By CASEY NEILL
Young migrants picked up valuable employment advice in Dandenong.
About 100 people attended the Migrant Youth Employment Forum at Dandenong Civic Centre on Tuesday 19 July.
South East Local Learning and Education Network (SELLEN) hosted the event, which opened with a welcome from Greater Dandenong Mayor Heang Tak.
Councillor Tak said the city embraced more than 2000 new migrants each year from about 150 different nations, and that more than half the population had a first language other than English.
Cr Tak acknowledged the significant difficulties young migrants faced in breaking into the job market, and encouraged them to engage with employers through the forum and to take up volunteering opportunities as a first step.
The council’s Youth Services team hosted a workshop on job interviews: the types of interviews; common interview questions; what to bring; how to dress; what to ask the interviewers; and the top 10 mistakes people make.
Participants were advised to research the company they were applying to, dress for the job, make sure their phone didn’t interrupt the interview, practise answers, and to only speak of positive experiences with former employers.
City of Greater Dandenong youth development officer Edem Edusei moderated a panel discussion that included Bunnings’ Victorian regional learning co-ordinator Darren Moulder, Woolworths’ Trent Lethlean, Paul Flavel from Target, Skillinvest group training consultant Daniel Prins, Bombardier HR director Danny Walsh, and Chobani’s people and culture manager Sarah Hoccholzer.
SELLEN schools and community development officer Jennifer Ebdon said panellists answered a range of questions with notice before taking them from the floor.
They said punctuality was critical, and advised job applicants to visit the company they were applying to or research them online and call to ask any questions.
Drug testing is becoming more common in workplaces, they said, and there is a zero tolerance approach to breaches.
Customer service in any industry is a highly transferrable skill, they said, and urged applicants to always list all of their qualifications on their resume – even if they weren’t relevant to the current application they’d indicate qualities like perseverance, goal attainment and a willingness to learn.
The panellists said verbal English was required for customer-facing positions and written English would be necessary for any roles that involved training.
Ms Ebdon said that Bunnings particularly valued speakers of languages other than English in customer service roles.
She said Bunnings recruited on an ongoing basis through its website and spring was a busy recruitment period.
Target and Woolworths will recruit Christmas casuals during August and September, and Chobani will employ more staff next year.
