For two former Gore jobseeker beneficiaries, the success of the Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs is a personal one. The national scheme, chaired by Gore mayor Ben Bell, has helped more than 1000 young people start their professional career. For Jordyn Delahunt and Jacob Owens, it helped them get off the benefit and get into a job, and they have been working ever since. Ms Delahunt said she was on the benefit and struggling to find work before signing up to the programme and meeting employability co-ordinator Sharlene Taylor-Giles. She said the programme helped her to learn how to properly make a CV and prepare for interviews. Mentorship from Ms Taylor-Giles helped and they met once or twice a week. “It was pretty embarrassing at the start having to be like, ‘well, I don’t have a job’. “But then after I met Sharlene for the first time, she actually just wants to help to get me into a job. “You start getting into the rhythm of making a CV, getting interviews, it really helps with your self-esteem and I feel like I was pretty lucky about getting a job. “I’d just say that the council, they just really want to help, they don’t make you feel bad about it,” she said. After a month of work in the programme Ms Delahunt was able to find employment with Connected Eastern Southland as an administrator, where she has been for almost a year. [Missing Credit]Gore Council visitor experience officer Jacob Owens working at the desk at the Old Hokonui Moonshine Museum, where he said he was able to find work through the Mayors taskforce for jobs while he studies. Photo: Gerrit Doppenberg. Over at the Hokonui Moonshine Museum, visitor experience officer Jacob Owens is another success story, having struggled to find employment when he moved to Gore. “Plenty of interviews, plenty of things going on, but it came to a point where nothing was given,” he said. “There’s a traditional base way of finding people get to work through Work and Income, and then I was passed along to Sharlene. “She took a different approach, got to know me, what my future goals were and industries I want to be in, and so pointed me here,” he said. For Mr Owens, it was difficult to break into a new town, but he found the programme allowed him to tap into those local connections and help him find work. Mr Owens has been working since December of last year, after a month of being in the programme, while also completing his studies to become a financial advisor and said the taskforce was a real lifesaver. “It’s not just Work and Income saying ‘hey, we have someone here to work’, it’s a different level of connection there which is beneficial especially for people who really want to get out there and get back into work. “Sitting around is never a thing I like to do, I get bored very quickly. “And with future plans and ambitions, it’s very beneficial getting a good step into the industry,” he said. The taskforce is a nationwide network of mayors, who use their councils’ local connections and knowledge in tandem with support from Logal Government New Zealand and the Ministry of Social Development to help young jobseekers into employment. In the year ending June 30, it exceeded expectations, with the programme announcing it had helped 1084 people into jobs, above it’s original target of 900. In Gore, as they 31 out of 52 people who registered with the Gore taskforce either returned to education or entered part-time or full-time work. Mr Bell said the programme was unique in its mix of practical help and use of local knowledge to achieve outcomes. “Many young people today have no one to help them once they leave school, and so it is pretty special that mayors across the country take on that responsibility in their communities. “[Taskforce] mayors, councils and co-ordinators, know their communities best, and they know that a young person not engaged in education, employment or training from a young age is far more likely to become dependent on welfare in the long term. “If we can interrupt that cycle with a job opportunity, then the young person and New Zealand will be better off.”
