In this special International Women's Day episode of The Invisible Women Podcast, Voula Stamatakis speaks with four women from Fitted for Work, Inner Eastern Local Learning, and OCTEC, which are all Jobs Victoria Partners, about how invisibility can affect women's careers and confidence in the job market. In this episode, Tracey Fenton, Marcia Scott, Julie Moulin-Molenaar, and her client, Pamela Knudsen share some valuable resources available to women over 50 who are looking to rejoin the workforce, change jobs or find out more about their options. Introduction voiced by Carley Bishop
For more information on the resources mentioned in this episode, visit jobs.vic.gov.au/help-for-jobseekers. There you can find more information on the partners mentioned today: Fitted for Work, Inner Eastern Local Learning, and OCTEC.
The invisible woman project funded by our social enterprise's impact program promotes awareness and actions for women and gender-diverse people. To age with dignity, security, and safety. Find out more on justgoldwomen.net or on our socials @justgoldwomen.
[00:00:00] Carley Bishop: This is a just gold podcast.
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[00:00:03] Carley Bishop: Captured on the lands of the peoples of the east Eastern Kulin nation. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
[00:00:27] In this special International Women's Day episode of The Invisible Women Podcast. We speak with four women from Fitted for Work, inner East Learn Local and OCTEC, all Jobs Victoria Partners, about how invisibility can affect women's careers and confidence in the job market. In this episode, Tracey Fenton, Marcia Scott, Julie Moulin-Molenaar, and her client, Pamela Knudsen share some valuable resources available to women over 50 who are looking to rejoin the workforce, change jobs or find out more about their options. These resources will be included in the show notes.
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[00:01:04] Voula Stamatakis: We have four amazing ladies with us today, and I would like them to introduce themselves so we can discuss a little bit more about the Invisible Woman Syndrome.
[00:01:15] Tracey Fenton : So I'm Tracey Fenton and I'm from the ILL and I am a manager of Jobs Victoria Advocate. I manage job advocates program for Jobs Victoria in the inner and inner south regions of Melbourne. So we provide support and referrals to people in the community.
[00:01:34] Marcia Scott: Hi, I am Marcia Scott and I am a Jobs Victoria Advocate, hosted at Fitted for Work. and we are in communities connecting people to services that are relevant for them to become more employable. One of them is fitted for work and we help women and empower them to be employed.
[00:01:58] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Hi, I'm Julie Moulin-Molenaar, and I'm an employment mentor for OCTEC and I support people and job seeker to get back into the work force
[00:02:08] Voula Stamatakis: And we have with us today Pamela, who has find job for Jobs Victoria with help of her mentor Julie. So Pamela, do you wanna tell us a few words about you?
[00:02:20] Pamela Knudsen : Hi, I'm Pamela Knudsen and I am one of the lucky people who got a job through Jobs Victoria.
[00:02:27] Voula Stamatakis: Perfect. We are going to discuss today a little bit about invisible woman syndrome , which shows that regardless of background of education, of skills, of status, of class, of profession, eh, when a woman becomes 50 years old, she becomes invisible. So what is your opinion? Do you think that women become invisible as they age? Tracy? I think
[00:02:54] Tracey Fenton : women don't become invisible. I think what happens is they dunno where their place. . I think that at the age of 50, and this is not everybody, but their children are now off their hands. They might only be working part-time, relationship status changes.
[00:03:12] So it's about being more insecure. And I think that one of the bonuses of having a jobs advocate that you can access is they can help you find what you need, not just employ. , but also support services. They link you to people who might be, groups that you could access. Psychologists, a range of services.
[00:03:35] But I don't think women are invisible. I just think they don't know where they belong anymore.
[00:03:40] Marcia Scott: What do you think, Marcia? I totally agree with Tracy and this is exactly what we want to when we have conversations with women in communities, they have the opportunity to tell us. What type of vulnerability they are experiencing, and women is a particular interesting cohort.
[00:03:58] She might be a single woman. She might be a woman who left employment to take care of children, and she wants to go back to the workforce. She may be leaving domestic violence and she needs money again, or she needs to be employed again. After many years of staying home, we will find a service that. be relevant for her and make her feel more supported while she's also feeling that she's invisible.
