Sharp rises on the job market

Glen looks the part in a Groomed To Go outfit. 204232_10 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS

By Cam Lucadou-Wells

Job-seekers are being dressed and primed for success in two new programs in Dandenong.

One of them is Groomed To Go, a not-for-profit group that provides professional outfits and a styling service for job interviewees.

Based at the Skills and Jobs Centre in Lonsdale Street, it also has attire for court appearances, funerals, parolees or an emergency wardrobe for those fleeing family violence.

The other program is the Employment Readiness Project – a careers counselling service that helps to overcome specific barriers to gaining a job or further training.

It uses an Employment Readiness Scale (ERS) to assess jobseeker work readiness, and creates an action plan to improve.

The ERS will be trialled to help up to 300 jobseekers at Chisholm Skills and Jobs Centre, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Springvale Learning and Activity Centre.

The two programs were a partnership between City of Greater Dandenong’s Community Revitalisation Project and Chisholm Skills & Jobs Centre.

They were launched by Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams with Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti, councillor Matthew Kirwan, Chisholm Institute chief commercial officer Noel Lyons and Groomed to Go president Marian Grandy.