ET Australia’s Story

About ET Australia

ET Australia is a community based not for profit organisation operating on the NSW Central Coast since 1977. Consisting of a Training College and Independent Years 7 to 12 Secondary College, the focus is on providing students with the skills to be successful in employment and/or further study. We provide customised training and free recruitment services to businesses with a focus on aged care, disability care and business.

What was the problem you were having before you discovered The Fast Track?

Blakworks had delivered the Aboriginal Cultural Awareness for Workplaces program for our staff before, so everyone was on board with improving our employment of Aboriginal people. ET Australia’s senior management team had agreed that we wanted more Aboriginal staff, and after a couple of years we still had nothing to show for it. We had a really clear goal and intent and there was no resistance so why couldn’t we reach our goals? We had written “Aboriginal people are encouraged to apply” in all our job advertisements.

What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?

We wanted more Aboriginal staff, we were committed to doing what was necessary, but we had no results to show for it. Our senior management team were frustrated, and we were out of ideas about what else to do.

What was different about Blakworks?

Lindsay Stanford guided us through developing a simple, effective Aboriginal employment strategy in the Fast Track program in 2021. The program forced us to ask the right questions and put in place the right things in the right way. We had to talk about why what we were doing wasn’t working and Lindsay showed us what we were missing, what we were doing right and where we needed to think - and do - differently.

Take us to the moment you realised our product was actually working to solve your problem.

The moment we finished the strategy, we could see a clear path forward. It wasn’t a hope anymore, we just had to take the steps. But the real moment was when we advertised a role just a few months after finishing the Fast Track and received 5 applications from Aboriginal people - the best result we’d had.

Tell us what life looks like now that your problem is solved or being solved.

About 9 months after we completed the program, we met our 12-month goal of 3.8% Aboriginal staff. This is a great accomplishment for us, and we are celebrating this awesome achievement. It's encouraging to know that we are making lots of progress towards creating a culturally safe and respectful workplace. We know there's still lots of work to do, and we are committed to achieving our goals more than ever.

If you're interested in finding out if Blakworks can help you, the next step is to book a call with Lindsay Stanford.