Lorraine transfers to a new career
Due to a downturn following COVID-19, Bathurst Cleaner Lorraine found herself working only 3-5 hours a week.
She was very active in looking for work prior to coming to Sureway and was successful in gaining a second cleaning role, however she still wanted more hours to be able to provide for her young family.
After engaging with Sureway for some time, a role came up with Bathurst Discount Yard Maintenance & Repairs. While she had never done a role like this before, Lorraine recognised that her transferrable skills and work ethic made her a great applicant.
Business owner Ashley was very impressed by Lorraine from the start, undertaking a trial period to ensure she was comfortable with the work tasks. That was the easy part.
To be able to work on larger commercial sites Lorraine needed a NSW White Card and Working With Children Check. Lorraine was born in New Zealand and although she was an Australian Citizen, she had very limited identification paperwork, making gaining qualifications and background checks very difficult.
Lorraine’s Sureway Consultant worked closely with her to gain a copy of her citizenship papers via the Consulate, which in turn allowed her to apply for her Passport. It was a big learning curve with a huge amount of research, emails and phone calls to finally have success with gaining the right documents.
With these in hand, Lorraine successfully gained her Learner Driver’s Licence and ID, making the process of enrolling into a White Card course much smoother. She was also now able to meet the identification requirements to apply for her Working With Children Check.
Today, Lorraine is working more hours than in her original cleaning role. She is outdoors and loving it, and has survived working outside through a Bathurst! She is learning new skills, is on her way to getting her Provisional Licence, and has been a good role model to her kids who have learnt that hard work and persistence pays off.
Lorraine’s employer Ashley said “Despite originally being a little concerned that she was a cleaner coming into a gardening/maintenance role, the quality of her work is second to none.”
His words were “I think sometimes she CLEANS the garden! Business is booming after recent rains in our area and we have never been busier.”
