Kevin’s Inspiring Journey to Employment

Kevin, a Yamatji man from Mullewa, came to the Waalitj Foundation determined to get a job. He had moved in with his son after losing his house earlier this year and was looking to find a job and change his lifestyle. Kevin’s son had told him he had one month to get his life in order, which led him to Fit4Work.

“He sat me down and said, ‘Look, I’ll give you a month here.’ So straight away, I started going to Fit4Work and all this stuff, so he could see I was doing it. Every day, I wasn’t home. I was out at job interviews and going to Fit4Work every Thursday.”

Kevin attended the Fit4Work sessions in Lathlain and connected with Employment Mentor, Sandy. He said he loved coming to have a chat with Sandy and connect with different organisations.

“It’s great, I get to come in here, have a good laugh with Sandy and get introduced to all these different places that come in and do presentations. You can approach them for whatever job you want and go for it.”

Sandy put Kevin’s resume through to a range of companies, including Eastern Guruma who later came into a Fit4Work session to present. When Eastern Guruma attended Fit4Work, Kevin hadn’t heard back from them and had started working for his previous employer in welding but was still attending Fit4Work every Thursday hoping for another opportunity to pop up.

Sandy approached Easten Guruma again to put Kevin’s name forward for a utilities role and to connect him personally with the employer.

“She was like, ‘Have you employed him yet?’, and it gave them that push. She believed. She believed in me big time.”

On August 19th, Kevin flew out for his first swing with Eastern Guruma, the same date his son started his FIFO job in utility just a few years earlier. His son, who has most recently been working at Bostech Drilling as a driller, was a huge inspiration for Kevin to get into the same industry. Kevin and his family, having many synchronicities with aligning dates in their life, saw this as a sign that he was on the right path.

Kevin has been enjoying his role at Eastern Guruma, especially the people he gets to work with. He is very grateful for the supportive team around him, who recently helped Kevin when he injured his back, restricting him to light duties.

“Every time I needed to pick up a mop, my team would be like, ‘Put that mop down. I’ll do the mopping!’ They’re all watching. The ones that care for you, you know? So, on Monday morning, when they asked if we had anything to celebrate? I spoke up and said ‘Well, I want to celebrate all the ones that have been doing the mopping for me.’ All of them. I thank them all for taking up my slack, real teamwork.”

He is incredibly grateful for his Mentor, Sandy. From giving him a glowing reference to secure his job, to organising a taxi to drive him to the airport at 3am for a swing, he feels very uplifted by her ongoing support and the faith she has in him.

“Sandy bent over backwards for me, and she really believed in me, believed in what I could become. I had a shady past, I’ve had habits, drug and stuff like that, but she could see that I’m trying to move forward in my life, and what I could do. She could see that I had potential. I showed her my police clearance and there were some driving offences and stuff, but not criminal minded things. It looked like a big list, but some of the offences were 15 years old. People don’t like that, that’s the thing, if you don’t have someone there, someone saying, ‘I’m going to vouch for you.’ And that’s what Sandy did for me. So that’s what I’m grateful for.”

Sandy spoke about how proud she is of Kevin and his hard work dedication to achieving his goals.

“I always like to make mention to Mob, to never give up no matter what, as there is always light at the end of the tunnel and a great attitude to go along side that can make some of your dreams become reality” she said.

Looking to the future, Kevin is thinking about moving to a traffic control role in the Pilbara when he gets his licence back next year, but for now he wants to continue working for Eastern Guruma, gaining experience and seeing what opportunities can open up to him there.

“I just want to keep working and hopefully build my career from this. This is the door opening for future things.”

Kevin plans to put his hard work towards helping his son buy property outside the city for his family to live on, with a house, some chickens and a veggie patch to grow their own vegetables. He hopes one day to put their skills to use and create a fun country getaway for families to go.

“We can have tiny homes or something. We can build them, it’s hands on fabricating and stuff like that. My son loves woodworking, and I can do the steel work. Even his wife loves welding and fabricating, stuff like that. My son wants to have a little golfing area, and we could set up some campgrounds, with a motorbike track for kids can ride on. Somewhere just an hour out of town, where people can come for the weekend and camp out on land.”

Kevin reflected on how his new job has changed his life, not just the change in routine but the new opportunities it’s presented for him.

“Now I have something to look forward to. Like, I get away, I’m not stuck in Perth all the time now. Go up there, do my work and just chill out with a new team. Meeting new people in the camp and stuff as well. Doors are opening, I’m getting introduced to different things, learning a whole new lifestyle. It’s influenced me to not ever go back down that old track, you know? I won’t change this lifestyle now. No doubt about it. I’m loving it.”

Kevin said, if you are looking for a job, go to Fit4Work, see what’s on offer and work with the team. He even plans on bringing his daughter into a session to meet Sandy and see what opportunities there are for her.

“It will really open your eyes; you hear from a lot of people about what’s on offer. Sandy and the team will bend over backwards for you. They’ll put the potential in you. They will see that in you and put you through to any job you want to go for. They will even help you do your resumes and everything. If you show you’re keen, they will be twice as keen to help you, I mean get right behind you and support you all the way. So, if you want to do it, go to Fit4Work and do it.”

Plan 2day 4 2morrow (P242) is a pre-employment program assisting Indigenous job seekers including weekly pre-employment group sessions (Fit 4 Work) with individual mentoring support. P242 focuses on improving employability of Indigenous job seekers through the development of foundation skills and work readiness. We are proud to be delivering this program in multiple locations across Perth and Peel regions of Western Australia in partnership with the Alcoa Foundation and Shell. Find out more.