The Local Government recruitment sector has endured unprecedented stress & evolution over the past three years. Not only due to the 2019 summer bushfires or the 2020 pandemic response.
Concerned with how different council recruiters were coping with the challenges they faced, we pooled our resources with CouncilJObs.com.au and Leonards Advertising, to help share some worthy insights that might help many involved in council recruitment. Our report covers:
- The skills shortage in a few key areas – Engineering, Planning & Governance
- Ageing workforce
- Staff mobility
- Councils having to do more with less at every level.
- Rapidly evolving technology solutions (HRIS, e-recruitment & social media).
Recruitment Insight: Skills Shortage
The Report also showed there is a shortage of Engineers, Town Planners and Health and Building Surveyors/Inspectors. What can council’s do to attract the right applicant for their culture and community?
Recruitment Insight: Local Government now seen as an employer of choice.
We are seeing a definite move away from the city to the regional and rural areas. This started pre-COVID as many people sought tree and sea changes and it has continued to escalate during the pandemic resulting in more candidates for Local Government roles in regional and rural locations. As an extension of this, many applicants from the private sector are seeing local government as a profession of choice.
Recruitment Insight: 66% of Councils agree or strongly agree many technically competent applicants lack necessary leadership skills.
Almost without exception, particularly for management level positions but also for other roles, we are finding Councils looking for well-developed leadership skills and demonstrated achievements through the utilisation of those skills. This is critically important as we believe leadership is the major determinant of culture and if you get your culture right the people in that culture will continue to amaze you. We have seen many real and powerful examples of this. Of course, we have also seen the opposite impact where leadership is not at the standard needed.
Please contact our Leadership Development Consultant Chris Georgiadis to discuss the report and how we can help improve your leadership skills.
