Project Placed

Tell us about Project Placed. What is your mission?

Project Placed is a registered charity on a mission to give every job seeker in Australia access to free, expert career coaching and mental health support at the time they need it most. Project Placed believes that professional job search support should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford it.

Founded by Ant Cohen – a senior leader who has been made redundant three times himself – Project Placed was built on lived experience. Ant knows first-hand how isolating and anxiety-inducing unemployment can be. Project Placed exists to make sure that no job seeker in Australia has to face that experience alone or without quality support.

What are your programs/initiatives and why do you run them?

Project Placed offers a suite of free, one-on-one coaching sessions delivered via Zoom or phone, so clients can access support from anywhere in Australia. The services include resume and cover letter reviews, LinkedIn profile advice, job interview preparation, skills sessions, career coaching, executive career coaching, mindset coaching, and mental wellbeing sessions with accredited psychologists and Mental Health First Aid counsellors.

How do you involve volunteers in your programs?

Volunteers are the beating heart of Project Placed – quite literally, everyone from the Board to its coaches gives their time for free. Nearly 140 skilled professionals from across Australia have volunteered with Project Placed, contributing expertise in career coaching, recruitment, psychology, mindset coaching and more.

How do your volunteers make a difference in the community?

Project Placed volunteers give job seekers something that money usually buys: access to genuinely skilled, experienced professionals who take the time to understand their situation and provide tailored, honest advice. For many clients – including people who are new to Australia, those returning to work after long absences, and those who have faced repeated knockbacks – a session with one of the Project Placed volunteer coaches is a turning point.

Project Placed volunteer coaches often say that giving back through Project Placed is as rewarding for them as it is for the people they help.

What resources and services have helped to support your volunteer involvement?

The Centre for Volunteering has been a valuable source of up-to-date information, resources, and best-practice guidance as Project Placed built and grew its volunteer program. Access to The Centre’s tools and frameworks has helped Project Placed think more rigorously about how to recruit, support, and retain volunteers – which matters enormously when the entire delivery model depends on them.

Why did your organisation become a member of The Centre? What benefit has it brought your organisation?

Project Placed became a member of The Centre for Volunteering because we recognised that managing volunteers well is a discipline in itself, and we wanted to be part of a community that takes that seriously. The resources, professional development opportunities, and connections to other volunteer-involving organisations have been genuinely useful as the organisation scaled. It has also connected Project Placed with like-minded organisations doing important work and reinforced that it is part of a much broader movement.

Project Placed absolutely loves The Centre for Volunteering and its team, who have been amazing advocates from day one. It also loves being part of the organisation and the broader volunteering community.

What have you learnt about the value of volunteering and/or volunteer management?

Project Placed has learnt that the quality of the volunteer experience matters just as much as the quality of the service an organisation is trying to deliver. Volunteers choose to give their time – they do not have to be there – so creating an environment where they feel valued, supported, and connected to the mission is essential. When volunteers feel that their contribution genuinely matters, they stay, they refer others, and they give more. The ripple effect of a well-supported volunteer community is hard to overstate.

What would you say to someone thinking of volunteering?

Do it. Whatever your skills, background, or how much time you have to give, there is an organisation out there that needs exactly what you can offer. Volunteering connects people to their community in a way that is hard to replicate elsewhere – they meet people they would never otherwise cross paths with, use their skills for something that genuinely matters, and more often than not find that the experience gives back as much as they put in.

Many people put off volunteering because they are waiting for the right moment or think they do not have enough to offer. The truth is they do not need to be an expert to make a difference – they just need to show up. Start somewhere and see where it takes you.