Lauren is a trainee in our Adelaide hub whose goal is to have a career in childcare. She’s proactive in pursuing her career goals, and her Jigsaw trainers are right there beside her to support her along the way.
Lauren is no stranger to hard work. Before coming to Jigsaw, she had already gained experience in different industries.
She’s volunteered at Operation Christmas Child, packing shoe boxes with Christmas gifts and necessities for underprivileged children all over the world. She’s also worked in the Novita coffee van, at Provenance Nursery growing indigenous plants like saltbush, and at a kindergarten where she helped the children with crafts and other daily activities.
She’s keen to land a role in a kindergarten as a teacher’s assistant, but first she’s determined to master Jigsaw’s 20 transferable skills. And her recent promotion to paid trainee would indicate that she’s well on her way.
“We’re learning the 20 work skills at Jigsaw. Some of those skills are problem-solving, personal presentation, focus, teamwork, time management, and stress management.
“I think the most important one to me is personal presentation. I like to come to work knowing I’m wearing the right clothes. It makes me feel like I fit in at work, and I’m following the dress policy,” said Lauren.
“I also like teamwork because we all work in one big team. We’re all playing our part in a team to get the job done. If file management is done right, scanning will be done right and if scanning is done right, quality control will be done right,” said Lauren.
Most importantly, Lauren believes the 20 transferable skills she learns at Jigsaw will be extremely valuable in a childcare career, with many of them essential to her success in the role.
“I think teamwork will help me the most in a role at a kindergarten. If you need to take care of multiple different kids you’ll need to learn how to work in a team. I think focus will also be important because if you do too many tasks at once you won’t be able to get any of them done.
“And I’ll also need problem-solving to become a kindergarten teacher because there are things that might go wrong that I’ll have to solve and fix,” said Lauren.
Lauren’s goal to become a kindergarten teacher’s assistant is to help young children transition to school with ease and confidence and ensure their initial experience at school is a positive one.
“I’ve always wanted to help kids. I’d like to help them to learn as much as they can so when they go to school they feel like they’ve learnt what they need to, and they’re not scared. I want them to feel like they belong, and they’re safe. I want to help them grow and become the best possible person they can be,” said Lauren.
Alongside her work experience at Jigsaw, Lauren’s been taking the necessary steps to become a kindergarten teacher’s assistant, and she’s enlisted the help of her trainers.
“Some of the trainers at Jigsaw have helped me to check the TAFE website, look at the different courses and find the right one for me. We’ve learnt that I’ll need to do the certificate III in early childhood education and care. They’ve also let me know that I can apply for fee-free TAFE and what date I need to apply for that course.
“My trainers have also helped me draft some emails to send to the kindergartens asking for work experience.
“Once I hear back from TAFE I’ll have to do a literacy and numeracy test, so I’ve been doing some quizzes to prepare for the questions they might ask,” said Lauren.
Lauren is well on her way to realising her dream job as a kindergarten teacher’s assistant, a role she’s perfectly suited for. She possesses a deep understanding of what nurtures confidence and fulfilment, qualities she is eager to impart to young minds.
Outside of work, she finds joy in art, hip-hop dance classes, and regular gym sessions, which all play crucial roles in expressing herself and maintaining her physical and mental well-being. Her weekly gym visits are particularly rewarding, as she takes pride in her growing strength and progress.
However, she’s most proud of her achievements at Jigsaw, where she recently earned a promotion to a paid traineeship.
“I’m proud of getting a paid traineeship at Jigsaw. I feel proud because I put in a lot of effort to learn the transferable skills and I feel proud that all of the hard work has paid off,” said Lauren.
About Jigsaw
Jigsaw is a social enterprise that provides an innovative pathway to open employment for people with disability. By embedding a comprehensive skill-based training program within our commercial document and data management business, Jigsaw enables people with disability to achieve their employment goals at their own pace. Jigsaw’s holistic approach starts from the very basics of core work skills and supports trainees all the way through to transition to open employment with ongoing support and coaching once they have transitioned.
Jigsaw is located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Canberra.