On the fringes of the Bendigo CBD, Elizabeth tends to an inbound enquiry displaying a quiet confidence often found in those with years of experience within the customer service industry.
For some, a career path is ingrained in their mind early on. For others, they move from job to job, adapting and changing with whatever role is available. For Bendigo local Elizabeth, you’d never know that she was in the latter.
Elizabeth had recently experienced several hardships in her life which included a death in the family, providing ongoing support and care for her elderly mother which made it extremely difficult to find a steady job.
“I was unemployed and going through the Centrelink process, just having no idea of what I was going to do next,” she said.
It was then that Elizabeth connected with our PeoplePlus team in Bendigo to develop a pathway plan to realising her employment goal.
While attending regular sessions at her local PeoplePlus branch in Bendigo, Elizabeth utilised the jobactive program to search for jobs, set up a career profile, and investigate the need to develop the necessary skills to find work with our Bendigo Recruitment Consultant David Baxter.
“When I began to work with Elizabeth I knew she was a capable worker but we needed to address several barriers to her self-esteem and confidence,” said David.
Elizabeth completed several short courses with PeoplePlus including a First Aid course and a barista program and was always willing to take on whatever job was available. Elizabeth worked in various temporary roles but never found a role that she was truly happy in.
“Being in my 50s, I also wanted to broaden my skills, so I figured that any new qualification would be helpful in one way or another.
“I’d wanted to work in administration but I wasn’t solely set on it. PeoplePlus would always put my resume forward for jobs but I just couldn’t find the right fit,” she said.
And the right fit was something that Gary Jones from The Farm Protectors was adamant on.
Gary’s business works to provide solutions to farming and business clients who have requested assistance with their succession planning requirements in the transition to a long and happy retirement.
“The administration work at a firm like ours runs a bit differently to other firms.
“We were specifically looking for someone more mature-minded as we needed someone who would be the right fit with the demographics of our clients,” Gary said.
David called on Elizabeth and advised her that he was going to put her forward for an administration role at The Farm Protectors, and after a successful interview, Elizabeth and Gary were able to agree on the days and times of work and she started the following Tuesday.
“The best part was PeoplePlus really took into consideration exactly what we were looking for.
“Elizabeth was the right person for our business – mature-minded, able to interact well with our client base,” Gary said.
Gary also credited Elizabeth’s ability to pick up new skills and run with them to the training she completed at PeoplePlus.
“As a director, I feel confident leaving for a few weeks knowing that Elizabeth is here, that’s the level she’s at,” Gary said.
On reflection, Elizabeth’s sage advice to other job seekers was simple - try something new.
“I often think about mature-aged jobseekers and think, just give it a go.
“Even if it’s something you’ve never done before, you might surprise yourself. If you’ve got the right support and the right people around you, those impossible jobs seem to become a lot easier,” she said.
“Get confident by building your skills and keep going with it until you find what you really want to do,” Elizabeth said.
The team at PeoplePlus congratulates Elizabeth on securing the right job for her, and wishes her, Gary and the team at The Farm Protectors continued success in the future.