Church gives jobless a helping hand

Lifezone Church intern and CAP Job Club manager Jacob Ohlson. Photo / George Novak

Tauranga's long-term unemployed are being offered a "hand up" to help get back into the workforce.

Lifezone Church in Judea is offering a free eight-week Job Club course, being run in partnership with New Zealand charity, Christians Against Poverty.

Job Club manager Jacob Ohlson said it would provide jobseekers with practical skills and hope.

"Redundancy and unemployment are big causes of debt and poverty in our communities. There is a real need for a hands-on approach which provides practical and emotional support to people to find work again," he said.

Participants would learn about goal setting, CV writing, interview techniques, positive body language, the job market and "how to put their best foot forward", he said.

Seven people had so far signed up to take the one-day-a-week course, which began yesterday.

They had been unemployed for between three months and three years.

Mr Ohlson said the Job Club model helped job seekers "stand out from the crowd" and boosted their self-worth.

Not everyone knew how to market themselves and people often lost hope when struggling to find a job, he said.

Mr Ohlson, an intern at Lifezone Church through the Pathways Bible College, said he knew first-hand how challenging it could be to find a job.

"It can been very demoralising.

"This course is about giving people a hand up not a hand out, in a safe and non-judgmental environment," he said,

Mr Ohlson and the other Job Club coaches had undergone specialist training from Christians Against Poverty. The attendees would receive one-on-one coaching.

The aim was to build the course up to take referrals from Work and Income.

Christians Against Poverty Job Club development manager Catharine Pollard said the first CAP Job Club was launched in September/October last year and the Tauranga programme was the 10th to be established in New Zealand, with two more in the pipeline.

Christians Against Poverty
Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is an international programme which works in partnership with local churches to offer a raft of free services.

The CAP Vision is to:
•Make CAP services available in every city/town across New Zealand so Kiwi families can have their lives transformed financially and spiritually.

Services include:
•Essential money education
•Debt centres to help people eliminate debt
•Cap Job Clubs to help people gain jobs.
- www.capnz.org

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