Looking for work in all the right places

In tough job-hunting times, it’s all about managing expectations and looking for work in all the right places, that’s the advice from Josiah Foua our Youth Employment Service Facilitator.

He says it won’t be news to anyone that its really tough out there, and a very difficult environment for young people to be finding work.

“It’s such a competitive job market and we are working with rangatahi who might have spent a year getting a business or admin qualification but with no experience they are struggling to find roles in those fields. We work with them to look at what other skills they have and what roles are out there that might have an element of what they’ve trained in, it’s a good place to start.”

Josiah says it’s all about taking a reality check – times have changed, and there’s a need to attack things a little differently. He says there are opportunities in retail, hospitality, construction labouring and warehouse pick and packing. In fact, 12 clients have taken up new job opportunities in the past month or so.

Young job seekers build their confidence working through Partners Porirua’s Youth Employment Porirua (YEP) programme: an 8-week programme for 18–24-year-olds.

“A lot of the young people we work with are struggling with low self-confidence and, like all of us, they have other barriers they have to deal with. We take a strengths-based approach to find out what they are good at so we can soften those barriers and make them believe that small changes can make a big difference.”

On a practical level the Partner’s Youth Employment team works with young people to improve and rejig their CVs so they can include volunteer work and other relevant experiences they have had and learn how to write a great cover-letter.

“From there we encourage them to talk confidently about their skills and experiences – we want them to feel proud to say, ‘this is who I am, and this is what I can do’.”

Josiah says that a part of that is providing opportunities for rangatahi to talk to local businesses so they can get comfortable talking to employers, learn how to sell themselves and understand what employers are looking for.

“There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes supporting every young person to be confident to apply for a job – we like to say the longer their fishing net is, the more chances they have of catching something.”

Josiah says he continues to be impressed by those that turn up despite the setbacks. “It really speaks highly to their resilience – even when they are not being successful, they still show up.”

He encourages rangatahi to hold on to the little victories, ask for feedback and turn both into motivation.