[00:04:27] So the idea here is that the sister supporting sisters, like services that Fitted for Work, she doesn't have to navigate this alone. ,
[00:04:34] Voula Stamatakis: which is really important. Julie,
[00:04:38] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: so in my course of work I've been meeting a lot of women, 50 plus who have experienced, a loss of purpose.
[00:04:47] And we try to build strong rapport and strong trust relationships to be able to assist them and be able to show themselves again to the world. regain that purpose. And it can be through employment finding your employment through like your purpose through work can be, can help you, become visible again.
[00:05:09] . Yeah.
[00:05:10] Voula Stamatakis: So what I wanted to ask Pamela is through discussions and conversation, all in all these podcasts we have. , we have found that the five
[00:05:20] Ds are the Ds that bring you visibility to women. The five Ds are disability, domestic violence, death of a partner, divorce or death of dollars. Which D was yours?
[00:05:35] Who made you in a sick help from? Job Victoria and Fitted for Work.
[00:05:41] Pamela Knudsen : It was the dollars. . Yeah. I found myself outta work and I was almost out of all my savings to pay all the bills. So that was my desperation point. I had been looking for work, but hadn't had any luck. And a lot of the times it was, no, you are too old.
[00:05:58] Sorry, not what we want. And that he's depressing.
[00:06:02] Voula Stamatakis: He's because you feel like they're excluding you?
[00:06:04] Pamela Knudsen : Yeah.
[00:06:05] Voula Stamatakis: From everything. .
[00:06:06] Pamela Knudsen : Yes, definitely. So it does it, and that puts a mindset in that, oh why bother trying cuz everyone says no. Exactly.
[00:06:16] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Yeah. Yeah. And that's what we try to do. Atk and in partnership with Jobs Victoria, we try to change women's mindset from a negative.
[00:06:25] Point of view, like cuz employers will highlight the fact that, a lady who's over 50 will have, won't be able to invest as much time in a company. But we try to switch that and help them focus the narrative on all the experience and the acquired skills that a mature woman has to offer to an employer.
[00:06:43] When I met when I first met Pamela, she came to me and shared. Her aspiration to become a support worker. But she highlighted the fact that she was lacking the certification and because Pamela has a son with disability and she's been supporting him from birth to adulthood to gain independence all of this experience, hard value.
[00:07:04] And my job was to show to her. Even though she didn't have the certification, she had 18 years or 20 years of experience. And that had a lot of value. And switching that and make, showing her all that she has to offer is really I think what helped Pamela in her journey with us.
[00:07:20] Voula Stamatakis: So except from that barrier, what else will you consider is a barrier for these women?
[00:07:25] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: I think through my work, one of the biggest barrier, and I don't say it's every. Woman, 50 plus that meets this barrier. But there's sometimes a lack of digital . Proficiency. . So some women are not as comfortable you know, using the internet or using, you know, um, typings and that sort of thing. And through our work, we try to empower them. Not only we support them in their job search, but we also try to teach them so that if they fall into unemployment again, they will have those skills, to bounce back from if it happens. And so yeah, digital proficiency has been one of the.
[00:08:03] thing that we, we found.
[00:08:04] Voula Stamatakis: Marcia, what do you think what we are the barriers
[00:08:08] Marcia Scott: the lack of confidence. They experience, and I totally agree. Mentors are amazing at changing the negative narrative, the mindset. To a positive one. They did the same.
[00:08:19] We're not competing here, but they did the same in Fitted for work. They have several programs. For digital upskilling LinkedIn workshops and talking to HR consultants and mentors, make them believe, oh, they're telling me that I do have skills, I have transferable skills like you have done to what is the experience of in your lifetime to be, take care of somebody with a disability?
[00:08:48] How can they be trans? to employable to an employable situation. So we are not, and I wanna mention too, that one of the things I have seen sometimes is not true employment, that a woman is gonna feel so powerful, but she needs social connections. So for instance, at field work, there are many volunteers.
[00:09:11] women are in that later stage of their lives who do not need employment anymore, but need to be connected in society and they want to be relevant so they can volunteer for fitful work to help other women.
