Published Tuesday, 29 May, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Minister for State Development, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
TOWNSVILLE PARENTS AND CARERS READY FOR WORK
Fifty unemployed parents and carers from around Townsville have received assistance to help them get back into the workforce thanks to the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative.
Minster for Employment and Industrial Relations John Mickel and Member for Thuringowa Craig Wallace said the final group of 30 participants in the Parents and Carers in Work project will graduate today.
“The project provided participants with a mix of training including accredited training from the Certificates I, II and III in Business,” Mr Mickel said.
“These people have been out of the workforce for some time looking after other family members and the chance to brush up on old skills or learn some new ones before returning to the workplace is a great benefit.
‘Parents and carers can bring some unique and valuable skills to the workplace in areas like teamwork, problem solving and time management but because they have been out of the workforce their confidence might be low or they don’t think they can work in a modern office environment anymore,” he said.
Mr Wallace said Thuringowa Job Training Centre received $86,370 from Skilling Queenslanders for Work and they provided another $112,929 of in-kind support for the project which has helped these people get the skills and confidence they needed to find employment.
Thuringowa Job Training Centre Manager Caroline Hook said the project covered a variety of potential issues a person returning to the workforce could face.
“The Parents and Carers in Work project offered language, literacy and numeracy support, job search and life skills training, vocational placements, how to write resumes and application letters amongst many other topics,” Ms Hook said.
“The project has been a great success. Twenty-six of our participants have already found employment and two have gone on for further training. The final group have just finished their training and are now looking for work.
“Each person who joined the project with different strengths and weaknesses so it was important we could respond to their needs so they had the best chances of impressing potential employers.”
The Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative together with its predecessor the Breaking the Unemployment Cycle initiative have helped create more than 121,000 jobs for Queenslanders since 1998.
The initiative is part of the State Government’s $1 billion Queensland Skills Plan which aims to provide individuals and industry with the skills and workforce for the 21st Century.
For more information on the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative visit www.employment.qld.gov.au or call 1300 369 925
Contact: Thuringowa Training Centre Manager Caroline Hook on 4723 1666 or jobtrain@jobtrain.com.au
Media Contacts: Chris Brown on 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion on 3224 6784
May 29, 2007
Minster for Employment and Industrial Relations John Mickel and Member for Thuringowa Craig Wallace said the final group of 30 participants in the Parents and Carers in Work project will graduate today.
“The project provided participants with a mix of training including accredited training from the Certificates I, II and III in Business,” Mr Mickel said.
“These people have been out of the workforce for some time looking after other family members and the chance to brush up on old skills or learn some new ones before returning to the workplace is a great benefit.
‘Parents and carers can bring some unique and valuable skills to the workplace in areas like teamwork, problem solving and time management but because they have been out of the workforce their confidence might be low or they don’t think they can work in a modern office environment anymore,” he said.
Mr Wallace said Thuringowa Job Training Centre received $86,370 from Skilling Queenslanders for Work and they provided another $112,929 of in-kind support for the project which has helped these people get the skills and confidence they needed to find employment.
Thuringowa Job Training Centre Manager Caroline Hook said the project covered a variety of potential issues a person returning to the workforce could face.
“The Parents and Carers in Work project offered language, literacy and numeracy support, job search and life skills training, vocational placements, how to write resumes and application letters amongst many other topics,” Ms Hook said.
“The project has been a great success. Twenty-six of our participants have already found employment and two have gone on for further training. The final group have just finished their training and are now looking for work.
“Each person who joined the project with different strengths and weaknesses so it was important we could respond to their needs so they had the best chances of impressing potential employers.”
The Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative together with its predecessor the Breaking the Unemployment Cycle initiative have helped create more than 121,000 jobs for Queenslanders since 1998.
The initiative is part of the State Government’s $1 billion Queensland Skills Plan which aims to provide individuals and industry with the skills and workforce for the 21st Century.
For more information on the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative visit www.employment.qld.gov.au or call 1300 369 925
Contact: Thuringowa Training Centre Manager Caroline Hook on 4723 1666 or jobtrain@jobtrain.com.au
Media Contacts: Chris Brown on 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion on 3224 6784
May 29, 2007