Career change for the better!

Some people work for many years in a job that they find unfulfilling before they decide to take the necessary steps to find their dream job.

One of those people who took that step was Sherrie-Lee Rediger, a single mum with two children from Grafton in northern NSW.

After working in an office job for most of her working life, Sherrie-Lee decided it was time for a change and she set out to try and find work in an area that she had always been interested in.

“I did administration work for a very long time and decided I needed a career change and I had always thought about working in aged care but never went ahead with it,” Sherrie Lee said.

And after searching around she found a training provider that would give her the opportunity and the skills to make it happen.

Through funding from the Australian Government, the Replay Group has been providing aged care and child care training and employment placements to Indigenous Australians since 2001.  They have successfully trained, placed and supported more than 760 Indigenous job seekers into employment over this period.  

Sherrie-Lee decided that this was her pathway to get a job in aged care and she started Replay’s Indigenous Employment Program in 2013 and undertook the pre-employment programme.

On successful completion of the programme she commenced a traineeship with The Whiddon Group in Grafton, a residential aged care service, and says it was the best decision she has ever made.

“This programme came at the perfect time and I have never looked back, the people at Replay were fantastic with their training and support. It’s the best move I ever made.

 “I wake up in the morning and I am so happy to go to work because you know you can make a difference. To see the smiles on the residents and families faces when you come in because they are so happy to see you is fantastic. You don’t get that kind of reward from working in office administration, I just love it, Sherrie-Lee said.”

In the short amount of time that Sherrie-Lee has been working in aged care she has made a real impression on the people she works with.

“I was nominated for the Indigenous Trainee of the Year through Whiddon, unfortunately I didn’t win that but I was just so surprised that I was even nominated. I have never had anything like that happen to me before. It just shows how proud they are of my work and how happy they are with me.”

Sherrie-Lee had more success when she was nominated for the 2015 Hesta and NSW-ACT Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) Award in Sydney which she won.

“I got to go down to Sydney, and attend the conference as well as a fantastic dinner as my prize and I was presented with the award that night,” Sherrie-Lee said.

I was stunned to be honest, and my family and friends were just so happy for me, I just couldn’t believe it. To have these opportunities in the short time I have been in the aged care industry, it’s just so overwhelming.”

Sherrie-Lee sees a future for herself working in the health care industry and she is looking at doing further studies to make sure it happens.

“There is actually a ‘mentor in the workplace’ programme through Replay that I will be doing later this year in Sydney, and another step I want to do is to become a registered nurse.

You know, I never thought I would be a nurse but now that I’m here, it is definitely something I would like to do,” Sherrie-Lee said.