Paving the Way to Meaningful Employment for Tom
Every job seekers path to employment looks different. There is no cookie cutter approach when it comes to helping unique individuals with passions and career goals to find employment that works for them. That’s why at AimBig, we put the individual first. We centre the job search around your interests and support you in finding employment that is meaningful.
This is how we help the thousands of job seekers with disability, injury and mental health concerns that walk through our doors, including Tom.
Tom lives in Miami on the Gold Coast, and first came to AimBig when he was struggling to find employment. Tom has Autism and was keen to get into the workforce and learn new skills but needed an employer to give him an opportunity to shine.
Tom was assigned to Heidi, a skilled job coach who recently celebrated 3 years working at AimBig. In her time at AimBig, Heidi has strived to help locals find employment, and uses her community connections and network to open doors for individuals with mental health concerns, injury, and disability.
Heidi worked with Tom to build a job plan, which focused on what Tom wanted to get out of finding work. His aim was to build some new skills and to support himself, and also explained to Heidi that he had a passion for bikes. Heidi utilised this information and reached out to local cycling business owner Stuart. Specialising in quality bike servicing, repairs and builds, Pave Cyclery was the perfect opportunity for Tom.
Heidi set up a meeting for Tom and Stuart to chat, and Tom was able to come on board as a volunteer to learn the tricks of the trade and build his skillset. Stu was very supportive of Tom and took him under his wing to assist him in learning the functions of the workshop. After a short time, Heidi explained the benefits of taking Tom on board as a full-time employee, including generous wage subsidies and ongoing support from AimBig. This along with Tom’s great work ethic won Stuart over, and Tom was made a permanent employee of Pave Cycles.
In his role, Tom assists with repair work and cleaning of both customer’s bicycles and the workshop. In speaking to the owner of the business, Stuart has commended Tom on his focus and determination to deliver quality work and being an excellent help in the workshop.
We spoke to job coach Heidi about Tom’s progress.
“Tom is extremely happy in his new role, and always tells me how keen he is to go to work.
I knew that Tom loved bikes, and that local business owner Stuart was people passionate, so I knew it was a great match. Although Stuart didn’t know much about employing people with disability, I was fortunate that I could chat to him about bringing Tom on board and the financial benefits that he could access.
Stuart has definitely gained a valuable employee, and frequently mentions how helpful Tom is in the workshop. I am so happy to hear that Tom has found somewhere great to work, and I know how thankful he is for the opportunity he was granted to work at Pave Cyclery.”
Putting people first is what we do. We work with individuals like Tom to support his passions and to let his goals lead the way to finding employment.
