With Australia’s unemployment rate at a 30 year low, organisations and recruiters are working closely together to strategically devise alternative recruitment strategies to source candidates for critical positions. These days, employers no longer have the luxury of the ‘perfect candidate’; instead, the focus has moved to the ‘best available candidate’.

According to the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association’s (RCSA) September 2006 survey, non-building professional engineers and technicians are becoming increasingly difficult to source in Australia. The candidates who are available have their choice of job role, company, location and salary.

Attraction and retention strategies have become crucial for Australian organisations, with many working in closer alignment with recruiters. Bayside Personnel specialise in engineering and technical recruitment, and work closely with their oil and gas clients to enhance the effectiveness of their recruitment decisions.

“Often this means exploring options including national and international recruitment, transferable skills and training and development,” says Sean Blanche, oil and gas Recruiter, Bayside Personnel.

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In specialised areas, national and international recruitment can ensure a better quality candidate pool. Bayside Personnel has extensive experience sourcing oil and gas candidates globally for clients in Australia and the Middle East. Murray Erwin, Bayside Personnel’s International Recruitment Manager, believes that in many cases the majority of skills required to perform a specialised role are universal and not specific to Australia. “By considering experienced international candidates, an organisation can attract more qualified candidates and make a greater contribution to the organisation,” Mr Erwin says.

As part of their International recruitment operations, Bayside Personnel has strategies in place to capture experienced Australian candidates working overseas and returning home. Geographic regions are targeted to source candidates that address client specific needs. “As Bayside Personnel has a reputation for oil and gas recruitment internationally, candidates often contact us prior to their return to Australia. We can then start sourcing job opportunities while they are en-route,” says Mr Erwin.

Transferable skills across industry or job roles are also another consideration for organisations feeling the pinch. Bayside Personnel has worked with clients to recruit candidates with excellent technical, problem solving and communication skills from outside the oil and gas industry. “This strategy has proven successful where our clients have focused on necessary competencies and provided on-the-job training by experienced employees to impart industry specific experience and knowledge which may be lacking. However, a commitment to this process is essential,” says Mr Blanche.

Graduate recruitment is also becoming an important strategy for many organisations. Although graduates do not have the experience an organisation may be looking for now, they do have the potential skills the company will require in the future. With on-the-job learning, training and development opportunities, these graduates are essential to a sustainable workforce. However, graduates are not a quick fix solution to the skill shortages, with organisations needing to balance the short term costs with the need to invest in their future and the future of the industry.

By combining established and alternative recruitment strategies, Bayside Personnel has been able to effectively service their oil and gas clients. With 30 years recruitment experience, and offices located across Australia, Bayside Personnel is well placed to assist the oil and gas industry with their engineering and technical recruitment needs.