The director of HR explains how the International Convention Centre will fill 1,800 roles before it opens in December
The International Convention Centre (ICC) Sydney is currently undergoing one of its largest recruitment drives in over a decade as it aims to scale up by more than 300 fulltime and 1,500 casual staff.
The organisation is striving to reach this goal before the centre officially opens in December and is seeking candidates in a range of industries including culinary, hospitality, event operations, customer service, finance and administration.
The centre had hoped to create 400 new jobs by September. This figure will increase to 1,500 in March 2017 and then will steadily increase to a full operational capacity of 1,800.
HC sat down with Mathew Paine, director of HR, to see how the ICC has planned such a massive recruitment effort.
Targeting through technology
Since the launch of the campaign, candidates have been targeted through a mixture of indoor and outdoor advertising and social media marketing, Paine said.
“I’m happy to say that it’s definitely working because over the last few weeks, we’ve had close to 5,000 applications.”
As well as posting job ads on Indeed and LinkedIn, the ICC also uses geo-targeted posts through Facebook and even has its own Instagram account.
“The executive chef and executive pastry chef post their creations online. We’ve got a good following there and are looking for any chefs that want to join us.”
Technology is also used to help manage the interview process. Candidates are asked three questions through a digital platform and have to record answers on their smartphones or tablets.
“We get to meet those candidates virtually whilst we review those answers. That will save us almost 1,500 hours of interview time,” Paine told HC.
After the virtual interviews are completed, the ICC then invites selected candidates to come in and talk face-to-face, he added.
Mass inductions and training
The induction process and orientation starts from the moment a candidate accepts a role, Paine said.
“They’re given access to an on-boarding portal where there are corporate videos tailored to our new team members.
“We’ve also created an online induction for new members to meet their team. They get to see all the people in their team through photos and profiles so they get a feel of who they’re going to work with before they even start.”
For training, the ICC takes a blended approach combining e-learning, on-the-job training, classroom-based learning and seminars, he said.
The Centre has also partnered with TAFE NSW Sydney Institute, committing to $250,000 of training over a period of three to four months.
“We’ll be able to deliver eight nationally recognised qualifications on the job through that RTO partnership. That really is an industry first for us – having such a strong partnership there and being able to map those qualifications back.”
Finally, the ICC will embark on a three-month testing and training process starting this month and finishing in December.
“This will ensure that the building is operationally ready and all our team members are fully trained for the first formal event from 20 December.”