Randy is a senior citizen in Victoria who describes himself as “mostly retired,” but still wants to work part-time.

He has anxiety, which sometimes makes job interviews and finding resources difficult. He had previously taken part in Neil Squire’s Working Together program and found work as a cashier, but had to leave work due to concerns over the Omicron variant.

Now, Randy is looking for part-time work again, and needed to update his computer skills and equipment to assist in his job search. He joined Digital Jumpstart.

Through Digital Jumpstart, Randy received a laptop, wireless keyboard, mouse, and riser. While he had never used this kind of set-up before, he liked the “ease of use,” allowing him to use his laptop more like a desktop computer, with the portability of a laptop.

He didn’t have internet connection at home, so he took his computer lessons at his local library. He refreshed his knowledge of the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office — Word and Excel in particular.

The knowledge and equipment has given Randy better access in his job search.

“It gives me the ability, with the laptop, to look for jobs, because these days everything’s posted online. Before this, I didn’t really have that kind of equipment, so I was looking through my mobile phone — it’s given me better access,” he shares.

“And then I can work on stuff like my own resume, with the laptop and computer word processing. Digital Jumpstart gave me more skills in that area to do those types of things.”

Randy looks back positively on his experience with Neil Squire, grateful for the services he’s received.

“Really good, really positive, I mean they’re an organization that’s giving people a hand up,” he says. “It’s very valuable, especially these days, some of those services are few and far between.”