This Week in Talent (27th July)

I firstly want to thank you for reading my posts in July. I’ve taken great pleasure in writing about Talent Acquisition in Regional Australia. The process of preparing this content has only added to role as a Talent Advisor and had ritualised improving my insights to share with my stakeholders.

Are you involved in your local Facebook community group? Have you heard a loud noise in the middle of the night and quickly picked up you phone to see if anybody else in your local group heard it? I have…And I’m guessing if you said ‘yes’ to the first question, you definitely said ‘yes’ to the second.

In June of 2023, Facebook had the highest number of monthly Australian users of any social platform! There are nearly 3 times more users than LinkedIn (though Facebook is aimed for wider people use) and has a significant number of Australians on the platform (Around 80% of total population in February 2023).

Facebook, often seen merely as a social networking site, is a treasure trove of information that brings people together. Most importantly in Regional Australia, it plays a part in bridging geographical gaps while acting as the community noticeboard to share all types of information on what is happening in the local community.

Facebook groups dedicated to location-specific networks have flourished in 2023, reaching a ready pool of potential candidates. I’ve been involved in many regional community groups to promote jobs in aim of reaching potential candidates who would otherwise not know of our opportunities.

By participating in Regional Community groups, I can advertise directly to local talent, build awareness of employer brand, and foster meaningful connections with individuals interested in opportunities within our region.

Of course, like any tool, the success of Facebook in seeking Talent depends on its use. Social media best practices still apply (as well as your company policy on its use) and the audience might not be as afraid to ‘speak their mind’ on the view of your company or their previous experiences with it.

Aside from Community Groups, last week when I wrote about local and state government social media pages, I was asked how many other examples of great content did I find. I found that a lot of councils had great initiatives for community and cultural connection. I also found something more specific to tourism that I wanted to share – but it wasn’t specific to TA. Over a year ago, a small community in NSW had a campaign to attract Chris Hemsworth to Cowra – watch the video. At the time, Chris posted the video onto his Instagram with a note that he will visit the town – reports I’ve found indicate that he hasn’t visited there yet.

QLD Public Sectors new recruitment and selection directive

I’ve worked on projects that were aimed at ensuring that we were making the right provisions to driving diversity outcomes for a workforce. This change in direction for the QLD Public Sector provides more insights on how to achieve this and guidance on how to proceed with this in mind.

How should an 18 or 19-year-old know what passion or purpose is?

I’m a big fan of F1, and Toto Wolf (Team Principal & CEO of Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team) is one of the biggest influences on the sport today. I watched his interview with Ross Roslansky from LinkedIn and wish that I had this advice at the end of my school years. I would never had thought I would be doing this!

Casual workers are set to get new rights in Australia

We continually having to adapt and change our knowledge on employment and the government are providing more options to casual workers who are work regular hours.

How long can the unemployment rate stay near 3.5 per cent?

A great analysis on how employment changed over the pandemic and how the population growth significantly shrank due to border closures. I know we all know the perils of the employment market we are in but I’ve found it useful seeing data around it. If you want to know more about the unemployment rate, tune into ATC’s webinar next Tuesday with Bjorn Jarvis Head of Labour Statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).