Meet Darcy. Just like hundreds of other young people across the north and west of Melbourne, he was struggling to find a job that had purpose and aligned to what he wanted to do.

Shortly after coming to Youth Projects as part of his mutual obligations through Centrelink, Darcy was signed up to our Youth Jobs PaTH Employability Skills Training (EST) program.

Our EST program is specifically designed for young people under the age of 25 who are on income support to help build their employability potential to secure meaningful employment. The program focuses on communication, teamwork, time management and problem solving, career development and job preparation and other key skills that are often required by employers.

"Taking the EST program at Youth Projects has helped me to really see the bigger picture of employment and careers in my life, especially after doing the program in the middle of a global pandemic. I’ve really learnt a lot about the world around me and even better, about myself."

Over the course of the 3-week program, Darcy worked closely with one of our Youth Employment Specialists to identify his goals, aspirations and the areas he would need to develop to get into his chosen field. At the completion of the EST program, Darcy secured work as a Pick Packer in a commercial warehouse - something that's run in his family, and footsteps he wanted to follow.

"I was really lucky to have found and started a new job in warehousing as a pick packer thanks to this program. It’s something I know I’ve always wanted to do, and it runs in my family."

The first couple of days into his new job were full of information, and at times, tiring. But, Darcy was feeling a real life-high and his (very) early starts became routine.

At the time of writing, Darcy is already more than a month into his new job is has shared that he is extremely satisfied.

"Safe to say, I love it and it feels great knowing that I can now follow my goals and dreams, without a worry."

Darcy participated in one of twenty EST programs facilitated by Youth Projects in the past year. Our EST program included 20 groups of young people in that same period and experienced a 12% increase in successful job placements and internship performance during the past year - now achieving successful outcomes well above the national average for young people being placed into a job and/or internship beyond their program engagement.