Network opens path back to work

Jeffrey Gibson and Shirley Donachie have found the Jobseekers Network in Te Atatu useful. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A group of unemployed West Aucklanders have discovered the best way back to work is through networking.

The Jobseekers Network, founded by 51-year-old Linda Brett of Te Atatu, has been meeting weekly since February to help members find jobs and stave off depression.

Chris Mullins, a South African-born Community Waitakere researcher who spoke to the group yesterday, said networking finally gained him a job after almost two years without work.

"That's the way things happen in this country," he said. "It's not what you can do on paper, it's who you know.

"I could have done a thousand jobs, but only when people see you and realise you have the skills they refer you to someone."

The group is self-funded by gold coin donations to pay $15 a week for use of a meeting room at the Te Atatu Peninsula Community House.

Ms Brett, a former self-employed sales and marketing agent, started it with a small advertisement in the Western Leader. After applying for more than 150 jobs, she was running out of options.

"I got to the point where I had really bad depression because I was sitting at home by myself with only my cat to talk to," she said.

"I went and got some counselling. After that I felt a lot better and I thought there might be other people like me."

Two people responded to her first advertisement just before Christmas, but by the New Year they had both got jobs.

After the second ad, in February, 11 people met at a Te Atatu cafe. Since then the numbers have ranged from about eight to 25. Many have gained the confidence they needed to move on into jobs.

"The last few people that have got jobs have pretty much been in people's faces," Ms Brett said.

"One had worked in banking. He went into the ASB Bank and said, 'I'm not leaving until you give me a job.' He got a job."

Another, who is about to start a job as a probation officer after applying for 350 jobs in eight months, said the group kept her up to date with the job market.

"We look at our CVs and covering letters. We are quite brutal - you have to be," she said.

Former personnel consultant Shirley Donachie, 53, said she learned a lot from a covering letter written by a woman who had just completed a degree, had no experience in the field, but won a job by giving the company at her second interview an unsolicited analysis of its strengths and weaknesses.

"I don't like speaking about myself on paper, it's like embarrassing - but you have to do it," Mrs Donachie said.

The group uses weekly guest speakers to network with the business community.

After one of these meetings, the owner of Te Atatu's Off the Shelf bookshop offered work experience to redundant tyre technician Jeffrey Gibson.

Others, such as 44-year-old Lisa, receive benefits but have not found jobs through Work and Income training courses.

"They help a little bit but not much," Lisa said. "I prefer it here. It's more interactive."

www.jobseekersnetwork.org