July 3, 2015
The Federal Government’s shake-up of unemployment contracts – which saw two jobs agencies close their doors on June 30 in the South Burnett – has had its flipside with the opening of four new shopfronts on Wednesday.
In Kingaroy, Sarina Russo Job Access is located at 165a Haly Street, although the entrance is in Glendon Street (next door to the Glendon Street cafe).
Neato Employment Services is settling in to the old Lifeline store, Shop 1/16 Alford Street (near Probation and Parole).
Max Employment has opened its doors at the old Havala’s clothing store, near the Kingaroy Mail Centre, at 178 Kingaroy Street.
And Advanced Personnel Management (APM) is at 72 Youngman Street, just down from the Avoca Street intersection.
The four agencies have each been awarded a five-year contract to deliver the Federal Government’s new “jobactive” job search scheme.
Sarina Russo Job Access manager Karen Miller said it had been hectic getting everything ready for the July 1 deadline, but the agency’s Kingaroy opening on Wednesday had gone off very well.
She said the music and balloons had attracted a lot of attention from passers-by.
The company’s motto is “energising people, enhancing lives” which was why they were aiming for an upbeat feel in the office.
Karen said that since the opening, staff have been kept busy with referrals sent to them by Centrelink.
She said Centrelink was assigning job seekers to one of the four agencies, but the clients also have the capacity to choose.
“They can transfer across to you if they are more happy with your service,” Karen said.
Sarina Russo Job Access will also have an office open for two days a week at Cherbourg, and weekly at Graham House in Murgon.
The other three agencies are also expected to have shopfronts or access points in other South Burnett towns, as well.
It was originally feared the Federal Government shake-up of the job search industry could cause a loss of jobs in the area, but so far that doesn’t look like being the case.
Karen was formerly manager of Employment Services Queensland, one of the two employment agencies in Kingaroy that lost their contracts in the Federal Government shuffle.
She was quickly re-hired by Sarina Russo and now joins three other former ESQ staff at the new shopfront.
Other former ESQ staff are believed to have been picked up by one of the other three agencies.
On Tuesday, South Burnett CTC CEO Nina Temperton said all CTC Employment staff in Kingaroy and Murgon have also found new jobs, or chosen to retire.
This means it looks like there has been no net job loss – in Kingaroy at least – through the shake-up.
