"Experience" and "skills" are the new magic words

The Australian Mining website recently published an article on mining employment opportunities that received a lot of controversial feedback. The article discussed the ‘desperate’ need for workers in Western Australia Goldfields region, stating that job vacancies were increasing steadily. However, the article’s plea for workers was contradicted by the comments below the article that questioned the ‘desperation’ of the situation in the fact that it seemed more difficult than ever to obtain a job in the mining sector.

The claims ranged from being overly-skilled to being overlooked in favour of international workers, with experience being the key component. In fact, being qualified but lacking in experience was the dominant complaint.

Because of this seemingly never-ending contradiction of needing experience to get a job but needing a job to get experience, one irate blogger wrote “What these employers must know is that there is no college or uni where experience is taught as a subject. They should just recruit qualified people and give them the experience.”

But what of the rare breed of workers who have the qualifications and the experience? Yes, they are few and far between but their edge in the employment market means that they are being actively pursued, even to the point of employing international workers over local ones. BHP Billiton's chief executive, Marius Kloppers, stated that there was a "massive talent gap" in the mining sector. This extreme skills shortage has resulted in mining groups satisfying their need for workers by employing fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers.

The popularity of the use of FIFO workers has come under fire by the Australian Workers Union, who criticize it as a short-term solution. There is also a lot of talk about how employing FIFO workers are damaging to rural communities but on the other hand, why should qualified overseas or interstate workers be penalised in this process?

Fortescue Metal’s group manager Deidre Willmott justified the use of FIFO workers by stating that it was nearly three times cheaper to employ a FIFO miner compared with a permanent resident because of the housing costs and allowances.

Ron Mosby (Goldfields-Esperance Workforce Development Alliance president) indicated that the 61 projects currently underway, combined with a further 28 projects starting this year, meant there would be about 10,000 job vacancies in 2012.

However, officials at Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal stated that even entry level jobs were attracting more than 400 applicants so competition is fierce.

Whilst it’s understandable that local candidates want to get a look in, it’s basic business acumen to hire the candidates that fit your criteria to the letter. This is supply and demand at its best.

Perhaps the solution lies in each party re-evaluating their standards. Companies need to invest more in training programs and candidates should seek work experience and internships to add to their academic credentials.

RESEARCHED AND EDITED BY: DANIELLA SERRET

SOURCES:

http://www.blogger.com/goog_2109964119

http://www.blogger.com/goog_2109964119

http://www.blogger.com/goog_2109964119

http://www.blogger.com/goog_2109964119

http://theaustralian.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

FIFO - Is it all it’s cranked up to be??

Australia is a massive country, and due to our size and mostly baron landscape, employees in Australia are sometimes required to travel far and wide to seek suitable employment.

Everyone would have now heard of the phrase, Fly In, Fly Out (FIFO), a process where workers commute from homes and cities to remote locations for employment. FIFO is more commonly found in the employment sectors of construction, engineering, mining, natural resources and energy fields and locations can reach as far away as remote West Australia & Queensland to locations around the world.

FIFO rosters vary, although a common rotation for these workers is to work for 2-3 weeks continuously, and then have 1-2 weeks off back at home. People would often only undertake FIFO for one of two reasons. The first being if they need a change and want to get away from their own home for a long period of time, or secondly, and the more common choice is to chase the big dollars. FIFO employees are often rewarded with above normal salary packages to compensate for the inconvenience of travel and living away from home.

However, is FIFO all it is cranked up to be?

I have met quite a few FIFO employees during my recruitment career, both candidates and clients who undertake the rigorous journey for a short or sustained period of time.

I have listed some of the current pros and cons I often hear from these people:

Pros of FIFO employment:

• Excellent salary package
• Roster breaks of 1-2 weeks off can be worth it
• Amazing ability to save a lot of money due to minimal opportunity to spend
• Mateship with fellow workers
• Accommodation provided or accommodation allowance (not always applicable)

Cons of FIFO employment:

• Long stretches away from home, family & friends
• Lack of freedom on site and strict work policies e.g. non alcohol policy
• Unfavourable working conditions
• Long hours worked
• Associated stress of travel, remoteness and working conditions
• Hard to exercise or maintain a normal healthy routine
• Basic accommodation e.g. dongas, or expensive rental properties near sites

So whilst particular parts of construction, engineering and mining industries are booming in regional locations, potential FIFO employees must weigh up the possibility of large pay packets with long periods of travel and compare this to the stress of working in remote areas, sometimes in unfavourable conditions whilst working away from their friends and family.

