Jobs effort closes the gap

A PROGRAM aimed at improving employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Ballarat is currently underway.

Run by MatchWorks, Deadly Yakka is more than polishing resumes and interview skills, it’s about finding sustainable employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a focused way that places them at the centre of the process.

“This program is very different. We are really guided by what the clients in the room want at the time,” said Chris Delamont, National Indigenous Liaison Manager with MatchWorks.

“We don’t necessarily get employers in until the second week, until we’ve really got to know what the client wants, the type of employment they are looking for, and then we’ll bring the employers that have those types of vacancies.”

If a client is seeking a job that’s not available or they aren’t yet qualified for, Deadly Yakka will not only facilitate the pathways, but also find other options to help the job seeker get to where they want to be.

“We’ll look at long term goal setting and if that means we’ve got to take a survival job to help the client get through that training, we will definitely build a really strong pathway for them,” Mr Delamont said.

The employment statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people stark. Nearly 30 per cent were unemployed, compared to the national jobless rate of just over five per cent.

Mr Delamont is a Wiradjuri Man and taking part in the Ballarat program as a mentor, and a liaison with local business.

He said a big part Deadly Yakka was making connections between two sides of an issue that might have challenges coming together.

“It’s trying to bridge a gap,” he said.

“There’s a lot of employers out there that want to employ Indigenous staff, but a lot of our clients don’t know where to find those jobs. It’s actually being driven by a need on the employment side as much as it is from our client side. Which is a great problem to have.”

Outcomes from Deadly Yakka are impressive with 80 per cent of participants gaining employment. That measurement isn’t taken as soon as people get a job, but based on how many are still employed awhile after accepting a role.

“We take that figure on a six-month measure so we’re getting evidence that it’s sustainable employment,” Mr Delamont said.

When it comes to finding participants jobs, Mr Delamont said Deadly Yakka was highly selective on which employers were allowed to join the program.

Those job providers have to undertake cultural awareness training and show that hiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was more than a box ticking exercise.

“There’s very much a focus on taking clients out of mainstream and really identifying employers that really want to employ Indigenous people and not just as a tokenistic thing but as a long term sustainable,” Mr Delamont said.

“If an employer doesn’t have a job to offer to someone in the group that’s looking for employment we don’t even invite them into the room.”