From IT work to taking anything

Sunitha Verghis is making the most of all opportunities. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Doing a good turn for others has rescued Sunitha Verghis from the abyss of despair that comes with redundancy.

Ms Verghis, 45, has worked in information technology in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and for the past five years in Auckland.

When she was made redundant last November, she was shattered.

"When you work all your life and suddenly lose your job, you feel useless, hopeless," she says. "I really got depressed. My health just went downhill."

Although a New Zealand permanent resident since 2006, she was told she was not eligible for a benefit "because there is a six-week stand-down".

Beneficiary advocate Pam Apera said this advice was completely wrong. Ms Verghis, however, did not know this. She was forced to live off her savings and apply, increasingly desperately, for jobs.

"I lost count of how many applications I sent, easily 300.

"In the beginning I was very selective in what I was applying for because I wanted to find a job I was qualified for. Later on, even a cleaning job was good enough. I didn't even get a single offer of an interview."

She found a way out by offering her time for others. She registered with Volunteering Auckland and was assigned in March to the Island Child Charitable Trust, which runs an emergency house for homeless families in Point England.

In June, friends in Hamilton told her about a free network planning course at the Waikato Migrant Resource Centre. She decided to stay with her friends and do the course to increase her skills.

While she was there she volunteered to help the Shama Hamilton Ethnic Women's Centre with an IT project for a week.

"One week ran into two weeks and three weeks and finally they offered me a part-time office assistant's job."

Then the Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust sent an email to its network looking for a part-time receptionist. Ms Verghis applied for that and now has two part-time jobs.

"I'm still on the minimum wage, $12.50 an hour. But I have something to look forward to when I wake up in the morning."