Finding and keeping a job can be challenging when you live with disability. We asked Tim and Jake from our MBS team to tell us about how they successfully moved into full-time employment – including advice they’d give to other people with disability looking for work.
Tim’s story
My name is Tim Smith and I have Cerebral Palsy and I am currently employed in a full-time role but my journey to get here was interesting to say the least.
I found the hardest thing when looking for a job was reading the job description and not thinking that I had sufficient skills for that role. I was fortunate while still at school and undertook a traineeship as part of my VCAL program, so if you are still at school I would highly recommend this path.
I think I benefited from this in many ways, initially it gave me a basic skillset which can be used in any workplace and then allowed me to learn about the logistics industry. Eventually I was able to get my forklift licence which I am positive helped me gain full-time employment in the logistics area. I undertook various short courses and volunteered at a charity in between my traineeship and full-time employment. My advice would be to remain positive, do short courses, and become involved in the community, as a lot of employers look favourably at this.
Tim on a forklift in our D2 warehouse
Jake’s story
Hello everyone. For those who don’t know me, my name is Jake and I’m honoured to share with you all about my experience at Mambourin.
My career at Mambourin began when I was just a trainee in 2018 undergoing a Certificate III in Warehousing Operations course. In 2019 I successfully completed my traineeship qualification. I was then given the opportunity to do some part-time work, and after a couple months Mambourin offered me a full-time job due to my work ethic and the output that I had shown when working in the workplace, and being able to gain my forklift license, which is one of the best things to have on hand especially when working in a warehousing environment.
Since working with Mambourin, I have achieved lots of new goals and learnt new skills which encourages me to become a much more confident person, especially when it comes to communicating with employees, staff members and learning new work tasks. Mambourin has definitely supported me through these areas, and I now know nothing will stop me from what I want to do in life and work. I’m now capable of supervising and training new staff, using the warehouse management system, conducting the picking and packing process of stock, using radio frequency scanners and loading trucks for transport.
I’m extremely grateful to be part of the Mambourin Business Solutions team and I can definitely see a bright and long future within this organisation.
Jake is pictured at top.
Interested in more job-hunting tips? Take a look at Finding and keeping a job for people with disability
If you’d like to know more about doing a traineeship with Mambourin, call us on 9731 9200 or email hello@mambourin.org
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