Local roles might not pay as much as a FIFO role; however local employees will have the security of working and living in a familiar and safe environment. One thing to consider is that if you are a very family orientated person, then is the pay rise going to be worth the time away from family?

It is worth noting however, that the Mining Boom is expected to last for the best part of another decade, but it will not last forever. Candidates considering FIFO must assess the risks of jeopardizing long term career aspiration locally against short term financial gains that FIFO opportunities can provide.

Is it all Doom and Gloom? - An Interview with an Executive Chairman

It’s all over the news that business and consumer confidence is low and that Australia and other Western economies are heading for tough times. Money is tight, many business sales are falling and company directors are wondering what the outlook looks like for 2009.

We interviewed an Executive Chairman from a National Infrastructure Organisation to grasp an idea of how the current economic climate has affected the construction sector and what they foresee for 2009.

How has the current economic climate affected your Industry in Australia, and workload in general?
Yes we have been affected, private building is very weak but government building projects remain strong. In mining, top tier miners are still spending (albeit reduced) but second tier miners have stopped expansion. There is still a lot of money being spent in rail; the government sector in particular is very strong. Gas is also a strong industry with there being a number of schemes for liquefied natural gas in Western Australia, Queensland and Darwin. Other areas are going strong such as water treatment plants, recycling and the pipelines.

In regards to the areas of construction that you specialises in which areas have you found to be hit the hardest, and why?
The private building sector has been the hardest hit, which is made up of residential and commercial projects. The reason is finance related with banks changing both their cost of funds and their lending criteria to developers.

Where will you now be shifting your focus or what do you foresee as becoming your main area of interest?
We won’t change our focus too much; if we were purely a builder we would slow down, but because we are well diversified we will have enough to keep us going.

Do you think that the current economic climate will have a lasting effect on the construction industry and what do you foresee as being some of the long term ramifications for the industry as a whole, if any?
Project funding will become much harder to secure and will probably never revert to that of the past few years. You will need to have an fundamentally secured project to receive funding, meaning excellent fundamentals, high degree of pre sales and larger equity invested with less debt.. 2009 will start off very flat and probably wont get up and running until the first half of 2010 where more stimuli will come back into the economy.

In the Construction and Property sectors, salaries are considered considerably good, do you see them changing, staying the same or increasing? Why is this?
Building will most probably stagnate, infrastructure remuneration might continue to move upwards but it won’t increase at the rate it has in the past.

With the current state of the market, have you found that Gen Y employees are concerned or worried about their jobs?
This generation has never experienced a recession before. Many employers have been biding their time through the boom times and will now look to show the Gen Y’s that the boot is on the other foot. We are not like that. We love the vibrancy and diversity of the contribution from Gen Y’ers.

Do you still envisage a skill shortage in Australia, calling for offshore candidates or will you now focus more/only on local talent?
Research shows that by 2018 there will be more people leaving construction than entering into it. We must continue training and bringing on graduates – this is a critical part of our business model. We also appreciate the importance of continuing hiring graduates cadets and apprentices.

What are your predictions of your immediate workload moving into 2009?
We expect to remain slow to steady in 2009 – certainly slower than 2008.. In general, the building sector will suffer as private development has all but stopped. State and Federal governments are being responsible by investing heavily into infrastructure – the trick will be just how quickly they are able to get these projects off the ground.

How Important is Gen Y in the Workplace?

I recently read an article on the Sydney Morning Herald Website; http://smallbusiness.smh.com.au/managing/management/gen-y-in-the-firing-line-909289552.html which has stated that current employers are more likely to get rid of Generation Y employees first, compared to their elder aged staff.

This raises many questions about Generation Y and how we are perceived in the workplace.

Today’s current economic climate has the ability to be one of the worst downturns that the world has ever experienced and it is certainly one of the most volatile times for my Generation of workers, known as Generation Y!

As a Generation Y employee working in recruitment, I am often in a position where I will hear about the pro's and con's of workers closely aged to myself, 18 to 30 years old. We often hear from the media, management sources, elder members of the community and various other outlets that Generation Y are considered lazy employees who are only money driven and move around jobs way too much.

Whether you agree with this or not, I often see Generation Y employees that work and study extremely hard to achieve goals and meet expectations whilst really trying to be the best employee they can, so they can live as comfortably as generations of workers before us have.

