Real People, Real Jobs, Real Stories
Priority Jobseekers working at Spark
Ritta Salloum
Graduate Design Engineer
When the war broke in Syria in 2011, Ritta Salloum’s family were threatened by the rebel group and were living in fear. They had no choice but to flee to Lebanon, however it was next to impossible to find jobs and their children weren’t permitted to attend the local schools. With no jobs, no secure accommodation, and not knowing if they’d see their family or return to their home country ever again, they made the hard decision to apply for humanitarian visas in Australia.
Ritta is a highly skilled Civil Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in Syria having worked in complex transport infrastructure and civil construction projects including an important project to introduce a cellular service in her home country; changing lives for the better for her local community.
Ritta holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Damascus University and prior to being forced to flee her country, she operated her own engineering office. Here in Australia Ritta studied a Graduate Certificate in Infrastructure and Engineering Management at Swinburne University in 2021, which meant Ritta was able to join Spark as a Graduate Design Engineer.
Denis Pinto
Junior Engineer
Denis’ story is an example of perseverance, endeavour and success. He is a civil engineer with over 13 years of experience in construction who moved to Australia from Venezuela in 2016 without any command of the English language.
Denis was the victim of a tragic incident in his home country when he was kidnapped and held captive for three weeks; an incident that requires ongoing counselling. Denis fled his country for a safe and quiet life in Australia, which he calls “a paradise”. He started as a student of Project Management at Lonsdale Institute and then was engaged in a hospitality career; however, he had always been looking for a job related with his career.
“I knew Spanish and Portuguese but not English. So it was challenging initially, but when you put your mind to it and tell yourself that you can do something, putting effort in every day, you will eventually succeed”.
Denis was introduced to Spark by a refugee organization and joined as a Junior Engineer at the Bulleen Cut & Cover site after being accepted through a panel interview in May 2022. He performs diverse tasks, from track orders, preparing Purchase Orders to administrative duties. He always supports a positive work environment. He loves the work he does and sees scope for his development. He’s keen to learn more about the project and participate in site engineering activities.
Garnet Brennan
Indigenous Engagement Intern
Garnet was the youngest member of Spark when he joined the project in August 2022, at the age of 19. He is an undergraduate commerce student at Melbourne University, spending his internship in the Spark Social Impact team.
While most of his classmates are taking casual jobs in retail stores or parks, Garnet decided to pursue a more serious career in an area he is passionate about.
He is working as an Indigenous Engagement Intern, assisting in partnering with different universities to bring Indigenous talent into the project. He also works closely with the Social Procurement team, meeting with Indigenous business owners.
Garnet is a proud Gamilaraay man, with close connections to his culture through his country and family.
He believes the most exciting part of his job at Spark is meeting with Indigenous leaders; people who are making a change. When he looks through the Indigenous businesses, he searches for more than just the commercial side; he looks for stories.
Delneshin Danaei
Inclusive Employment Assistant
Delneshin (Del) has become an integral part of the Social Impact and Industry Capability team in the short time she has been with Spark. Her skills and experience are invaluable in communicating the work the team does to NELP, across Spark and within the community.
Del started at Spark on a 12-week placement from Melbourne Polytechnic in November 2022. Placed with the Social Impact and Industry Capability team, her colleagues quickly learnt that Del had extensive experience with graphic design and communication.
Del’s impact on her team is evident in the following comment from Joe Piasecki, Social Procurement Manager:
“Del offers a unique skill set, which is not one that has typically been seen in the P&C team. The reason we decided to give her a chance, knowing that she had that skill set was because Spark have a genuine commitment to the employment of people facing barriers. The cultural fit in our team was the instigator of this placement, which, as we got to understand her unique talents in graphic design became a very easy position to justify as ongoing. Delneshin elevates the quality of our work turning our documentation, presentations and general material into graphic masterpieces, which is so important when trying to educate/influence and upskill people about our mission. Now that I have been fortunate enough to see the value this skill set brings, I never want her to leave us (or go without her skills)!”
