Q: With the skills shortage impacting on our recruitment needs, what advice do you have with regard to thinking outside the square to securing quality candidates?
Q: With the skills shortage impacting on our recruitment needs, what advice do you have with regard to thinking outside the square to securing quality candidates?
– HR manager in manufacturing, Adelaide
The skills shortage is, undoubtedly, the new employment reality. When organisations talk about working outside their traditional thinking for attracting new employees, what they really need to do is review their historical perceptions of the employment landscape.
One of the most pressing issues facing the majority of employers is the lack of ‘relevant experience’. However, change your view on that phrase and the field suddenly widens.
For example, with the recent Welfare to Work changes, there are many parents now actively considering sustainable employment. While they may have been out of full-time work for a period of time, they offer employers a set of often undervalued but effective skills obtained through coordinating a family, the household budget and, in many cases, part-time employment or study. Many parents have skills and qualifications acquired before they left the employment market to have children.
These skills are still easily adaptable to today’s market. As the balance between work, family and living becomes a heightened priority for employees, there is a higher demand on employers for flexibility.
The other growth sector is mature age workers. With the ageing population and the decreasing birth rate, mature age workers play a critical role in the labour market. Positive employer perception of mature workers challenges the historical thinking that mature age people cannot learn new skills, are set in their ways and working to retirement and, therefore, lack ambition. Mature age job seekers are classified as those who are aged 50 years or over. Their life and often past work experience can provide a host of benefits such as mentoring younger staff, taking on leadership roles and a mature work ethic.
At the other end of the scale, the largest source of youth jobseekers to our services comes from Australia’s indigenous communities. In our experience, indigenous youth candidates often bring great enthusiasm and freshness to the working climate; they can bring new ideas and fresh concepts to the table.
It’s also worthwhile reviewing traditional recruitment processes, which can be costly. There are federally funded organisations that provide a no-cost service to employers Australia-wide, sourcing job-ready candidates and often contributing to the costs of training and equipment.
By Major Brad Halse, Communications Director, The Salvation Army Employment Plus. Email: [email protected].