[00:09:24] Tracey Fenton : So for me, you can't be what? You can't. . Oh, so nice.
[00:09:30] I think that it's a really big issue that we have across society that I don't know if this podcast will fix. If we don't see women over 50 ever marketed as people who to be employment, all our employment ads have young people. That's our focus. We need to get young people into work or otherwise we have those who are successful in business and they all look like they're in their mid.
[00:09:51] We don't see older people in the work, and it's not just women, it's also men, but we don't see anything like that. There's no marketing around that, so people think that, oh, there's no opportunity for me because I've never seen anything out there. When you speak to employers and those who are open minded, they're really happy to have someone who's 50 plus , because they don't have kids at school who'll need to have school holidays. They don't have that, issue with running home. Cause I need to be home at three 30 to pick up the kids. So it can be more gratifying for an employer because people over 50 tend to be more reliable. Yeah.
[00:10:30] Because they've lived their life and now, they know what's required in the workplace. But the skillset. Is one of the things that people are really scared of. And that digital stuff is really something that's quite scary for people. We refer a lot of people to the local community houses, so they're all funded also through the department, the Victorian government and they have lots of courses that are quite low costing.
[00:10:53] And when you go, you look around and people who are look like you. That can be quite comforting for people. So yes, we do a bit of that. I think that's, but I do think that it's, we don't see anyone out there. If we're gonna say, who do we see? Who's over 50 in the media? Who comes to mind?
[00:11:08] Maybe Ida, that's. , exactly. But there's no one else. Yes. I don't see anyone. And that's media, not even just a normal job. Yes.
[00:11:16] Voula Stamatakis: So tell us the process. So when somebody comes at Job Victoria,
[00:11:21] Tracey Fenton : So when they come to us we're a, we like to call ourselves a concierge for community. So people come to us, we are not the service provider. We will link you to what you need. And that's very often what we call a warm referral. So we don't just say, oh look, I think you should go and contact OCTEC. We wouldn't do it like that. We would ring OCTEC and say, we have this woman who needs work. When can she come and see you? I'll just email you the details and you can get in contact with her.
[00:11:53] If they need support for clothing fitted for work, I would email Marc here and say, I've got this woman. This is what they need. We have especially women who are victims of domestic violence and those who are fleeing situations that, they just need to get out. We have strong links to a number of services that we link people to so that they've got housing and that they feel safe.
[00:12:18] I work with my role. I do work with some Vic Police work, so we work quite closely doing other sorts of stuff in that space. We have strong links to mental health supports but it's just about making sure that the per you listen to what the person. and it's no good just referring for an employment situation because if everything else is wrong in your life, you're not keeping a job and you're not getting a job.
[00:12:45] So you need to make sure that people have all the things that they need to be a stable platform, and I think the Job advocates program is able to provide that. So that's a really good thing from Jobs Victoria,
[00:12:56] Voula Stamatakis: what is their percentage of women over 50 coming? .
[00:13:00] Tracey Fenton : So as we're in a Melbourne, we would probably have about 35% of our, cuz I did look that up before I come
[00:13:07] 35% would be over 50. Yeah. 35%. Yeah. .
[00:13:11] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Okay.
[00:13:12] Voula Stamatakis: Uh, Marcia tell us about 30 for work. How does this work? Someone, somebody comes to you, do they come from Jobs Victoria or they can come straight to you?
[00:13:21] Marcia Scott: Jobs Victoria has been very helpful in promoting feature for work, which is great. But we are not only Victoria's, a nationwide organization can be found in a, on internet.
[00:13:35] The, I like the role of jobs secretary advocacy though, because like Tracy was, , the services at FIT for Work cover all the job readiness programs. So upskilling meeting assistance, being supported by HR consultants to be job ready. But in case they have a conversation with me and they mention something about mental health will offer added support for that, or if they men mention that they need social services, we'll come up with other organizations for this added support.
[00:14:09] I'm just amazed at this being free for everyone. We just want the word out.
[00:14:15] Voula Stamatakis: Is it free ?
[00:14:15] Marcia Scott: It's all free. Yes. It's fantastic.
[00:14:17] Voula Stamatakis: It's quite amazing.
