MSD employment coordinator Jody Cruickshank is using his own experience of dealing with vision loss to help others overcome challenges in their lives through finding jobs.

He is going into bat for job seekers, and along the way has become a top-performing employment coordinator for MSD by helping clients find work.

Jody supports clients who have an injury, health condition or disability.

He has a special perspective on what the job market is like for people with health and disability challenges.

At age nine, he was diagnosed with Refsum disease, a rare genetic condition that caused his sight to gradually deteriorate. By age 27, he was no longer allowed to drive.

Gradually losing his sight forced him to rethink his career and life plans. Now, he uses that experience to help others with complex needs.

"It was quite depressing and isolating at times because you do wonder what your future will be. I always try and find solutions, and that’s what I try and help other people to do."

Jody’s job involves working with the team at Invercargill’s Work and Income service centre, organisations, and local employers, to connect jobseekers with new employment opportunities.

Over the past 12 months, he has helped 58 people off benefits and into employment, all of them have a health condition, disability, or injury.

"I can build a good rapport with our clients because of the experiences I’ve had in my life and what I go through on a day-to-day basis with my loss of vision, I’ve also been on the benefit many years ago, so that helps my understanding," he says.

"It’s not just about me though, I have a wonderful team in Invercargill. I use our relationships with organisations and businesses to help our clients into work and find them support if they need it."

When he’s not going into bat for his clients, Jody plays for the New Zealand Blindcaps cricket team. He played Australia’s Blind Cricket team in Brisbane in June.

It has always been a dream of his to represent New Zealand in cricket.

"Everyone on the team has different levels of vision, it involves a lot of communication and supporting each other."

Manager of Regional Employment for MSD’s Southern region, Simon Rakiraki, says Jody is simply an outstanding employee and person.

"Jody connects with people with so much ease. He is a really inspiring guy; we are proud to have him on our team and we wish him all the best for his games with the Blindcaps this season."

Notes

• June Quarter Benefit statistics show a high number of people moving off a benefit and into paid employment with 26,334 people nationwide moving off a benefit and into work during the June quarter. This included 8,444 people who had been receiving a main benefit for more than a year.
• MSD uses a range of employment programmes, such as Flexi-wage and Mana in Mahi, to support employers to take on staff members and get them the skills they need to do the job. You can find out more information on Flexi-wage here as well as our full range of extra support and training for job candidates here
• Some of the organisations Jody works with to help find people jobs include Workbridge, APM Workcare, Community Care Trust, and Choices NZ

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