Like many others, Asuria Transition to Work participants, Harry Khalil and Jeff Jittrong, had a challenging job-seeking journey throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
22-year-old Jeff commenced with Asuria’s Haymarket Transition to Work team just over a year ago, after struggling to find his footing in the world of job seeking.
Working closely with his job coach, Asuria guided Jeff into successfully obtaining his Responsible Service of Alcohol Certificate (RSA), and Responsible Service of Gambling (RSG) qualification, which saw him gain employment in the hospitality industry.
Happily working and enjoying the freedoms of little to no COVID-19 restrictions, things appeared to be going well for Jeff. Unfortunately, shortly after commencing work Sydney went into lockdown, and Jeff was stood down from his job.
Elsewhere, 19-year-old Harry was at Asuria’s Kogarah site, focusing on getting a qualification but unsure of what career path to pursue. Harry’s confidence at the time was extremely low, as he hadn’t completed year 11, and he had no work history – in Harry’s mind, there was no chance that anyone would hire him. Harry’s Job Coach, Jayde, made a conscious effort to encourage him to focus less on what he didn't have, and look more towards what he did.
To help him refine his career prospects, Jayde asked him about his hobbies, interests, and values. They then looked at his skills and completed several quizzes to find what would suit him.
Shortly after, Harry enthusiastically chose to enrol in a Certificate III of Health Services to pursue his hopes of becoming a paramedic.
Commencing the course during the lockdown, Harry decided he'd look for employment once Sydney opened again.
When Sydney finally came out of lockdown in October, our Transition to Work Recruitment Consultant immediately started searching for employment opportunities and proposed that both Harry and Jeff consider a PaTH internship opportunity with Urban Chic Property Styling, as Logistics Support Workers.
Specialising in decorating properties on the housing market to help maximise their selling price, Harry and Jeff took up work in the warehouse, where they would primarily be loading and unloading stock.
The Urban Chic Property Styling manager, Michael Sharkey, was incredibly impressed with the boys’ performance and learning ability. So much so that he employed both Harry and Jeff only three weeks into the four-week internship.
Both Jeff and Harry love the work and the culture at Urban Chic, with Jeff saying that he wanted to try something new to challenge himself and learn new skills.
"I'm thankful for the opportunity brought to me by Asuria and very grateful to Urban Chic to have employed me after completing my internship."
Michael has had nothing but good things to say about the hire from an employer perspective, as he's gained two exceptional employees without undergoing the gruelling recruitment process.
"Urban Chic Property Styling's experience with Asuria employment services has been extremely beneficial from the point of view of the business and the interns.
“The way in which information was conveyed to prospective interns by way of information sessions coordinated by Asuria was excellent."
Looking to the future, both Harry and Jeff are excited as there is the potential for them to now gain their forklift and truck licenses at Urban Chic.
We're incredibly proud of both Harry and Jeff for coming out of Sydney's lockdown with an optimistic outlook and eagerness to reach their goals.