Skillmax Plus celebrates success

Skillmax Plus celebrates success

Skillmax Plus, a fast track course to assist jobseekers with finding employment, has celebrated the graduation of its first cohort of participants.

The course, which is run by UWSCollege in conjunction with the UWS Careers & Cooperative Education Unit, is funded by the NSW Government’s Adult Migrant English Service (AMES).

The program targets skilled migrants who are seeking employment and prepares them for entering the Australian workforce. It includes five weeks of job search strategies and English classes and provides participants with the opportunity to undertake four weeks of work placement in their chosen field.

‘This program is important as it provides a bridge for students to use their international degrees in Australia,’ said Kerry Hudson, Director of Education Partnerships UWS and CEO UWSCollege.

‘Throughout the course the students develop their resume and build up a career portfolio. It is a wonderful start for their Australian careers,’ said Kerry.

The work placement component gave students the opportunity not only to use their degrees but also to experience Australian workplace culture.

‘It was an excellent opportunity and it provided me with a starting point for my career,’ said Skillmax student Deepti Khansnavis who completed her work placement with Travel Maestro Inbound.

Cerebos Australia was awarded the Outstanding 2011 Industry Partner award and Riddi Mehta received the 2011 Outstanding Student. Riddhi completed her placement with UWS Information Technology Services at the Campbelltown campus and has since found ongoing work in her chosen field of IT.

‘It was a marvellous experience as I worked as an IT support officer which is related to my degree as I’m a computer engineer. I’m very excited to now have continuous work,’ Riddhi said.

The program not only enabled the 13 students to develop their skills and graduate, it also assisted four participants to retain ongoing employment at their work placement organisation. Two students have also enrolled in postgraduate degrees, doing further study in their chosen field as a direct result of their experience.

For more information contact Caroline Casse, Communications and Events Assistant, Careers & Cooperative Education on c.casse@uws.edu.au or 02 4736 0369 (extension 2369).

Caption: Dr Kerry Hudson, Director of Education Partnerships UWS and CEO UWSCollege (second from left) with students Dr Amer Al-Waieli, Wency Lu, Changa Wickramarathan, Riddhi Mehta, Kalyani Kaja, Deepti Khasnavis, Jerome Ebuenga and Domingo Martinez.