Yes to flexible work.

At Oak Tree, we’re proud of hiring people who have faced at times multiple barriers to employment. We’re also proud to say we’re pretty good at providing job opportunities for young people working to forge a career through study. Matt is doing just that and says Oak Tree fits in perfectly with his busy calendar.

“So far, it’s been really good. Having flexible hours means it's probably the best job I could have had. Not having a supervisor there all the time puts more onus on you to be responsible for the quality of your own work and I also think having pay per container encourages you to work hard and get the job done quickly. I think they’re the two biggest things I’ll take into future jobs.

This job is a bit different for everyone. There’s lots of people at different sites, but for me I do most of my work at one site. On a typical day, we start at 6.30am and we just really get into it and do three or four containers by midday. It’s pretty structured and routine, which I really like.

I’ve been with Oak Tree for about five or six months. I kind of just found it online. I think it was my mum who saw it, but we were both looking because I had taken the semester off university and I needed a job. I had to do something to see me through. Oak Tree was the first to get back to me so I went in and got started. My only previous employment was as a builders labourer.

I’m still with Oak Tree and I will be when I go back to university. Overall it’s been great. Jamie and Deane are really good and it fits in with what I’m doing so there’s no complaints at all really.’’