News
MTC collaborates with Muslim Women Australia
BANKSTOWN, APRIL 2022: In August 2021, MTC Australia’s Business Development Manager Wissam, attended a networking session and meeting with the Canterbury-Bankstown Multicultural Inter-Agency. He met Saja, a Muslim Women Australia’s (MWA) Settlement Engagement and Transition Support caseworker. They realised that their organisations were truly aligned in their work to support people to find meaningful employment.
When Wissam talked about the purpose of MTC’s Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program and the real benefits our participants get from the course, Saja suggested a collaboration where they could use the SEE program to support MWA clients with training in job readiness and employability skills. With a common goal in mind, both Wissam and Saja were eager to see how we could assist these people, especially given the extremely challenging employment climate in which they found themselves.
An online information session was presented by MTC’s SEE Expansion Manager Shamini, who spoke to MWA’s clients about the SEE Pathways Job Search and Skills course and how it could provide them with the training they needed to apply for and succeed in finding various employment opportunities. The training would have a strong focus on increasing their resume and cover letter writing skills, their proficiency with Microsoft Office, and give them a hand with career planning and picking which jobs to apply for. MWA clients were extremely excited about participating and were especially drawn to the online delivery learning model, which meant they could complete the training from the comfort of home.
The only thing left to do was get the interested people enrolled in the SEE program. Almost all of the people who wished to join were volunteer jobseekers, which presented an interesting challenge. They were not linked with an employment service provider who would traditionally refer job seekers to courses. The SEE program had only recently expanded its eligibility criteria to include volunteer job seekers. The referral process was still being fine-tuned and solidified, meaning MTC Australia and Muslim Women Australia needed to get creative. They overcame this challenge, and classes started in February 2022!
The course ran for four weeks, with three online classes each week. The participants all worked hard outside of the classes, completing independent study to ensure they fully understood the course material. Their trainer Ajin worked tirelessly to support her students through the process, leading to fantastic results!
The program was extremely successful, with half of the students successfully finding a job and another quarter receiving interview invitations.
We would like to recognise and thank all of the hard work that went into achieving this excellent result and congratulate everyone who is now taking control of their future!