For some time now it has been apparent to me that there is striking barriers hindering my jobseekers from moving forward. Both the mental/emotional wellbeing and home/social situation of the individual receiving assistance from my office was an obvious problem needing to be addressed before any positive improvement to their lifestyle or work status was ever going to happen. Thus the hunt for organisations/ individuals that could 'reach' jobseekers in such situations came about.

At OEC we pride ourselves on being proactive and creative in our pursuit to progress our jobseekers and supporting THEM, in THEIR journey, to THEIR goals (be that employment, education or voluntary activity). We put huge emphasis on the jobseekers needs, additionally being a non profit organisation we often are able to help the small communities we are based in at the same time so it is often Win Win!

As you know, Joe's services were accessed by us to run some trial 1 day sessions with jobseekers that were ready and willing to progress because we wanted to try something different. These workshops on the whole have been an eye opening success to me that has concreted the need for alternative training products for our caseloads. Products that can assist jobseekers dig a little deeper and really motivate them into making a new start, addressing substance and abuse barriers, addressing confidence, addressing image and all the barriers that come hand in hand with being low income and unemployed for long periods of time.

Having come from what I understand to be a challenging past himself, I feel Joe has an edge that allows him to establish instant credibility with the jobseekers. Having had the privilege of observing some of Joes session in Gilgandra I was able to see how he inspires and shows jobseekers THEIR self-value in society even if they do not feel it themselves — having seen Joe in action I was even inspired making me all the more supportive of his commitment to the jobseekers.

A quick snippet of one of this offices success is a 21 yr old male that attended our Gilgandra Dress For Success day who has never been in paid work, with no goals or motivation. Since that workshop he has had me arrange and commenced a literacy program to learn to read and write, started a Tafe course in Conservation to work toward paid work as a park ranger AND is about to move into his own house following 3 years of homelessness! That is indeed a big 2 months for that young man and he is only one of 8 fantastic stories from the jobseekers that participated that day.

Again it has been such a pleasure to work with your organisation and please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any further assistance with your planning or research, I am happy to help.

I look forward to our future dealings and training.

OEC would like to offer a letter of support for Joe Gibara in his approach to Government for funding to reduce the cost to non profit organization of his successful pilot called Think and Dress for Success. Joe tailored a non vocational class to our needs.

On speaking to our Dubbo, Wellington and Gilgandra consultants I would like to offer as support some outcomes since the course. A large percent of the Wellington team have all continued on to enroll in a retail certificate II and completed the course. They are enrolling this year to complete certificate III and IV in retail. One has now got permanent full time work and another one has gained part time employment. The Wellington participants have also continued to dress more to the image they wish to portray.

The Gilgandra team have been encouraged to believe in their own self worth, the class gave them motivation to continue on to identifying and addressing further barriers and attending TAFE.

A Dubbo jobseeker sent a very encouraging letter to Joe in relation to how he motivated her is a way that know one else has been able to do, she is now in full time employment.

2 stream 4 (highly disadvantaged) jobseekers gained part-time employment, several went on to study and most are dressing better with several of the ladies now wearing make up. One jobseeker has since had a haircut and this has made a big improvement in her presentation and self image.

We had 30 people enrolled to attend these classes and around 97% attended. The majority of jobseeker who attended was either stream 3 or stream 4 who are people with great disadvantage and who are generally long term unemployed.

We use EPF funding to pay for services like Joes and could access his style of service more with a price structure more competitive to government funded organizations.

OEC Employment fully support Joe in his endeavor to gain government assistance for his presentation of this valuable way of assisting in non vocational areas otherwise presented in a more formal and unapproachable way.