Henry wins Prime Minister's award
17 August 2011
Not many people get to rub shoulders with the Prime Minister, but Melton Employer Services Consultant Henry Barlow did just that, receiving an award for his years of service to the Wyndham community.
Henry has been working with MatchWorks at the Melton office for four months now, but prior to that spent 12 years serving his community as a City of Wyndham councillor, where he also served two years as Mayor.
Since leaving the council in 2008 Henry volunteers on the Board of the Uniting Care Werribee Support and Housing, which helps to prevent homelessness in the local community, and the Grange Community Centre.
It’s this community service which earned him an Above and Beyond Award, presented to him by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is also Henry’s local Member of Parliament.
“It was really great to receive the award, I was very honoured,” Henry said.
Henry’s journey to a job at MatchWorks was certainly a unique one after being made redundant from his State Government advisory role following the November election.
Henry went to CentreLink and asked to be referred to MatchWorks, after hearing good reports.
“I hadn’t sort a job for the last 15 years or so – I hadn’t actually had to put in a resume, or formally apply for jobs because a lot of the work I was doing when I was on council was work I was doing through government or people I knew,” Henry explained.
“When I got made redundant I needed someone to help me do a resume and, for the first time in many years, point me in the right direction with job interview skills. I needed a refresher.
“At my age, I was really looking to spend the rest of my working career in the social justice area.
“I was not interested in staying in the political arena – I’d already worked for a number of major companies in Australia in senior management positions and I didn’t want to go back into the private sector.
“I wanted a totally new direction in my life and I was fortunate to be offered a job by MatchWorks – so I’m very happy.”
Henry said his experience in politics and business has helped in both dealing with potential employers, as well as jobseekers.
“My experience helps me to make employers and jobseekers understand that while this may be different to the way things used to be, if we go down this track and use a different method – you can still be successful.
“It’s about helping people come on board and for them to understand how it can benefit. It’s about having the confidence to have a crack.”