March 26th, 2022Locals returning home
One regional organization is seeing unexpected benefits flowing from the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of highly skilled Ballarat residents returning to the city for employment.
Cafs (Child and Family Services, Ballarat), has recently been on a recruitment drive with a series of roles, across a number of specialist teams since the pandemic started to ease late last year.
Like many other organisations, Cafs has been casting a wide net when recruiting for vacancies looking to Melbourne and other regional centres for staff, but has in fact seen that Ballarat residents (who have previously resorted to long daily commutes to further their careers) are now looking closer to home for roles that provide a positive work life balance and are aligned with their personal values.
“Some of the vacancies have undeniably been created by employees re-assessing their priorities during lockdowns and changing careers,” said Robyn Clark, Executive Manager – People and Engagement, “but the encouraging development has been the fact that we are seeing an increasing number of people from the regions we operate in looking for career opportunities closer to home and family.”
“As an organization we have focused on accessibility, inclusivity and building a team culture to position ourselves as an employer of choice. This focus, coupled with the diversity of opportunities available, has enabled us to attract and retain highly skilled locals back to the region and working for the greater good of our cities. We have appointed people in client facing roles such as Family Support, The Orange Door and Home Based Care, but there have also been great opportunities in our less familiar teams such as History & Heritage, Brand Development and Learning & Development.”
One of the people to make the switch back to Ballarat based employment is Mika Pediaditis. Mika was commuting to Richmond each day (a daily four hour round trip) and was attracted to the range of ongoing positions available at Cafs. She commenced in Cafs Housing and Homelessness Team in May 2021.
“I chose housing and homelessness over other positions because I wanted to do direct practice again (after a reasonably long period of working in other roles in the sector). The current housing crisis is a social issue that I feel passionately about. I did focus on Ballarat as I wanted to participate in and contribute to social local issues”, said Mika. “My role at Cafs is rewarding for a number of reasons. Firstly, the feeling that I may be making a small difference in someone’s very challenging and distressing current life situation and also the opportunity to participate in and contribute to a social issue that aligns with my value system.”
Fast Facts
Cafs employs 250 staff and has offices in Ballarat, Daylesford, Ararat and Bacchus Marsh.
Cafs currently has 7 roles available – https://cafs.org.au/positions-available/
Accreditations received – Rainbow Tick, Diversity Council Australia, White Ribbon Workplace, CORE Alliance
