Eighteen months ago mature age employee Raymond Dixon and his wife set off from Melbourne to travel around Australia on a well deserved holiday.
After reaching Cairns, Raymond’s wife fell in love with the place so much they decided to permanently pull up stumps from Melbourne and live in their retirement destination.
With 24 years of experience in the plumbing industry under his belt in various roles ranging from warehouse manager to sales technical advisor, Raymond was keen to find regular casual work to help secure his financial future.
With the help of jobactive CoAct BUSY At Work Employment Consultant Smithfield, Michelle Schofield, Raymond is now working over 70 hours per fortnight as a warehouse worker and driver for Uniting Care’s Lifeline warehouse in Cairns.
“When Raymond came to us late last year he had been unemployed for a short time and was keen to get back in the workforce.”
“We were able to provide Raymond with assistance in putting a resume together as well as market him to local employers.”
After a few days voluntary work in the warehouse, Raymond showed he was more than up to the task and is now employed in a permanent casual role in the warehouse.
Raymond said he was ecstatic to be working again and thankful for the support he had received from BUSY At Work.
“This job has given me a new lease of life and I’m especially thankful to BUSY for helping me with the renewal of my forklift license.”
“I really enjoy coming to work each day and helping with the sorting and distribution of donated items and with the furniture pickups and deliveries. I’m getting plenty of work hours and the people here are all dedicated and great to work with,” Mr Dixon said.
Raymond’s supervisor, Regional Business Manager for Cairns and Townsville, Frank Costa said Raymond had fitted in extremely well at the warehouse.
“Our warehouse manager is away at the moment and Raymond is doing a fantastic job in running the warehouse for me.”
“Raymond has a great work ethic, is always here early and is very committed to making sure everything runs smoothly. He is a pleasure to have on the team,” Mr Costa said.
As for the future Raymond said he and his wife are now permanently settled in Cairns and not looking to move away anytime soon.
“We love the life style here and it’s great that I have been able secure work in a job I really enjoy,” Mr Dixon said.
BUSY At Work, CEO Paul Miles said that Raymond was a great role model for other mature aged employees wanting to continue to be productive members of the workforce.
“We are delighted with Raymond’s success and pleased to support mature aged job seekers who are determined to follow their dreams and make a valuable contribution in the workplace,” Mr Miles said.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Leanne Macnamara, Public Relations Coordinator
0438 173 960 | leanne.macnamara@busyatwork.com.au
