Video Transcription

What to expect with work and study support at headspace

I think it was really useful to kind of help you put into motion the plans that you might already have, but you don’t know how to execute them. When you sign up for the program, you go through and you answer some questions, and they can help you kind of realise what you want, which is I think really useful. Because I think, yeah, as a young person, sometimes I don’t know what I want.

My specialist has really helped me with a lot of things, actually. I’ve applied for scholarships, I’m currently applying for grad jobs, and she’s kind of helping me through all of that. So, one of the things that I know I’d been putting off, I’d been procrastinating for a long time, was my resume because I just didn’t know where to start. We also focused on cover letter writing, which is a great skill to have in general for any job, and it was more confidence and leadership training and building in that regard.

So, the work and study program, I was linked with my worker, and he sends me job ads and helps me with resumes, applications, and CVs and all that. I kind of, you know, tell him about what sort of work I want to do, and he helped me find stuff that’s relevant to that and then sends it through to me. Then, if I get to the interview stage, he can practice interview questions with me to talk about, you know, what sort of things I should expect. Basically, any questions I have about the process, he can answer and help me run through them before I actually have to do it for real.

My advice for people looking into doing work and study support is to be honest with your mentor. If you have something that you might not want to do in a workplace, just tell them. They’re not going to judge you for it; they’re just going to help you find jobs where you don’t have to be uncomfortable. I’ve always enjoyed that sort of like mentee-mentor relationship because it’s having someone more experienced, a little bit older, who knows what he or she is talking about to give you some more advice.

I appreciate how kind of casual and friendly the entire exchange is. He’s very good at working with what I am bringing to the table instead of trying to force me to do something that I don’t want to do, which I very much appreciate. I think both of my specialists are actually invested in what I do. You know, it’s not just during the meeting. They want to hear about how I’m doing and how I’m progressing with my things outside of that as well.

I think the best thing about participating in the work and study support is that you don’t have to deal with the whole thing on your own. You don’t have to be stressing about something that you don’t know the answer for. You can just go to your support person, and they can help you with all of those things that you might not know how to do. When you’re first looking for a job, I was expecting it to be the sort of, “You need to apply for this many jobs to keep getting the support,” or whatever. When in reality, you have complete control.

Video by headspace