Sandra Halford

Since around 2000 I have raised 3 children as a sole parent and have been working and studying around their needs since that time. I'm down to 2 adult children 23 years later but, with them both working and thriving, it's time to turn my attention back outward, toward a new job and different possibilities. PREHISTORY (🦕!)Before becoming mother for the first time in 1993 I worked full-time in a variety of interesting administrative roles with employers, including the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, prestige landscape architects Tract Consultants, and printers Vol Heath & Associates. When studying, the work was part time at pubs and clubs around Melbourne, including Tower Hotel Alphington (bar and kitchen), Titanic Hotel Williamstown (kitchen), Yarra Hotel Abbotsford, Collingwood Football Club Abbotsford (bar and floor), and worked term breaks as a Lab Technician at Glaxo Smith Kline pharmaceuticals.

Since the early 90's I've juggled child care responsibilities with stints of both study and work, as further detailed in the work history. The work ranged from nights at the Titanic Hotel as a kitchen hand, to the Ferguson Plarre Bakery for lunch shifts whist the children attended school. I moved through a number of jobs due to changing addresses and circumstances. Sole parenting is very demanding of time and energy, to that I can attest.

After completing the Advanced Diploma of Legal Practice in 2013 I was fortunate to gain a position, so I thought, as a paralegal to a small team of lawyers attached to a money management firm in Cremorne. Although I did perform legal administrative duties for the lawyers, the firm itself turned out to be run by a criminal (Phillip Whiteman) who took advantage of everyone he associated with, including me; stealing ID'S and using aliases! The Federal Police raid was a clue to leave, but not before my own name was included in some of his phoenixing schemes. In addition to those revelations, my elderly parents had became ill (Alzeimer's and pancreatic cancer) in around 2015 and passed away within 2 years of each other by 2018, so pre-Covid was an overwhelming time in the family. I was able to spend some time at home caring for family during and post-Covid but now I am keen to get back to work, and take on new challenges. Most recently I filled in for staff on annual leave from the kitchen of local butcher : preparing meat trays for display, cleaning up; this temporary role was one of the most physically demanding jobs I've ever done and quite the learning curve watching the butcher's at work!