[00:14:18] Marcia Scott: Yes. Yep. We are here to help. And and I wanna say advocacy is fantastic because we have to develop a skill of being a good listener, listen to the barrier that person's gonna tell you a story they may e ven be ashamed of that barrier. So we need to be smart to know what is the impediment for employment, as in that is the main goal. But like Teresa said, if you don't take care of those barriers, employment's not gonna happen. Exactly.
[00:14:49] Voula Stamatakis: Yeah. So you can offer support from what I read, at every level, clothing looking wise.
[00:14:58] That's right. Skills, yes. What are you gonna say to the I. .
[00:15:02] Marcia Scott: That's exactly right. So makeup workshops, the corporate clothing, the jewelry, the bags that all make women feel absolutely wonderful and powerful. So when they go for an interview, they're gonna look the part cuz there is an expectation of that.
[00:15:17] Yes. And then look at her cover letter for work. What the CV looks. They give professional advice, like I said, from HR consultants for free. What the cover letter, how to address the key selection criteria in the ads. But there is it's something they say. Let's say a woman goes to an interview and she doesn't get a job and she's feeling absolutely dreadful.
[00:15:40] She's just very low. Her confidence, the conversation with the Go Consult would be something like, it's okay, you didn't get this one. It's just not the right fit for. Let's use this experience for your next interview, and that is the confidence we wanna see. That is the support we wanna see. And I, I wanna say too, there is something really special about women supporting women while we are together.
[00:16:06] We are very powerful. Yes. I
[00:16:09] Voula Stamatakis: believe that .
[00:16:10] Marcia Scott: --Yes. Yes.
[00:16:12] I like to think that we will know what is going on because there will be conversations with the sisters and I really like to call them sisters because this is not about getting the hard skills
[00:16:23] but it's soft skills as well. Which they also get from wonderful mentors, from Jobs Victoria, we all doing the same? Pretty much. Yeah. Fit work has got all these services and is a will of services. So the clothing, again, the clothing, the makeup, the digital op skin, and the LinkedIn, the conversations with HR and then their job ready, they can even be matched with a mentor.
[00:16:46] Architect to get the actual job because they have a list of Joby that are going on. And this woman that fit of work will stay for as long as she wants, uses the services for as many times as she wants. We won't let go of them until they are employed.
[00:17:01] Voula Stamatakis: Julie, tell us about what you do there.
[00:17:04] Yeah. How do the. .
[00:17:06] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Yeah. I'm an employment mentor for OC Tech. Most of our referrals would come from Jobs Victoria Advocate. The advocates usually go up to the public organize event. You would find them in libraries. Sometimes at burnings in shopping malls. And they have stores where people who are looking for work can come, can have a chat and meet with them.
[00:17:26] Once the advocate has a better understanding of the profile of the person and what they're really after they usually send them to us if they believe that they're suitable and they live close from where we work from. So as a mentor we help women, people in general, but women as well with barriers.
[00:17:43] So it can be age which is what we are talking about today, but a lot of those women, they don't know, they come with other barriers to employment. Usually comes in the package. So we need to get a broad understanding of the profile of the. What they're after what their ambitions are, and I also understand who they are as a person because your resume is a thing.
[00:18:05] But yeah, who you are as a person, what are your natural qualities, is also very important. . So we help them with resume writing. We also do, just like Marcia we help them with mock interviews tailored to the rules they're applying for. Just so that they can pr practice their wording, practice the manners to help them and achieve.
[00:18:23] What they want. We also work with establishing a network of employers in our area. So we build strong relationship with employers around our area so that once they have vacancies coming up they contact us directly. And then if we have a participant who's suitable, we put them forth.
[00:18:41] Voula Stamatakis: when you say area, which area do. .
[00:18:43] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: I work in the eastern metro, so out east, and I work from the Boronia office of lac. . . Yeah.
[00:18:49] Voula Stamatakis: But if you go online on your site, can you find the other areas that practice?
[00:18:54] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Yes. So Octa has offices all around Melbourne Metro. , and in, yeah, all around Melbourne Metro and yeah, so this network of employers helps a lot because we have that relationship with that. So if we have women who are a bit more struggling in getting back into work and we already have that relationship built, we can contact those employers and try to sell the skills of that particular participant and try to really push them forward.
