• The Recruitment Procedure
• What kinds of jobs are our clients looking for?
• Financial Incentives
• Supported Wage System

The Recruitment Procedure

1. Job Focus doesn't work like other recruitment agencies: before we recommend a job seeker to you, we visit your workplace and get to know the job first hand. This takes between 15 minutes and a whole day.
2. Because we know all of our job seekers well, we can then determine who is best suited to the job. Some employers like to make a final selection between 2 or 3 job seekers, others prefer that we recommend the best person for the job.
3. Once we - or you - have selected your new worker, we assist you to induct, train and support them so that they become a valuable and reliable contributor to your business. Usually one of our experienced staff works alongside the new worker until they are performing to your expectations. This may take from as little as a day or two to 3 months.
4. We also advise about any modifications that need to be made to the workplace, and arrange for a government payment to meet any costs.
5. To encourage the new worker to become as independent of us as possible, we gradually leave them on their own more and more until they able to work alone. Then we keep in touch to make sure both you and your worker are satisfied.
6. Jobs often change, and all people have their ups and downs; we are always available to assist again, whether by retraining or by supporting people through difficult times.

What kinds of jobs are our clients looking for?

People with disabilities are not able to do some of the things that we normally expect people to be able to do. This is what having a disability means. Actually, all of us are better at some things than others and none of us does everything well.

Our clients are capable and skilled people aged 16 to 60, some prefer to work part time, some full time, and some have a car or motor bike licence. They possess a variety of skills and interests, and in some cases have tertiary or trade qualifications.

People with disabilities have all kinds of different skills and abilities and can do many different types of jobs. Over the past ten years we have successfully placed workers in such jobs as factory hand, administrative officer, cleaner, wood worker, car detailer, courier, customer service officer, kitchen hand, library technician, information officer, waiter and farm hand.

Financial Incentives

Job Focus can subsidize the wages of our clients who start jobs that are reasonably permanent and more than 8 hours per week. Up to $1,000 is available, according to the Department of Health and Family Services Wage Subsidy Guidelines which are available from our office on request. Wage subsidies are paid after 3 months of continuous employment if there are good prospects for ongoing employment.

If modifications need to be made to allow a disabled worker to perform their job properly, the cost of these is reimbursed by the Department. For example, if a person with a vision impairment is required to use a computer screen for their job, the additional cost of a large screen or text reader would be reimbursed.

Supported Wage System

Whilst many people with a disability can reliably produce high quality work, some are unable to work at the same rate as other people. The Supported Wage System - developed by government, employers and trade unions - allows legal payment of a wage that corresponds to a disabled person's rate of productivity.

For example, if a person with a physical disability can only work at 60% of the usual rate because of their disability, under the Supported Wage System they are paid 60% of the usual pay rate and the Government contributes some extra to their income.

Employment under the system starts with a training period of up to 12 weeks. During this time the employer pays the worker $45 per week. At the end of the training period a government accredited assessor measures the worker's productivity and the wage level is set accordingly.

After the assessment, a payment of $1,000 is made to the employer to offset the cost of participating in the System. The costs of any modifications made to the job or the workplace are also reimbursed, and Job Focus may be able to subsidise the worker's wages for the first three months.

The Supported Wage System gives employers a unique opportunity to hire people whose disability reduces their work rate, but not the quality of their work, and because wages are based on productivity, it is fair to both the worker and the employer.