Trellina - A very employable worker As a graduate of Richmond NOVA Transition, Trellina was keen to work outside with plants. She quickly got her wish when NOVA found her a job at a lettuce farm. For nearly seven years, she enjoyed her role planting lettuces until the business had to close down. It wasn’t long before NOVA found Trellina another role, this time at Kurrajong Kitchen, where she works on the factory floor packing biscuits and cleaning. Her…

Chloe - Hospitality professional Chloe graduated from NOVA Transition, St Marys in 2015 and soon found a job at her local Red Rooster. She learnt many things through the training and her work experience, but the highlights include leaning to write resumes, understanding customer service and becoming more confident.Both the staff and customers are friendly at her workplace, and the job she most enjoys is working the cash register. Having a job has changed her…

Breannon - Rising to the challenge of apprentice chef Miranda RSL is pleased to have Breannon working as an apprentice chef for 38 hours per week. Her boss Andrew says she’s reliable, hard working and courteous and carries out all the tasks required of her in the kitchen. She also helps waiting staff if they’re busy.Apart from the basics of preparing to get a job, like writing resumes, practising interviews and understanding employer expectations, being at…

Dylan - Work, rest and play for Dylan Dylan is a great example of the shift in circumstance NOVA Transition trainees can experience during the two-year program.When Dylan arrived at NOVA Transition Caringbah he suffered severe anxiety, had few social connections and was unable to travel independently. Now, not only does he travel independently, he also effectively manages the anxiety.And he’s got the trifecta – work, rest and play! Dylan works two days a week at the…

Jarad - Broadening his horizons Jarad had never considered working in a cafe, so he wasn’t too sure about the idea of a traineeship at Cafe Y. ‘Doing work experience there through NOVA opened him up to it,’ explains his mum, Lexie. ‘Initially he was like “no, no, no”, then once he started work experience, “maybe this isn’t too bad; this is quite good” and now he’s loving it.’The wide variety of work experience placements…

Ken - Confident, happy, and working Ken was ‘somewhere between happy and overwhelmed’ when he first heard that he had gained employment at a local cafe as a kitchen hand. He was busy doing work experience and his employer liked him so much that they turned it into a paid position. (Through NOVA, many work-experience placements turn into paid work.)According to his former teacher, Sophie, when Ken left school two years ago, he lacked self-confidence…

Simon - A team player who has found his team ‘The change from school to employment is a pretty long path,’ says former Bankstown NOVA Transition trainee Simon. Like most job seekers, he had a few rejections along the way, before landing a job in hospitality at Jamaica Blue. ‘When I found out that I got this job, I was just in complete shock; I was completely speechless!’ he says.NOVA Transition helped him prepare for the workforce in all sorts of…