[00:19:19] We do a lot of reverse marketing as well. So if those women came with a dream with an ambition of a certain job, they're not quite sure about how to. That position we can do the little work and contact the hiring manager. I'm very good at, I'm very sneaky, so I'm very good at finding the mobile number of the hiring manager,
[00:19:38] I have my secrets . And then we contact them and we try to talk about a participant, explain what they can offer, and then really push them up to give them the best chances. Yes, Marcia.
[00:19:51] Marcia Scott: I just wanted to add the no need for referrals to use these organizations and jobs. Victoria has an amazing website,
[00:19:58] Voula Stamatakis: pamela, tell us a little bit about your case.
[00:20:01] Pamela Knudsen : I had applied for a factory job cuz I got to a point where I'm from a retail background, but I didn't want to go back into retail and I thought, oh, the best I can do is a factory job.
[00:20:11] I don't really have any qualifications for anything. So I was looking for factory work and someone I applied to a job. got in contact with me and said, oh, sorry, but that job's gone. But I know someone who might be able to help you. Can I pass your details on,
[00:20:25] They passed my details to Julie. Julie got in contact with me, so we had a meeting and Julie said tell me about yourself. And I told her I'm a mum of six. I've got my youngest has Down Syndrome.. , I was looking for work. I needed money, so I was just trying to find some factory work, and Julie said, I should be able to help you with that.
[00:20:47] That's fine. And then we were talking and I said, oh, what I really want to do is work in disability support, but I don't have any qualifications, so I just need a job for now. And I'll look at that at a later date. And Julie said, oh, that's all right. We should be able to find you something. I'll contact you tomorrow.
[00:21:04] So I was very. Waiting for tomorrow thinking I'm gonna get a job. And Julie rang me and she said I really listened to what you said. And immediately my brain was like, she listened. Wow. Cuz you don't feel like you're getting listened to a lot Anyway, she said I looked into this disability thing.
[00:21:26] I know you said you haven't got the qualifications, but there's this course. and you can work and learn. Go to uni at the same time, earn money and learn and get your certificate. She said it's through Jobs Victoria it and you get a job. And she sent me to focused individualized support services and they said, yes you can do this and I was crying yet again with Joy because I couldn't believe that this was happening. Anyway, I did get the position and I'm working in a wonderful situation. I'm the happiest I've ever been. I'm so grateful to Julie, but I gotta say, before I met Julie, I had actually seen an advert for this program in.
[00:22:15] Supermarket public toilet, to be honest, . And I read it and I went, Ooh, maybe no, I couldn't do that. And I put it back in the back of my head. I just didn't think I was capable cuz I'm too old and that meant going to uni. And I just went, nah. And then when Julie offered it to me and I found out more about it and it all came true, and now I'm at uni and.
[00:22:42] Working and it happens.
[00:22:45] Julie helped me find the strength to do it. Yes, because I didn't believe in myself. And the mentor and the help with that is everything.
[00:22:55] Voula Stamatakis: Amazing. Amazing. Do you know other ladies from. per personally that are struggling, and I'm sure that you have recommended Julie or Fitted for Work.
[00:23:06] Yeah. Do you know other cases that
[00:23:08] Pamela Knudsen : I don't actually have a very high social network. No. So I don't, and that, that's another part of being old. , I was working and then through circumstances I wasn't. But I never had many friends or anything. I didn't have an outlet. find help. And that's a, for me, that's an age thing cuz all I ever had was my kids.
[00:23:31] Voula Stamatakis: Yes. But yeah. Is it an age thing or you just didn't have time because you had so many responsibilities, is that you didn't have time to do the social part?
[00:23:39] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Possibly, yeah. Yeah, Yeah. Maybe, possibly. Yeah.
[00:23:43]
[00:23:46] Tracey Fenton : I don't think her story is that unusual. I think, you know, we have our friends that we've known through, you know, our kids going to school or whatever, and then people's lives take over.
[00:23:58] And so when you become isolated because you're not working or cuz of circumstances you, it's not easy to go out and call on your social connections and say, I need a job. I'm not, I'm feeling X, Y, or Z. There's lots of shame being feeling like you're not worth anything. It comes with lots of shame.
