The Work Placement that Changed my Life

Helen Cunningham had no idea that her response to a tiny add in Rotorua’s Weekender would change her life. Enticed by the ‘Knock Knock, Who’s there?’ headline, the job advert was an ‘opportunity’ to work for free, in exchange for work experience. 

“I had nothing to lose really,” recalls Helen – an effervescent 22 year old Rotorua woman who has been out of regular paid employment for over three years. With a raft of circumstances that limited her ability to work full-time, Helen was keen and ready to work again but lacked the confidence and experience to apply for some of the local jobs on offer. 

Employer, Dr Julia Charity who founded on-line accommodation network ‘Look After Me’ immediately saw Helen’s potential. “As an employer, you’re always looking for aptitude and competency, but occasionally you see raw potential. The moment I met her, I knew she was capable of so much more than her meagre CV portrayed. Helen has this real inner beauty.”

Julia recruited Helen as her Personal Assistant and initially gave her simple tasks like word processing, letter/email writing, filing, sorting and organising. With Helen’s appetite for learning and computer competency, she soon trained Helen to load new host properties on to the website and take on increased responsibility in customer service. “I really wanted to give Helen opportunities that added credibility to her CV,” says Julia. For this reason, she utilised Helen’s good time management skills and creative flair to help with the detailed organisation of their Work Placement Celebration evening. These ‘Event Management’ skills will be directly transferrable into the work place of any future job.  As a self-confessed ‘Facebook Queenie’, Julia is also tapping into Helen’s love of social media and together they are developing strategies for growing the business using Facebook.

Although Julia did not pay wages to her recruits, she offered small cash rewards, prizes, food and accommodation vouchers. Julia also matched tasks with the individuals’ core skills that would be of direct benefit in the work place and that they would enjoy doing. She provided a fun and friendly team environment, full training, written references and/or verbal referees to support the recruits in job applications. At the end of the placement Julia organised a celebration and Awards presentation for the recruits – introducing them into the Rotorua business community. 

In response to the issue about not earning any money, Helen is quick to point out the personal benefits she has received, which for her, are transformational.  “It’s changed my life. I’ve gone from someone who could spend days on end on Facebook, not quite sure what I was going to do with my life to being excited about working.  I love my ‘job’ and I love being around Julia – she is the most positive person I have ever met. I just can’t stomach negativity anymore.”  

Helen’s partner Jason is very supportive of Helen’s work placement. “She’s like a different person. I can’t believe it. She’s so happy.”  Helen’s other passion is Marching and skills she has learned on revitalising ‘Look After Me’s ‘ Facebook page have already been put into practice by her creating and manage a Rotorua Marching Facebook page. Other flow-on benefits have been that Helen has secured part-time employment, has a lot more confidence and is thinking about moving out of home to start a new life for herself.  

Helen’s mother, Raewyn is also delighted in Helen’s transformation. Helen has been the primary caregiver to her mother during an 18-month battle with cancer.  After a particularly harrowing year, Raewyn has recently been restored to full health and has just returned to work herself.  “Helen’s given up so much for me, but now it’s her turn to shine. I always knew there’d be something or someone out there who would see what I see – and that’s an amazing young woman with a heart of gold and willing to work.”  

Whipping up a work experience programme from scratch, recruiting 12 staff and giving them a six week deadline to work together to launch her new website tested Julia’s entrepreneurial skills but she was sure the benefits would pay off.  Logistically, acquiring capable resources to secure the launch of her new website was of clear value, but what Julia didn’t anticipate was the far-reaching and longer-term social benefits the programme held for her recruits.  

Julia says that she didn’t realise the success of the Work Placement Programme until the night of their first birthday party, when the team were celebrating the launch of the new website.  Raewyn came up to Julia at the end of the night, put her hands on her shoulders and very quietly said “thank you for what you’ve done for my Helen.”

“It was this single moment,” says Julia “as we hugged each other and the tears flowed, that it hit me.  I realised then, that this was simply about a mother’s love for her daughter.  It was only as I cast myself into the future and I imagined someone doing for my daughter Alice, what I had done for her Helen that I finally understood the gift I had unknowingly given. I’m so proud of Helen and all of the recruits for just giving it go and grateful for all they have done for me.”

