The Queensland Government and Australia’s peak body for recruitment and staffing, RCSA, is urging businesses and employers to register for a new program designed to find skilled staff for in-demand sectors more quickly during COVID-19.
In-demand sectors include health, community care, medical, logistics, FMCG, fresh produce and cleaning.
The Queensland Government and RCSA have partnered in the Jobs Finder Queensland program, which will connect Queensland job seekers with more than 200 professional recruitment and staffing agencies across the state. Participating agencies, based across Queensland, will pair job seekers with work within clients to help meet demand in priority and frontline sectors.
Queensland deputy premier and treasurer, Jackie Trad said Jobs Finder Queensland was the latest initiative to come into effect as part the Palaszczuk Government’s $4 billion package of measures to support the state’s health, jobs and businesses.
“Jobs Finder Queensland is an important first step in restoring opportunity to Queenslanders out of work and is just one way we are continuing support Queensland jobs,” Trad said.
“This new online portal will allow Queenslanders who are looking for work to provide information on their skills, location and work experience. That information can then be readily matched to available jobs. A key focus will be on matching them with new jobs that are being created, especially those in areas of critical service delivery.
“We are seeing demand in a wide range of industries including health care, agriculture, food production, transport, cleaning and mining. This initiative will bring employers seeking staff and workers seeking employment together.”
RCSA CEO Charles Cameron encouraged businesses needing workers in those high demand areas to register for the innovative program which will play a vital role in helping people stay employed during the pandemic.
“Professional staffing agencies are highly skilled at quickly sourcing and mobilising people into work, particularly during challenging times,” Cameron said.
“The key to this program is that local professional recruitment and staffing agencies will work directly with employers looking for staff and the job seekers, many of whom may be transitioning to new skill sets and sectors and need a little more support than normal.
“That is where the expertise and experience of our sector will come to the fore. These unique circumstances require more than a matching service, it requires professionals who know the local regions, business requirements and can move quickly to ensure the program works and is successful in seeing Queensland through to other side of this pandemic.
“Whether employers are scaling up to meet new demand or pivoting to capture new opportunities, we know they need to focus on their core business while trusted recruitment and staffing agencies can take care of their workforce needs.
“Managing recruitment and workforce compliance issues can be challenging at the best of times, so we want to help simplify the process and reduce the risk for Queensland businesses.”