AMEP Students Working It Out

TasTAFE Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) students recently completed an Employment Orientation Program which included work experience placements across many different businesses and community organisations in Tasmania.

As part of the Work It Out program, AMEP students have the opportunity to complete 10 days of work experience across five weeks. In addition to work experience, Work It Out prepares students from migrant and humanitarian backgrounds for future work and training in the state by helping them improve their language and communication skills, their awareness of Australian workplace culture and how to look for work, such as writing a resume, and preparing for a job interview.

The students undertook a variety of roles and were hosted at: Migrant Resource Centre, Coles Sandy Bay, Kevlar Security Solutions, Another Perspective, Circa Morris-Nunn Chua Architects, Hydro Tasmania, TasTAFE, Roar, Uniting Age Well (Queenborough Rise Community).

Eun (Communications Officer Assistant) and Joeci (Quality & Research Team Member) – Migrant Resource Centre

The Migrant Resource Centre hosted both Eun and Joeci in different roles.

Thalia from the MRC said they were very happy to benefit from the hard work of Eun who worked in communications, and Joeci who worked in quality and research.

Eun, who hails from South Korea, spent a lot of her time at her work experience creating a video for MRC to use to as an explainer of their business. Meanwhile, Joeci completed training on cultural awareness and child safety.

Eun said that while both her and Joeci were “comfortably out of their comfort zone” in their job placements, they learned a lot of “priceless and invaluable lessons” and gained a lot of confidence in themselves.

Juny (Catering and Food Service Assistant) – Uniting AgeWell (Queenborough Rise Community)  

During her job placement, Juny worked in the food services department at Uniting AgeWell. Uniting AgeWell provide residential and community services for older Tasmanians.

In what can often be a busy environment, Juny’s colleague Kim said that Juny fitted in perfectly with the team and excelled in her work.

“Juny cared about the residents. That’s the main thing. You’ve got to care about the residents to work there”.

While she has a background in food service, the world of aged care was new to Juny.  However, from her first day she said it was a great place to work.

“I really like the environment and the team. We really, really helped each other… the work was challenging and kept me busy, so my time at Uniting AgeWell went so fast”.

Juny made such an impression on her colleagues, that she was offered future employment. While she’s excited to get stuck into some holiday relief work, she had some concerns that she still has a lot to learn.

Kim assured her, “I’ve worked here for 20 years and am still learning every day”.

Fatima (Team Member) – Coles

Fatima spent her job placement at Coles and got a wide breadth of experience in the store. “I started with facing up, then tried the online orders, service checkout, putting groceries and payment through, and then I was introduced to the self-service area”.

Fatima said she feels much more confident in herself for the experience, and her time in customer service really helped her build her communication skills.

“(At the end of her shifts) we had to kick her out, she wanted to hang around” Her Manager said

The Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) is funded by the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs.  TasTAFE is the AMEP service provider in Southern Tasmania.