[00:24:19] So that's one of the things that people, need to understand that it's not just a jump into you meet us and then you go to Julie and it's all happy days because there's a whole range of processes that need to. through that, and I'm sure you did that, Pamela, step by step to get the confidence to make sure that this is what you're gonna do.
[00:24:37] And then you start and your first month is your petrified of everything going wrong. Is that, would that happen to you?
[00:24:44] Pamela Knudsen : Yeah.
[00:24:44] Tracey Fenton : And,
[00:24:44] Pamela Knudsen : And in the job search, you look at jobs and you think no I'm not good enough for that. So this a lot of jobs I didn't apply for that maybe I could have got. Yeah. But I really didn't think I could, so I just didn't bother.
[00:24:56] Tracey Fenton : I think that's, that, invisibility is lack of confidence. You never see anybody out there that we see, they're chock full of confidence. You never see anyone not. And I think that's our problem, that we lose confidence as we get older.
[00:25:11] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Yes.
[00:25:12] Voula Stamatakis: Do you know any
[00:25:13] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: other cases you can
[00:25:14] Tracey Fenton : mention to us? So we have a woman.
[00:25:15] Yeah. I have a lot of cases. We had a woman come to us she was 62. Her, she was a. , her partner had died in the last 12 months and her children were growing up. She had grandchildren, but they lived interstate. So she was very alone and very isolated. She said, I want to go back to work, but I haven't worked for the last five years.
[00:25:38] And she was really scared about how the changes have come, covid also was a bit of a factor for her. You know, I didn't want to, she didn't wanna go into anything that there have been contact with lots of people.
[00:25:47] Voula Stamatakis: Of course. Yes. .
[00:25:48] Tracey Fenton : So we referred her to a jobs mentor scheme. We also connected her with, and this will sound so old-fashioned, but it's not, we connected her with the Country Women's Association who are in Turk and cuz that's an area that we, and so she goes there once a week and she does stuff.
[00:26:06] So she's getting a social network developed as, . So I actually did I contacted her when we heard about doing this and I said, was she happy if I used her story? And she said Yes. And I said, and what's the result now? So she has a job three days a week, which is enough for her, and she does her CWA stuff two days a week.
[00:26:24] And I know people in the city go cwa, but it is actually more prevalent than you think . And she loves it, but it fitted what she likes to do, that matched her skills. We've got another woman who I would, if you looked at her, you would go, she's in her forties, she's much older.
[00:26:41] She had a number of issues in her life, mental health being one. So she had a very scattered work history because she'd worked for a little while and then she'd be unwell and lose her job, work for a little while, be unwell and lose her job. So trying to maintain a steady life is a challenge for her.
[00:26:57] We. connected her with a mental health support group ongoing. So that's been a bit of a bonus. She's just doing some training to move back into employment cuz she's not quite ready yet. . She was nearly pretty much living on the streets cuz she was couch surfing. Wow. And women in their fifties are also one of the highest growing populations of homeless..
[00:27:21] Voula Stamatakis: what is the percentage?
[00:27:23] Tracey Fenton : I dunno what, I just know that it's growing. I wanna say that, if they looked at it, it's about, it's also about 30%, women living in cars, couch surfing. We have young people and women because they're like, they find it's, they struggle to get employment. . And then, if you're, , you struggle, where can I have a shower?
[00:27:41] Where can I wash my clothes? There's a range of things that come with being homeless that also impact on you being able to get a job. , cuz you can't have the same clothes you've had on for two weeks and not had a shower for a week. Exactly. And turn up for a job interview, you're not getting it.
[00:27:54] So it's very, challenging in that space. But yeah. And women over 50 are a growing spot. Like that is something that we do need to look at cuz it's gonna cost us in the long run as a community. .
[00:28:04] Voula Stamatakis: So Fitted for Work. Is there a case you can tell us about
[00:28:07] Marcia Scott: I'm happy to tell you my personal story. Oh yeah, that would be great. I was a client of Fit for Work three years ago, so actually two and a half when Covid hit, I was trying to upskill and get employment and then I couldn't find anything. So when I went to Fit for work, I'm a mature age and I had everything going against me.
