Working with employers

Click on a topic or scroll down the page.

Understanding your local employment market
Communicating with employers
Promoting the Indigenous Employment Policy (IEP)

Understanding your local employment market

Developing and maintaining an understanding of your local labour market, especially in terms of the specific employers likely to provide meaningful vacancies, is an essential step in assisting Indigenous job seekers into work. You may already have some of this information at hand, though perhaps not in a structured way.

When starting out, think of some of the local and regional information sources that will help to build the picture. This information can be found in a number of places, including:

Area Consultative Committees
a number of ACCs are engaging Indigenous Employment Officers who can be valuable allies in helping you place clients in jobs
local Chambers of Commerce and Industry
local government - e.g. development plans
Industry training boards
local further education and training institutions
Your local internal resources such as:

placement records—identifying areas of employment opportunity
hard to fill vacancies—identifying areas of skill and labour supply and labour shortage
hard to place clients—identifying areas of oversupply.

Think through the information you have compiled and develop a list of options of employers or groups to contact and develop relationships with. These kinds of activities may of course also assist your wider business objectives.

Check whether you have any businesses in your area which are operated by Indigenous people and try to see whether you can help fill any future vacancies they have.

Work with your local New Apprenticeship Centre to identify ways to increase New Apprenticeship opportunities for Indigenous clients. Further information on New Apprenticeships: http://www.newapprenticeships.gov.au/.

Communicating with employers

Job Network members are ideally placed to promote information to local employers about the capacities of Indigenous job seekers and the benefits of a culturally diverse workforce.

Developing strategies to promote Indigenous clients to employers will develop the image of Job Network members as effective supporters of Indigenous job seekers.

Determine where you have employers in your area who are successfully employing Indigenous people and see if they are willing to assist by sharing their experiences in some way. Find out if they are doing anything special to assist their Indigenous employees to succeed.

Actively promote the benefits of employing Indigenous workers to employers in your area. This may take the form of:

presentations at local business forums, industry events or service clubs
tapping into existing (or creating new) employer awards for the employment of Indigenous workers
forming partnerships with other agencies (e.g. ACC) to develop opportunities for Indigenous job seekers.

Invite local employers to a lunchtime focus group to get first-hand insight to their perspective on employing Indigenous workers. Use this opportunity to provide them with information both about the business case for Indigenous workers and your services.

Where a good relationship has been established with an employer who has been satisfied with an Indigenous employee, consider marketing other Indigenous job seekers. However, it is important to send only those job seekers who are suitable for the particular job offered.

Back to top

Promoting the Indigenous Employment Policy (IEP)

Promoting IEP initiatives can assist Job Network Members achieve effective outcomes for Indigenous job seekers. You can find out more about IEP under Programmes or by visiting www.workplace.gov.au/Indigenous.

Wage assistance subsidies are appealing to many employers, and can be combined with use of the Job Seeker Account to tailor packages. Visit http://www.wageassistance.gov.au/ for further information about Wage Assistance.