Another recruit, Rona Lau also had no problem working for free. An accountant between jobs, applied because she wanted to keep her existing skills up to date and learn how to use a whole new accounting programme. “You need to look long term,” she says, “the money will come later.” Rona prepared ‘ Look After Me’ for the year end accounts and set up new systems to enable Julia to capture the necessary information on an on-going basis. Rona prepared and loaded a budget so that Julia can keep track of any variances in real time. She also developed robust systems to capture of the company’s performance data. “I’ve gone from muddling through as best I can, to feeling like I am keeping a finger on the financial pulse of my business,” says Julia. “I’m totally stoked with what Rona has achieved. It’s made a real difference.”

Rona has recently secured an accountant position at Tauranga’s Aquatic Centre. “There’s no doubt this work placement helped me get that job,” she asserts. Rona thinks that she previously missed out on the many jobs she’s applied for because she had a gap in her CV where she hadn’t been able to find work, and before that, she’d worked for the same company for 17 years. “While some employers would see that as loyalty, others see it as lack of commercial experience. The ‘Look After Me’ job filled that gap.  Julia wrote a really great reference and talked directly with my new employer. That definitely helped.”

Kelllie Hamlett of recruitment agency Talent ID said work placements were being more often considered. If done properly, she this can be a real win-win situation, she said. “There are people out there that need valuable experience to get a foot in the door. There’s definite value if they can be offered a placement that’s relevant and they can get a good reference from.” 

The team of 12, from diverse backgrounds, included migrants, school leavers, tertiary students and stay at home Mums like Carmen Cartwright.  Julia says she could really relate to Carmen’s situation, also being a single Mum, doing everything she can to get off the benefit and teach her kids a good work ethic. With her experience and passion for hospitality, Julia says Carmen was a great addition to the team. “I loved Carmen’s ‘can-do’ attitude,” says Julia.

Carmen started the work placement with limited computer skills. Tasked with loading property information for 20 hosts, Carmen learned at her own pace and completed not only her work, but another recruits as well. “It’s been awesome,” says Carmen. “I didn’t think I could do this job for a start, but I really wanted to learn some more computer skills, so I got stuck in and just did it.” For her efforts, Carmen was awarded ‘Most Improved’ Recruit at their celebration evening.

Carmen is still actively looking for work and would be best suited to hospitality, or retail, as are at least three other recruits with skills in Computer IT, marketing and graphics design.

Sixteen year old high school student Layla Barker dreams of becoming a journalist or working as a TV Reporter. Recruitment to her role as the team publicist gave Layla exposure to the real life (and deadlines!) of media, particularly the press, photographers and TV. Working with Look After Me, she had a chance to interview other recruits, Look After Me guests and hosts. She gained writing experience by collating that information for the website’s Blog.

“I’ve loved it,” says Layla. “I got a real sense of independence and responsibility, which is hard for some teenagers to get. It’s great because I can work from home as well.” Gifted creatively, singer-songwriter Lalya also created a mock-up of the Look After Me website, designed Julia’s business card and prepared the invitation for the Awards Celebration Evening.

Julia was not put off by Layla’s age because her conviction for her future was convincing. “I think when you can inspire teenagers to look past the next few months into the future, that’s a good thing. A high school teacher once did that for me, so I feel like I owe that to today’s youth. I hope this experience does the same for Layla, and despite a childhood of challenges, her future is bright.”  Layla was also involved in a professional photo shoot, getting all important experience in front of the lens. Yet she willingly traded her high heels for sneakers and pounded the pavements of Taupo, delivering flyers in the area. “Everyone who works here is so lovely and it’s nice to feel like I am part of an ambitious, diverse team.”

The Awards evening, held recently in honour of the work placement programme was also a Fundraiser for Dress for Success which helps disadvantaged women to get back into the workforce.  Dress for Success sponsored the ‘Top Recruit Award’ with a full suite of their service. The top recruit was awarded to Helen Cunningham in recognition of her commitment, attitude and contributions. She received a beautiful new interview outfit, including shoes and accessories, a make-up and colour session with Carol Bannister, interview advice and confidence training.

“I couldn’t believe I won!” says an elated Helen.  On the morning of the Dress for Success make-over, Julia shared in the special moment as Helen looked at herself in the mirror. The young, shy recruit she’d met a few months ago had blossomed into a woman every bit as confident as she deserved to be. “She was glowing with joy. She looked absolutely beautiful.”  When Neveah caught up with Helen, she was still somewhat overcome about winning the Top Recruit Award. “I totally didn’t expect all this,” she says. “It’s not just about the work experience, it’s a whole new life. I’m happy to win the Award but there were so many deserving members of the team. I reckon we were all winners in the end.”