[00:28:26] I'm from Brazil, so hadn't been here. I had been here for six years. I had raised kids and I was home for 18 years before. , I could, I wanted to work again. And when I got to Theater for Work, my narrative was, oh my God, I'll never find work again. And I'm over 50. I was becoming invisible and I'm happy.
[00:28:46] But they changed that narrative to What skills do you have? And then they reminded me, oh, you do have a degree. You do. You can. , you started a psychology degree, you can use this for employment and there will be someone who will accept those skills. And no long after that jobs, Victoria came up with this pro and they said, why don't you apply?
[00:29:11] And here I am now I'm using my lived experience and I know exactly how people feel cuz I felt it. And I know that we can. , we can win. We can make this happen for us. This, especially if we are supported, we don't have to do it alone. So again, I just think everybody should just connect with Jobs Victoria, connect with our advocates, mentors so they can be supported like I was.
[00:29:36] Voula Stamatakis: Great. Julie, any case study you wanna share with us? Other than Pamela, which was amazing, I have to say .
[00:29:42] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: At the moment I'm looking after multiple women who are over the age of 50 and needing some support. I'm looking for after a lady who He's probably in her late fifties and looked after her children for about 15 years.
[00:29:55] So she paused her career. She used to work in administration and accounting. And then she came up to me saying, oh, I don't know if I can do it anymore. I don't know if my skills are relevant anymore. The softwares have changed. Everything have changed. I don't know if it's still. . And I said to her picking up the phone and talking to her customer or, resolving issues time management, all of these skills that you've acquired in your career, even though it was 15 years ago, they're still accurate.
[00:30:23] So you need a little bit of an update. On the softwares and all that, but all that we can be taught. So I've put her through a an admin and accounting trainership role where they help her get back on her feet. And it's been marvelous for her. She's feeling empowered again. And it only took her a couple of months to really get used to the new systems and also regain that confidence that she had.
[00:30:45] Lost for a bit, but we do come across a lot of women who have big gaps in their resumes because they took caring duties either for children or a parent or a relative and who are not sure if that gap will be looked at by an employer in a negative way. And I'm like what? It is valuable as a, it is valuable to look at, to see somebody who's willing to.
[00:31:10] Drop their career for a couple of years to look after another human being. And I don't think it should be looked at in a negative way. And it might take you a little bit longer to get back on your feet once you go back to work. But it's definitely doable.
[00:31:26] Voula Stamatakis: Perfect. So this is a special edition, this podcast about the International Women's Day, which is on the 8th of March.
[00:31:33] what will you propose to the women and everybody who's listening to us, what should they do to stay visible?
[00:31:42] Tracey Fenton : It's a challenging area to stay visible and be out there. I think that we need to make sure, like as Marcia says, the sisterhood need to push.
[00:31:54] As a group and say, once we turn 50, we are not gone and be locked in the room and keep us, away from everything. I do think that we need to have a bigger push. We were talking about this yesterday at work and it was interesting because one of my colleagues said to me in the seventies, the women.
[00:32:15] who were protesting about equal pay and making sure that they got the same opportunities as men are now women in their fifties, and they're not pushing that same agenda. And I thought that's so true. We had so many militant women not just militant, but women out there pushing their agenda for us to be heard, which helped all the generations of women behind them.
[00:32:38] But we are not doing that now. We haven't maintained that same. , and maybe that's what we need to get back to our old marching days. ,
[00:32:49] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: I'm with you, . I'll be supposed first to join you.
[00:32:52] Marcia Scott: Marcia. Oh, agree with Tracey. A hundred percent. We need to do this together. No need to be in isolation. Feeling bad and feeling invisible. Let's just use one another. Empower one another.
[00:33:09] Voula Stamatakis: and seek for help. Don't be seek help. It's something, don't be afraid. Yes. And not only this, but it needs to be, you need to be brave. Yes. I think it's bravery. Pamela, what will you suggest to, to the people who are listening? What will you say
[00:33:25] Pamela Knudsen : exactly what you said. Don't be afraid to ask for help. That's the first step for being seen. because if you're just hiding and not asking, you are invisible and you don't want to be. Very few people want to be invisible. Most people want to have a connection somewhere. It may not even be work, it may just be a social connection.
