An urge to break the cycle of poverty was a priority for young Pacific woman Amethyst Honana Umurua (pictured).
To tackle this cycle, the 20-year-old Auckland woman joined the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Tupu Aotearoa programme in January of last year.
The programme is one of MPP’s flagship initiatives, connecting Pacific people with local providers who support them to access work or learning opportunities on their journey to employment, further training, or study.
Tupu Aotearoa aims to ensure Pacific people to have the right tools, education, training and employment opportunities to succeed.
Amethyst did not finish high school and lacked the support she needed due to personal circumstances.
So, when she joined Tupu Aotearoa, her mission was to find a job with support from her local Tupu provider – Solomon Group Auckland.
Amethyst was in-between homes, for the most part living with her boyfriend and his family.
She wanted to contribute to her new household by finding employment, but she was unsure of what she could do due to having minimal work experience and no CV.
Solomon Group Auckland discussed with her ways they could support her into work and found out she was interested in a customer service-related position. She wanted to work in a contact centre.
“We worked with Amethyst to increase her confidence with her literacy and numeracy by doing tests,” says a spokesperson from Solomon Group Auckland.
“We worked on interview skills and created a CV together.
“Because she did not have a phone, we purchased a phone so she could have contact details for her CV.
“We sent her CV out to different employers that had vacancies and she was able to get an interview with SKY TV at their contact centre.
“She was very nervous, so she came in the day of her interview in corporate attire as suggested when going to an interview to create a great first impression, and we did a mock interview with her again to build her confidence before the interview.
“The employers were very impressed by her and she was successful in obtaining work with SKY TV.”
If you are interested in joining Tupu Aotearoa, visit the MPP website for more information.