SThree Australia has recently partnered with Raise, a local youth mentoring foundation, in an attempt to empower youths in their resume writing, interviewing and job search skills.
As part of this new alliance, our Sydney team have volunteered for the Raise Foundation's 'Sydney Bump Program', mentoring young mums to help positively impact their lives and career prospects.
What is the Sydney Bump Program?
The program supports and empowers pregnant and parenting mums, from age 14-23, with the average age of 18. Over the last eight years, the Sydney Bump Program has supported over 500 young mums and has identified that their underlying core belief of not belonging, or feeling as though they have nothing of value to contribute, are the primary barriers to workforce participation.
They don’t feel like they belong to their peer groups of pre-baby days, as they’re responsible for young children. Likewise, they don’t belong in the mothers’ groups as they are often 10-15 years younger than the average age of other mums. They often drop out of school and further education earlier than other (non-parenting) peers.
These scenarios mean they can end up feeling quite alone and isolated and they frequently lack a positive role model to demonstrate the power of being in full-time employment. The Bump Program delivers a series of workshops, contributing towards their young mums graduating with a TAFE Certificate.
What are a few of the workshops held?
Each workshop offers a fun activity and a wonderful opportunity for much needed ‘me time’. This gives participants an opportunity to complete a TAFE Certificate and meet many other young mums. It’s free to sign up and food is provided – as is babysitting too!
These workshops include Fit – a nutrition and exercise workshop, Dream – to empower you to do what you want to do, Gather – a mentoring session, Skill – an education workshop and many others.
EARN is one of the workshops which SThree was able to actively participate in. It helps these young mums to map out their current skills and where they can take their first step towards having a career and moving away from a reliance on welfare. This workshop covers resumes, building your skills, and identifying potential careers and jobs.
As recruitment specialists who have been in Australia for many years, SThree was able to share the recruitment knowledge our consultants have with these youths, as well as educate them on the job search skills they required.
How was SThree Australia involved?
Our team in Australia was able to reinforce the importance of a resume and what it should comprise of including; the essentials of a resume, the layout, the addition of a cover letter, and the ‘Dos’ and ‘Do Nots’. As well as this, the team equipped them with the interview skills they would need, sharing the common questions that are often asked during an interview.
They also looked at the preparation one should do prior to an interview, as well as behavioural-based questioning which can potentially happen during an interview. We also covered the importance of personal branding; why they should have a LinkedIn account and the professionalism which follows.
More importantly, SThree Australia shared the places these young mums could search for jobs, as well as the importance of the connections they form. The team encouraged these youths to focus on their strengths as well as seek advice when needed.
The team in Australia was extremely thankful they had this opportunity to partner with a local foundation and were able to deliver this workshop that can assist youths in finding full-time employment.
If you would like to find out more, please contact Julie Wood at [email protected] from our Australia office. You can also browse our most recent jobs in Australia, including the following.