Meet Our Career Ambassadors

Having spent a decade in the public service (both APS and ACTPS), Angel made the move to the community sector in 2019. Finally feeling financially stable enough to pursue passions rather than pay cheques, this move reflected Angel’s desire to use their communication skills to create positive impacts in their community.

They began in a large not-for-profit doing advocacy, front-line service delivery, and education and training functions. This was a fantastic introduction to the wide variety of work in the sector, and they loved the much-reduced bureaucracy compared to public service!

Angel has since moved to a small peak body, which is an entirely different workplace. They have had to expand their skillset to encompass all the communication, strategic and operational requirements of the organisation. It’s extremely busy, but knowing the improvements their contributions make means it’s all worth it.

I’d say if you want to go into the community sector, the biggest thing for me is find something you’re passionate about. Find something that really aligns with your ethics because that way, it doesn’t feel as much like a job and you really get that glow at the end of the day knowing you’ve helped on a topic that’s really important to you.

Ann has worked in the community sector for over 30 years across many areas. Commencing as a front-line worker, she has now been a service manager for the past 25 years.

Her early front-line roles were in the disability area, working with people with primarily intellectual disabilities to support employment and life skills. She spent 14 years managing a regional family support service, which became a hub for multiple services including counselling, family violence, multicultural services, and financial advice and supports for young parents and children.

Her experience is that a key skill in the community sector is the ability to build and maintain relationships with clients and customers, staff, and other agencies.

Since moving to Canberra in 2009, Ann has managed a service focussed on supports and interventions for people with a chronic and disabling disease and is currently managing a service supporting birth families to achieve restoration and preservation of their children in the child protection system.

I think that the things I enjoy the most about community sector work is that it’s extraordinarily creative and you have the opportunity to work really closely with real people on the ground and feel like you’re making a real difference. No two days are ever the same. And you have the opportunity to be really creative in the way that you go about your work. That’s what I enjoy the most.