So I ask the question, have Generation Y candidates in the Construction Industry been stereotyped as a bunch of cash greedy job hoppers or have we been given an easy ride to success with every opportunity to achieve?

Therefore, I thought I would take this topic of discussion to a professional in the Construction Industry, a General Manager from a National Mid Tier Organisation who has first hand experience employing Generation Y candidates and managing them on a daily basis.

1. How many Generation Y employees do you have at the moment and what type of positions do they fill?
We currently employee 12 Generation Y staff (considered 18yrs to 30yrs old) which consists of Contracts Administrators, a Contracts Managers, a couple of Foreman and Cadets.

2. What do you look for when you hire Gen Y candidates and what are your expectations? Do these expectations differ to any other Generation of workers?
I have the same expectations of my entire staff whether it’s Generation Y or Generation X. I look for younger employees that have the same work ethic as the older staff and have a bit of street wise about them. They must be a good cultural fit also.

3. Are Generation Y employees fulfilling your expectations in the workplace? Do they achieve set goals and targets?
Alot of Generation Y employee’s don’t set goals and need to be pushed. The work ethic is different between Generation Y and Generation X workers who get on with the job because they are used to working hard with longer hours. Gen Y will work longer hours but they need to pushed into doing it. Gen X would easily work a 60 plus hour week and wouldn’t leave until their job was finished, they would work 6 day weeks because working a Saturday was normal, younger employees will only work the odd Saturday.

4. How do you find the turnover of Generation Y staff? Do you find them loyal or do they move around too much?
They definitely move around too much, a lot of the younger employees are short sighted and are only chasing the money that is on offer. I think this current climate will change all that and most of these young workers should change their ideas.

5. In your opinion do you find that Gen Y candidates try and progress too quickly in the workplace?
Yes they do, it is common to see 24 and 25 years olds wondering why they are already not Project Managers. A lot of these candidates are straight out of University and want to become a Project Manager straight away. You would normally spend 4-5 years as a Cadet then move into Contracts Administration and then with at least ten years experience under your belt you would become a Project Manager.

6. Do you find that they are career driven or money driven or both?
I would say both, with money being the most important thing for most.

7. In your opinion what sort of positive skills / knowledge / experience can Gen Y bring to your company that Gen X fails to bring?
The biggest skill they can bring is their use of technology and getting the most out of software and systems. It comes naturally to a lot of younger employees with most Generation X workers struggling to get the most out of technology.

8. Considering the current state of the market, have you found that Gen Y employees are concerned or worried about their jobs?
I haven’t had too much feedback from my employees but we do keep them in the loop and updated as much as possible.

9. Do you think the volatile nature of the Construction Industry is off putting for junior candidates coming through the ranks?
It is really hard to say at the moment because a lot of industries are in a similar position. I think that in the Construction Industry we are very fortunate that we can offer very good money to younger workers and probably one of the only sectors that can afford this luxury. Its up to the young employees how much they want out of it, if they are prepared to work hard and apply themselves then they can find a very rewarding career in Construction.

10. If your company experiences a downturn, is Gen Y the first to go? If so Why?
No not necessarily, it is usually a combination of factors including loyalty and performance. If an employee has shown us over 10 years service which some of them have, and have performed quite well then we are going to be more likely to keep them on.

11. Looking into 2009, what type of employee bracket will you be looking to employee?
Quite hard to say at this stage however we will be looking to take on a real mixture of workers. In terms of Generation Y we normally take on a few cadets which is something we will continue, we would also like to take on some young site based people when the time is right, as previously we have had an ageing site team. It is important that the young employees don’t want to progress too quickly, not being a Project Manager within 1 or 2 years is not the be and end all.

12. What is your overall message / opinion about Generation Y in the workplace today?
I would say overall, Generation Y have un-realistic salary expectations in relation to their experience. There have been certain companies that have expanded too quickly in our industry and in some cases thrown younger employees too much cash for what they can do. I believe that the older workers are alot more realistic in our industry. They have often worked their way up, been through the hard times and will take less money even though they have better experience. If Gen Y comes out of university and after 1 or 2 years ask for a salary of $110K which I have noticed, then quite often they will be the first to leave during a downturn.

Please feel free to comment and provide your perspective on this continually debated topic.

Patrick Page
Construction Consultant
Conduit Recruitment