Specialist employment support for people who are blind or have low vision has received a big boost, with Vision Australia awarded a swathe of contracts to provide Disability Employment Services.
From 1 July, Vision Australia will extend Disability Employment Services to Parramatta in NSW, Perth in WA, Robina on Queensland's Gold Coast and Dandenong and Geelong in Victoria following a successful tender to the Federal Government.
It has retained its existing Disability Employment Services contracts in Kensington in Victoria, Coorparoo in Queensland, Canberra in the ACT and Ashfield and Caringbah in NSW.
Vision Australia National Employment Services Manager Jan Hauser says the tender win is based on the organisation's strong performance and reflects the quality of her staff and their relationships with both clients and prospective employers.
"We don't just put people into any job. We are person-centred. We make sure that our clients are matched well to employers, and that we support those people right through the process of starting work and maintaining their position." she says.
"They might need orientation and mobility including travel training, occupational therapy or assistive technology".
"And we have strong relationships with major employers including the ANZ Bank, the Financial Ombudsman's Office, Seek, Monash University, Salmat, Allianz Insurance, the Brisbane City Council and many others."
Ms Hauser says job candidates from Vision Australia are well prepared before they start work.
"We recently had three or four clients start work with a company in different roles, and the comments that came back from the interviews is that our clients were very well prepared," she says.
"We do mock interviews, we work on interview presentation and we ensure our clients are appropriately skilled and qualified. Those things contribute to getting people into jobs and keeping them there."
Vision Australia will soon begin recruiting employment consultants, Ms Hauser says.
For information about Vision Australia's Disability Employment Services, go to the Vision Australia website here or phone 1300 84 74 66.