CVGT lands Bec in the pits

CVGT Boronia participant Bec, a young indigenous woman, was referred to us in Feb 2020 from Cire Community School as she needed support in maintaining employment. Coming from a background in admin and telesales, Bec found this type of work was having a negative impact on her mental health.

Chris, Maroondah EC, took time to get to know Bec and identified that Bec’s family had a history in Civil Construction, in fact, Bec used to love doing ride-alongs with her dad. Using this information, Chris approached Paul our BDC, who’s employer Lantrak was operating an environmental waste recycling plant locally in Scoresby. Paul immediately agreed with Chris and contacted Tom, Project Manager, Lantrak Scoresby to see if they could give Bec a go at being a stick picker.

Although a non-traditional work role, Tom is keen to give Bec a trial – so in late March Bec arrived at 7.30am with Paul to spend the day sorting through landfill, removing sticks ready for the soil to be flattened by dozers. At the end of the day, Tom was interested in the possibility of giving Bec a casual role, although a little concerned on how she would go in such a physically demanding and dirty job, Tom did agree to give Bec a second trial day.

Once again, Bec was amazing, her strong work ethic, spatial awareness and ability to just get the job done, really impressed Tom. At the end of the day, Tom offered Bec a casual position.

During a post placement support visit, Tom spoke to Paul about how great Bec was going – to the point that she was out-shining some of the other long-term employees. Lantrak were so impressed with Bec that they wanted Bec to do Roller operations training. Paul researched suitable training and passed onto Tom to identify the best training, unfortunately due to COVID-19, although Bec continued to work, Lantrak made the decision to postpone Bec’s training for 6 months until things settle down.

It’s now September, Bec has been working for almost five months continuing to kick goals, so much so that Tom is offering Bec a permanent position and with CVGT’s support, organising training in Roller Operations, Bulldozer Driving and Gatehouse Operations. Bec has worked hard, earned the respect of her co-workers and employer. Lantrak through Tom, have witnessed Bec’s strong work ethic, commitment and drive to do a good honest day’s work and as a reward are offering Bec a lifelong career path where she can continue to develop her skills and shine!

Tom and Bec continue to be extremely grateful for the ongoing support and commitment that CVGT, in particular Paul and Chris, have provided to both Lantrak and Bec.

Well done Bec and Lantrak (Tom) – you literally rock!