Speeding up successful settlement – Armin’s story
Iranian refugee Armin Bakhshi has secured work just months after arriving in Australia with limited English.
Armin was fast tracked into work through AMES Australia’s Individual Pathways Plan (IPP) Building Skills to Work Program that sees refugee clients supported to settle faster and more sustainably.
The initiative, developed by migrant and refugee settlement agency AMES Australia, better coordinates services supporting new arrivals and sees AMES’ settlement, education and employment staff working together more closely to achieve positive outcomes for clients.
Armin and his family arrived in Australia in September 2019 on a humanitarian visa. In Iran, he was persecuted over political issues. As a result, he had few employment opportunities there but he spent six years as a displaced person in Turkey, where he worked servicing air conditioners.
Armin was placed in the IPP Building Skills Program and supported by settlement workers based at AMES Australia’ Noble Park site, in Melbourne’s south east.
“He was focusing on his English and was a full time student but the IPP program gave him the opportunity to start thinking about potential work pathways,” said AMES Australia Work Broker Jane Tierney.
“Armin is a young man who wants to support his family and find work so he was activated early and came on the AMES Australia’s jobactive caseload,” Jane said.
“His experience in Turkey means he has good mechanical skills, so he’s been referred to the next Certificate II course in Electrical Technology at the Chisolm Institute,” she said.
In the meantime Armin has been supported to find a job as a delivery driver in food services. AMES staff assisted him gaining an ABN and Tax File Number and the required licences.
He is keen to improve his English through customer service exposure and move on with his life.
“I am very happy to have a job and I’m planning to move on with my life in Australia. AMES has been very helpful to me,” Armin said.
“I want to continue my studies and become an electrician so I can get a job that is full time so that I can build a new life for my family,” he said.