Preparing for Employment Workshop for Red Cross' Job Cafe Volunteers

The Australian Red Cross is a not-for-profit that aims to meet humanitarian needs of the Australian community. This covers demographics such as vulnerable migrants, isolated elderly people, children and families with profound disabilities, regional communities, disaster affected and at risk regions, children who experience disadvantage and neglect and so on. Red Cross operates under 7 fundamental principles – humanity, impartiality, neutrality, voluntary service, independence, universality and unity.

The Red Cross offers a range of Migration Support Programs (MSP) to assist CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) communities, one of which is the Job Café. Clients who drop into the Job Café receive guidance from Red Cross volunteers on looking for work, developing a resume or cover letter, understanding how to search and apply for jobs, and any other issues related to employment and training.

To support Red Cross volunteers at the Job Café, Red Cross wanted to run a ‘Preparing for Employment Project’ which would utilise the knowledge and expertise of a small team of corporate volunteers to teach Red Cross volunteers from a non-HR background about common themes and issues occurring in employment. This would better equip the Job Cafe volunteers with the skills and knowledge to better perform their roles and address client needs more effectively.

A small team of volunteers from Woodside’s People & Global Capability department snapped up this opportunity and met with Red Cross for an initial discussion on what they were hoping to achieve, before setting to work and developing the training program to be delivered. The training focused on helping volunteers assist Red Cross clients by understanding what makes a good resume, what employers look for, and what traits make a successful applicant when searching for employment.

“ The support provided by the corporate volunteers will have a direct impact on the success of clients improving employability and also a longer term impact on the organisation to assist more clients effectively and transfer the skills and knowledge onto other volunteers who enter the program.”

Red Cross were delighted with the outcomes of this project which included providing a professional development opportunity for volunteers in the Job Café program and upskilling their volunteers level of knowledge and skills to better support clients. This project has helped improve Red Cross’ ability to support vulnerable migrants in gaining employment, independence, greater self-confidence and a stronger presence in the community.

When asked about their volunteering experience the Woodside volunteers had this to say:

“ Make time to do any preparation, I know [people can be] busy with day to day jobs but it’s worth making some time to improve the lives of others”

“ Give it a go, it’s fun and rewarding!”

 

The team at Red Cross were delighted with the support from Woodside adding;

“Woodside were easy and enjoyable to work with: communication was clear and effective, they were reliable and professional and evidently demonstrated the skill and knowledge needed to conduct the project / training well.”

Well done to all involved!