Since starting her 12-week placement with Spark, two exciting things have happened. Del has
been employed by Spark and will continue working in the Social Impact and Industry Capability
team. And, as a result of the success of the placement, the Spark Inclusive Jobs Team has worked with Melbourne Polytechnic to offer 9 students from the Overseas Qualified Professional program 12-week placements across multiple areas of Spark including Finance and Site-based roles. This is a win-win for all involved – great local experience for a group of overseas qualified professionals and a potential source of talent for Spark.
Hamid Peimany
Community Engagement and Event Coordinator
Hamid joined Spark in December 2022 on a student placement from the Melbourne Polytechnic Overseas Qualified Professionals course. His focus was on community engagement having been a PR and Communications Manager across a wide range of industries including Health Care, Food and Beverage, Energy and Retail in Iran.
Two weeks into his placement at Spark, Hamid was offering an ongoing role as a Community Engagement and Events Coordinator.
Since then, he has taken on further responsibilities within the Communications Team. After two staff moved to new opportunities outside of Spark, Hamid stepped in to work at the Watsonia Hub, answering questions from the community about the project and it’s impact on local communities.
He says he looked at this as an ‘opportunity’ and can see now that his time at the Watsonia Hub has given him a real sense of detail about the project.
Hamid is still organizing events for the team and also providing weekly reports, event briefs, and communications for NELP.
What started as a 12-week placement has turned into long-term employment in a team that has embraced Hamid’s skills and experience and seen him go from strength to strength. A win-win for all involved!
Imelda Peter Layoro
Social Impact Team Assistant
As a woman new to Australia, without any experience in construction or infrastructure projects, Imelda never imagined herself working on the biggest road project in Melbourne, Australia.
Originally from the Republic of South Sudan, Imelda holds a bachelor’s degree in IT from Makerere University, Kampala- Uganda. She worked for ten years in the South Sudan government, starting as a personal assistant to the Minister of Labour and Human Resource Development and later becoming the office manager of the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare.
She moved to Australia to join her husband in February 2019, but soon after, COVID-19 hit, and they were locked down for two years. Despite this situation, Imelda remained active and efficient as it is an integral part of her personality. She started to volunteer for the Red Cross and went on to send her education qualifications to be assessed by the Australian Overseas Verification Unit awaiting to apply for university.
Not having local experience, the job search for paid positions had left her feeling discouraged. However, a glimmer of hope emerged when she was advised through a not-for-profit organisation to apply for a paid job at Spark. Though she had reservations, she decided to take the chance and started working with Spark in June 2022 as a Team Assistant for the Social Impact team.
Since then, Imelda has played a vital role in the team, performing diverse tasks such as delivering administrative support to the management and the broader team, and helping with priority jobseeker's support.
Despite being new to the Australian work culture and construction environment, Imelda sees this as an opportunity to learn and progress. She finds joy in learning about every aspect of her team's work, whether it is inclusive jobs, social procurement, or inclusion and diversity.
As a woman working in construction, she believes in balance and equity in the office and sees opportunities for improvement for both men and women. Her only challenge is adapting to a different work culture, and as she says:
"Back home, we were also engaged in gender issues, but from a different perspective than in Australia."
Imelda is encouraged by the success stories of other women, including her ex-boss, who became the country's minister despite cultural barriers. She also admires her current manager, Abbey, for giving all team members the space to bring out their best and grow. Imelda sees a career pathway in construction for herself, an industry she has grown to love.
Imelda is an activist in women's spaces and was recently invited to speak at the International Women's Transformation Conference by the office of Vice President H.E Madam Rebecca Nyandeng -head of the gender cluster, where she gave a speech on strategies to strengthen women. The conference was a gathering of women from various fields, ranging from politics to business.
She believes women can multitask, which helps her manage her work-life balance. She even finds balance in managing weekend plans that align with her priorities or her husband's.
Her advice to her fellow women at Spark is to have passion and a good attitude.
“Remain positive, have a good attitude and be passionate with whatever you do because all the above lead to greater happiness, fulfilment, and productivity.”
And lastly,
“If you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go further go with others. Therefore, I encourage my colleagues to go with others in order to go far in life.”
inclusivejobs@sparknel-dc.com.au
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