[00:33:47] I
[00:33:47] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: think one you're saying
[00:33:48] Voula Stamatakis: now is the most important. Yes.
[00:33:50] Pamela Knudsen : The social, the work. Yeah. You need the money, but you need people contact
[00:33:56] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: to have a network.
[00:33:57] Tracey Fenton : Yes. Around you.
[00:33:59] Pamela Knudsen : and you do have those, we say friends, but they're acquaintances. Most people aren't lifelong friends. Mm-hmm. , they're , acquaintances and there's a time for them.
[00:34:11] When you've got your kids in school, you've got those friends, and when you, if you are lucky enough to work, you've got those work friends, but as soon as you're not working with. quite often. That's it. You don't see them outta work. I'm lucky. I have a couple I do, but not very often. But you need interaction and you need to be able to put your hand up and say, Hey, I am here.
[00:34:33] And you've gotta believe in yourself. You are valuable. Everyone is , everybody's so evil, and especially women over 50 because they have life experience and they can help in ways that they don't even.
[00:34:49] Voula Stamatakis: And from your case study, I just feel that you have reinvented yourself.
[00:34:53] Pamela Knudsen : I have,
[00:34:53] Voula Stamatakis: yeah. You just, yes. Went there and said, hi, I'm pamela.
[00:34:57] Pamela Knudsen : Yeah.
[00:34:57] Voula Stamatakis: And I can do this.
[00:34:58] Pamela Knudsen : Yeah.
[00:34:58] Voula Stamatakis: From where you thought you can do nothing,
[00:35:01] Pamela Knudsen : which was when Julie asked me to come today, I was, at first I was like, oh no, I can't do that. And then I was like, no, of course I can. Yeah, of course. Why not? And not.
[00:35:12] Voula Stamatakis: It's amazing
[00:35:13] Pamela Knudsen : and I'm very grateful to be here. So thank you.
[00:35:15] Voula Stamatakis: Great. Thank you for coming. Julie, can you tell us what you suggest? What will you say to this woman?
[00:35:21] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: I think it's hard also because I'm not over 50, so it's also hard to when you haven't lived this, it's also hard to imagine, what to suggest when you haven't been in those shoes.
[00:35:31] , I think we've been taught a lot, even though it's changing to be non-confrontational and to, be, behave and, keep our tempers and all that sort of thing. And I do believe that women should take this space, say what they believe in share their opinions, whatever they.
[00:35:50] because we live in a free country and not be afraid to, speak their voices and take the space that could be theirs you know, yeah, and being bold, making bold choices. Taking risks as well. Cuz I think when you maybe grow older you might be in your ways and be afraid to go out of those ways.
[00:36:09] Yeah, it can be, yeah, taking risks not crazy risks, but reasonable risks. Making bold moves can make you feel, that you're taking ownership of your life. And you are, you're not a you are the own actor of your own life. You're not just watching it
[00:36:25] Voula Stamatakis: and maybe not let the kids overtake everything.
[00:36:29] Just stay relative. And be online with what's happening. Yeah. Because I think this is the most common mistake that most women do. They just get drawn into the situation of the children. Yeah, that's true. And everything stops. Yeah. And then you have to just start from the beginning. So if it's possible, of course, because sometimes it's not easy, especially if you have so many people to look after.
[00:36:56] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: I think it's also maybe important to stay connected to the world and progress. Yeah. To be online. What's exactly what's happening. Yeah.
[00:37:04] Voula Stamatakis: Great. I can't thank you enough. This has been an amazing discussion. Thank you for coming, and thank you for listening all the information about Jobs Victoria Peter for work, and Octa will be in the podcast in the information, so stay tuned.
[00:37:21] Thank you.
[00:37:23] Julie Moulin-Molenaar: Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
[00:37:25] Carley Bishop: you so much.
[00:37:25] The invisible woman project funded by our social enterprise's impact program promotes awareness and actions for women and gender-diverse people. To age with dignity, security, and safety. Find out more on justgoldwomen.net or on our socials @justgoldwomen