Home Turf - Regional Recruitment Strategies
17-Nov-2011In these times of economic uncertainty, coupled with skills shortages, how are regional employers faring?
By Gabrielle Pollock
If Australia's cities are home to an ageing population, consider the state of the regions, where nearly a quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds are planning to move to major cities in search of better training and work opportunities, according to a recent survey by training organisation Upskilled.
For regional areas it’s a conundrum, and an old one, but there was another telling result from the survey. When asked, “Are you currently considering moving to a different area to further your career”, around 20 per cent of regional respondents in a state-by-state breakdown answered that although they still believed training and career opportunities were greater in the cities, they would never move there. An adherence to a country lifestyle appeared a deciding factor for a significant number of those surveyed.
With 170 years of experience in regional employment, agribusiness Elders recognises the demand for employment in local regional communities. Elders’ advertising campaign for traineeships ‘No need to bail to the city’ promotes the idea that by providing career opportunities and training in regional areas, those people who would otherwise leave the country now have compelling reasons to stay. Leanne Brus-Bentley, acting group general manager of human resources for Elders, says, “There is definitely an exodus to the
city among young people. Because we have aimed our advertising campaign at this age group, we have had lots of applicants. In the past two years we have put 60 people through our traineeship program.
Because of the nature of the business, when it comes to working with livestock or heavy machinery we have a duty of care to our young people. We must be able to provide appropriate supervision for them.” The first year of the two-year traineeships focuses on giving the trainees an overall understanding of the business, while working in regional branches gaining on-the-job experience. Second-year trainees can specialise in areas as diverse as preparing and selecting stock for sale, auctioneering, logistics, procurement and inventory control, along with the presentation and promotion of farm supplies in store. Updating skills is also a priority in regional areas. Elders’ ‘Sales Plus’ program has recently been rolled out nationally to update staff on sales and client communication skills. It is a large endeavour. Brus-Bentley says: “While there’s a place for online training, it cannot replace face-to-face interaction with staff. All in all, over the past year we have run 70 workshops around Australia in places as far afield as Longreach, Katherine and Esperance.”
When it comes to skills shortages, Brus-Bentley reports a notable lack of agronomists, professionals who advise farmers on cropping. She says: “There are fewer agricultural courses at universities now. I guess universities have to be cost-effective too, but this means there is a shortage.”
Overall, Brus-Bentley does see a wish for people to remain in the country. “Because we are farm related and the business is farm related, we offer people the ability to stay in the country to advance their careers.” However, she does acknowledge that non-farming business recruitment may be more of a challenge. “If I was a commerce student and I wanted to become an accountant, I would be looking at working my way up the levels in an accounting firm and the city may be more attractive,” she notes.
Essential Energy in New South Wales is a state government-owned company and one of the state's largest regional employers. It is responsible for building, operating and maintaining Australia’s largest electricity network in some of the state’s most remote locations and services 95 per cent of NSW homes and businesses, parts of southern Queensland and northern Victoria. Justin Poppleton, general manager of people, performance and culture, says the organisation plays a vital role in maintaining pportunities for people in the regions.
With some 4,600 employees, two-thirds of whom work in the field, Essential Energy recruits from some very small communities. According to Poppleton, the company does not experience a problem in sourcing talent within regional areas, but does have a problem in the selection process. “We are expecting around 3,000 applicants for 115 upcoming apprenticeship positions. We need to be able to look these small communities in the eye and be accountable for our selection criteria. We need to be transparent in a way that may not be so necessary in the city.” Poppleton reports a very low 1.6 per cent turnover in staff. He HR Monthly October 2011 Australian Human Resources Institute likens the skills-specific nature of the work to other occupations such as policing, ambulance officers and defence force personnel. “We work with highvoltage electricity. The skills learnt are not easily transferable to other fields.” It also means that training is paramount and supplying career paths for workers is crucial.
When it comes to engineering personnel there are cadetship programs that range from certificates to internships for those undertaking a bachelor degree in electrical engineering. “We also tend to promote from two streams within the company: the call centres, which handle power disruptions, and our field workers. My own boss, Mark Mulligan, who is executive general manager of HR and safety, started with the company as an apprentice.”
For those roles that are more easily transferable and not so skills-specific to the electrical power industry, some recruiting difficulties do occur. Filling roles in finance and in Poppleton’s own field of human resource management can be a challenge for positions in remote locations. “Getting access to continuing professional development can be difficult for people in professions. You need to maintain currency with your professional field.”
Poppleton says that the ongoing resources boom in regional areas has had an impact on Essential Energy’s unskilled workforce. “While we can’t and won’t compete on salary, we offer alternative benefits – most notably, the opportunity to work either close to or in the person’s local community.”
John Cooling, managing director of recruiter SmartWorker, is in the thick of mining boom recruitment. “It’s a tough job right now,” he says. “We don’t have a big pool of people waiting and ready to go. For every job role we fill, we do a comprehensive search and head-hunting goes on in the industry all the time. It’s a challenge getting professionals to go to regional and remote locations, so a work/life package is important. Family influences are quite powerful.”
At Oz Minerals, senior human resource adviser Julianne Van Kessel is also finding challenges filling many roles from operator level to managers. She notes a decrease in the number of suitable applications for professional roles compared with 2007. “We are particularly targeting mining engineers, geologists and exploration geologists. With the increased competition, particularly with the new projects in South Australia, we are also looking to fill roles in surveying, processing and safety and health.”
Some 800 people work at the company's Prominent Hill gold/copper mine, 650km northwest of Adelaide and 130km southeast of Coober Pedy. The remote location means the majority of workers fly-in fly-out from Adelaide or Port Augusta, but Oz Minerals also supplies a bus service from Coober Pedy for over 60 residents, as well as Coober Pedy-based contractors. “Our philosophy is to recruit locally as our first choice. We continue to offer pre-employment programs to local and indigenous people only," says Van
Kessel.
In terms of training, the stakes are high. Oz Minerals offers a range of programs from leadership development to corporate development. According to Carly Taylor, who oversees development programs at Oz Minerals, the leadership program is aimed at developing key people through providing management skills to supervisors and superintendents and is linked to Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management). "The Corporate Development Program is a professional development program, designed specifically out of skills gaps from individual development plans. It involves a series of modules that employees can choose to attend depending on their development needs."
Training is not the only key to retention. At Prominent Hill most workers servicing the mine stay in the onsite village, which is equipped with a swimming pool, recreational facilities, internet cafe, gym and fitness coordinator. There is a social club, which organises family days and team sporting activities. It’s all part of a package necessary to attract workers to this remote location.
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