For many young people in George Town finding and gaining employment can be difficult.
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A number of initiatives are hoping to change that by giving George Town youth the confidence and resources needed to receive employment.
For the first time Employment Plus and National Job Link are running an Employment Services Training program in George Town.
The program is aimed at improving employment skills including IT training as well as resume building and interview tips.
National Job Link EST trainer and youth mentor Lollita Stratton said the program helps build a number of interpersonal skills vital for becoming employable.
"We're really focussing on our emotional control, what we can control and what we can't control," she said.
"Then we'll move on to what our barriers are, how can we eliminate those barriers to move ourselves towards employment.
"That's the aim: to get some of these people employed."
Ms Stratton said at National Job Link mentors work one-on-one with those struggling to find employment - the EST program instead creates an alternate workshop that encourages team building and peer support.
"It's been our direction now to create group-style work environments, getting them out of the office starting to build the confidence," she said.
"We want them to have the confidence to go out and approach employers and we do that through communication, team building and getting them motivated."
About 22 individuals are taking part in the six week program which is being held at the George Town Community Hub.
The Salvation Army's Employment Plus site manager Delanie Sky said youth unemployment in George Town is 30 per cent.
She said that bringing the program to the area was important and possible through the support of the George Town Council and other local groups.
"NJL [National Job Link] runs courses in Launceston, but it's been too arduous to expect our students to travel there each day due to the cost and limited public transport," she said.
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Respected businessman Ray Mostogl recently co-started an employment networking venture: Keen (Key Employment and Education Network).
Keen aims to connect those without work in George Town through coordinating with local employers.
"Socially responsible employers are increasingly acknowledging the method to attract employees needs to change," Mr Mostogl said.
"The problem facing employers, across all sectors is the shortage of employable people, and yet we have unemployment and unemployment numbers far in excess of job vacancies.
"Somehow we need to find a way to increase the number of people who are considered employable."
I'm actually enjoying it, it's nothing like I expected. I thought it was just going to be like a normal class - getting together and asking questions about getting a job but it's been very exciting and it's giving me a lot more skills to help get towards a job.
- Kaitlyn Jones
Mr Mostogl noted that Keen will largely require employers to partner with and help build those less experienced in the workforce into viable employees.
"By providing a deliberate set of employment stages within employers who have a range of workplace complexities, people can start at a number of points along the ramp and demonstrate their abilities to find out where they are comfortable," he said.
"Keen provides learning opportunities progressively until the person is highly employable and can effectively choose whichever job they will want."
Ms Stratton, Ms Sky and Mr Mostogl all highlighted transportation issues and lack of confidence as key reasons young people in George Town struggle to find employment.
"Historically the traditional engineering and processing businesses in the local area have attracted males as employees, but they are now recruiting people of all backgrounds," Mr Mostogl said.
"Not everyone in the community knows this, so there are many people who rule themselves out of being considered for some of these roles."
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Kaitlyn Jones and Ashley Morgan-Meeks are two participants in the EST.
Ms Jones was hesitant at first to take part in the program but found herself pleasantly surprised.
"I'm actually enjoying it, it's nothing like I expected," she said.
"I thought it was just going to be like a normal class - getting together and asking questions about getting a job but it's been very exciting and it's giving me a lot more skills to help get towards a job."
Mr Morgan-Meeks said though he himself had experience in gaining employment, he found the program helpful and all-inclusive.
"I didn't ever feel like they were specifically saying something I didn't understand and even if I did I'm pretty sure I'd be able to say 'I don't understand that' and then they'd just explain it," Mr Morgan-Meeks said.
He continued in saying that a great part of participating as a group is being able to show those who may find going through the steps to getting employment hard that it is in fact much easier than it seems.
Ms Sky said the program is seeing positive results already, with a number of trainees participating already securing placements after the program's end.