Indigenous job seeker’s Spotless success

In a win for both employer and job seeker, The Salvation Army Employment Plus has recently helped Spotless increase their engagement and participation of Indigenous people within the business.

Kelvin Penny, an Indigenous man in his late 20s, had been unemployed for over 12 months when he registered with the Bunbury office.

“Kelvin came to us with an incredibly positive attitude and a willingness to do whatever was required to improve his job prospects,” said Anna Taylor, Job Coach at Employment Plus’ Bunbury site.

“Mindful of Spotless’ commitment to diversity, we arranged three weeks of pre-employment training for Kelvin for potential fly-in fly-out utility work.

“We worked with Kelvin to ensure he was prepared and ready to spend the time away from his family and, after successfully participating in the training, he was offered a permanent utility role.

“He’s such a success story that he’s even starring on the homepage of the Spotless website!”

According to Jennie Huxley, Spotless’ Workforce Planning Officer, Kelvin’s can-do attitude and impressive work ethic is a real asset to the organization.

“With over 36,000 staff across Australia and NZ, we consider diversity a commercial advantage and Kelvin’s commitment and drive is a perfect example of this advantage at work,” explained Jennie.

As part of the organisation’s Reconciliation Action Plan, Spotless’ Indigenous Opportunity Statement applies to all sites throughout Australia and aims to increase employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander job seekers.

“A key deliverable of this action relies on the support that Employment Plus provides, ensuring ongoing access to a pool of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates and quality mentoring support for them throughout their recruitment journey,” said Jennie.

With Spotless providing more than 100 support services nationally, Employment Plus has been assisting them with recruitment across a range of areas since 2012.