.

In those roles, while strengthening their confidence and resumes, Darryl is providing jobseekers with professional development plans containing checklists that demonstrate their work capabilities and providing a referee to the jobseekers who can advocate for their suitability for future employment pursuits. Not only providing time and place to develop their skills but also providing tangible proof and advocacy of jobseeker's skills, all fantastic resources that increase our jobseeker's employability!

So far, mobo Employment Services Victor Harbor has placed more than 3 jobseekers into roles in the Encounter Community Centre, with hopes of many more joining them in the future. Business partnerships like these allow mobo to maintain positive relationships with providers and employers, in a mutually beneficial cooperation that provides great outcomes to jobseekers as they journey towards prospering in employment!

If you own or are part of a business that would benefit from taking on jobseekers, or are otherwise able to provide pathways for people with disability to develop their skills and confidence for employment, we want to hear from you! To start our mutually beneficial partnership, similar to the success we've seen with the Encounter Community Centre, give us a call on 08 8130 1800 or email [email protected]