25 February 2022 – Employment services company Jobfind is excited to announce it will help young people in Cairns secure employment and training as part of the Australian Government’s Transition to Work program.
The Department of Education, Skills and Employment has awarded Jobfind Centres Australia the contract to deliver the Australian Government’s Transition to Work program in Cairns, to help young people move into work or education.
The Australian Government undertook a competitive tender process for the new Transition to Work program to run nationally from 1 July 2022 to 2027. Jobfind was the only successful organisation in Cairns for the Request for Tender for Transition to Work 2022-27.
Transition to Work is the Australian Government’s specialist pre-employment service for young people aged 15-24 years. Providers of the Transition to Work program deliver intensive and personalised support to help young people develop practical skills to get a job (including apprenticeships and training) or education.
CEO of Jobfind, Karena Newland, welcomes the opportunity to extend Jobfind’s youth-specific service, Youthfind, to young people in Cairns who face complex vocational and non-vocational barriers to securing and maintaining a job.
“We know that young people experienced major setbacks due to the pandemic over the past two years. Their education was disrupted, their mental health suffered, and job opportunities were lost. The Transition to Work program is a genuine investment in helping them move forward in life,” Ms Newland said.
Jobfind is already a 5-star performer in the region in Disability Employment Services and will bring the same excellent standard of service delivery to Transition to Work participants.
“A young person in Cairns who enters our Transition to Work program can have confidence that Youthfind will listen to them, and provide them with high quality, personalised support to help them study or find and maintain a job,” Ms Newland said.
The high rate of youth disengagement with employment in Cairns warrants a significant response, says Ms Newland. “We’ll be creating a new Cairns Youth Advisory Forum to empower young people to get involved with how we design and deliver local services. That means young people representing Indigenous, LGBTQI, disability and multicultural communities get to sit down with employers and other service providers and have their voices heard.”
Jobfind will also be activating its significant local and national training, employer, and community partners to create more opportunities for young people in Cairns to start building their careers. “We have commitments from youth organisations like Year13 and large employers like Programmed to help us get hundreds more young people into work,” said Ms Newland.
“Ultimately, we want to help young people develop the skills and attributes that employers in growth industries like health care and retail are looking for,” Ms Newland said.
Planning is now underway for Jobfind to open its doors to Transition to Work participants from 1 July 2022 from Jobfind’s current sites in Cairns City, Atherton, Innisfail, Mareeba, Smithfield and Yarrabah.
Jobfind looks forward to hiring local staff to join the youth-specialist employment service in Cairns in the coming months. Interested candidates are invited to visit www.jobfind.com.au/careers
For more information, contact Emma Kirby, National Marketing Manager on emma.kirby@angusknight.com.au
