Australian Unity will give 14 Aboriginal people an opportunity to pursue a career in the aged care sector through an innovative pre-employment pathway.

The participants, who have no previous experience in the aged care sector, will complete the 10-week Launch into Work pre-employment project–graduating with a Certificate II qualification on Friday 2nd August at NSW TAFE in Port Macquarie, NSW.

Australian Unity’s Executive General Manager for Indigenous Services, Ken Markwell said that Launch into Work has been successful in building the skills of Aboriginal people to enter employment in the aged care sector.

“This innovative initiative helps address the challenges of the significant aged care workforce shortage, while creating a pathway into employment for Aboriginal people in regional and metropolitan areas of NSW.

“Australian Unity is keen to expand the program and continue to build a talent pipeline of Indigenous aged care and disability workers to provide culturally safe support to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers.”

The project was designed with VTEC (Real Futures), Aboriginal Training Pathways (NSW TAFE) and NSW Dept Industry Mentoring programs (NCAP and The Way Ahead). It is funded through the Australian Government’s Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business Launch into Work program. 

Launch into Work trials pre-employment projects that identify individuals with the right values and attributes and provides targeted training, work experience and mentoring to support job seekers to increase their skills, experience and confidence. Employers must commit to employing all participants who successfully complete the project.

All participants will continue on to employment as Trainee Care Workers with Australian Unity and complete a Certificate III qualification while they are working. 

“Participants will also continue to receive mentoring to support successful completion of their traineeship,”  Mr Markwell said.