The Hindu Business Line : A skills summons from Down Under

A booming economy combined with shortage of skilled hands is driving Australia to recruit heavily from overseas. One such search team was in Chennai recently.

While most Indians danced to lively dandya beats during the recent Navratri celebrations and schoolchildren frolicked in gay abandon, books forgotten over an unusually long weekend, a good thousand and more skipped the festivities, preferring instead to hitch a ride on the dollar train to better fortunes... and Chennai. So with the city's first monsoon rains came a swarm of professionals of all shades of expertise from every corner of the country (even as far as West Asia) who camped out on the wet lawns of le Royal Meridien Hotel. The Australian skilled migrants expo was in full swing at the hotel's basement lobby and they were waiting for the summons from down under.

Driven by a resources boom and the fact that there are just not enough millions for the plough, the Land of Oz is seeking recourse to the global labour pool. The country's requirement runs into a fairly eclectic list of professionals — from doctors, dentists, nurses, civil engineers, architects and accountants to plumbers, motor mechanics, tradesmen, electricians, welders, fitters and more. The travelling group of employers and Australia's State governments picked up a few thousands (and still counting) from similar road shows in London, Berlin and Amsterdam at the beginning of the month. They were hoping to do the same at Chennai.

The expo was part of a government announced programme to increase skilled migrant workers in Australia to 97,500 from the current 75,000. And out of 14,500 registrations, over 4,200 candidates were invited to attend.

"We see the expo as an opportunity to link Australian employers who have vacancies to skilled migrants. Our hope is that we can find people across a wide range of skills," said Bernie Waters, Assistant Secretary, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.

Though the country was ramping up its training programmes, it still needed more skills than could be created quickly and hence the next best option was to borrow for a while from other countries.

"The other element in Australia, at the moment, is that our unemployment situation is particularly low — overall it's less than five per cent, and skilled unemployment is well under two per cent. So the choices available for employers to fill their vacancies are not there. And those we've invited are hopefully the kind of people the employers are looking for," said Greg Kelly, Minister-Counsellor (Immigration), and Regional Director, Australian High Commission.

Well, Sue Bruce, Human Resources Manager, Wagners, is one employer who will be returning with more than a triumphant smile on her face. Most of the 200 or so people who'd visited her stall in the first half of the day, she found, were "incredibly highly skilled and just perfect" for Wagners which needs engineers and diesel mechanics. "Anybody who's interested I'm providing them with my email address. But if they are specific to our industry, we're taking them in. It's not that we don't have the skill in Australia... we just don't have enough. Big country, no people," she rushed on in a breathless stream, before another impatient candidate claimed her attention.

Leigh Paskin, Engineering Director, Hatch, and his colleague Tamara Phoebus, Hatch HR advisor, were looking for mechanical engineers with 5-15 years of experience, which would be the gap they "critically needed to fill in Australia". But Paskin felt they hadn't "found the diamond yet".

"Part of the thrust of this expo is to look at people who are willing to look at settling in regional areas in Australia," said Sunny Yang, Acting Director, Government of South Australia, Immigration SA. Many regions in Australia were doubly impacted by a declining population and a shortage of skills in areas such as health, road transport and engineering. She said an economic boom in industries such as mining, defence and construction was sending employers overseas on massive recruitment drives, as part of their expansion plans. BHP Billiton, for instance, "has a few disciplines that we are pursuing aggressively", said Robert Martinello, Recruitment Specialist, BHP Billiton, Adelaide. Chemical/ process/ metallurgical engineers, geologists and geoscientists, health and safety professionals, maintenance engineers, supply professionals, and trades to name a few.

He was hoping to fill a "significant number of positions. We are selling more commodities and as a consequence we are expanding our facilities. About four-and-a-half years ago we were selling about 60-70 million tonnes of iron ore. Today we sell 100 million tonnes and the projection is that it will go higher still. So, if we are going to dig more dirt out of the ground, process it and ship it, we need extra people. There is a lot of pressure on us." Not the least of which was exhausting the 1,000 business cards that he had brought along to the expo.

While he ran out of visiting cards, Lakshmi from Hyderabad was running out of patience and demanded to know why she was chosen to meet employers who didn't require her skills as a telecommunications engineer. "Do you know how much I've had to spend for this trip? Six-thousand rupees. And I left my little baby all alone," she trilled into Martinello's bewildered blue gaze before stomping off.

"Now, ideally I would have liked to have seen that resume and then decided if it would have been worthwhile to have made that person attend the expo," he said after her retreating figure.

In fact, after the first flush of enthusiasm faded, a sense of defeated expectation settled among the candidates, who suddenly realised that they were still a long way from their outback paradise. "They (the organisers) made it seem that they were doling out jobs. But what they are doing is mere information-sharing," said Ashok from Lucknow.

Sundeep from Mumbai agreed. "The employers are talking about how useful my skills will be out there and the kind of visa I will be eligible for. I am aware of all this. I want to know if I can find a lucrative job out there."

Central to all the complaints was the fact that there weren't enough employers. "I expected more employers," said Renuka Joshi, a private tuition teacher from Mumbai. "It's just been a waste of time. I came leaving my two-year-old son all alone," she said dejectedly.

Bipin, an accountant from Mumbai, braved rough weather and grouchy railway officials only to be told that the vacancy for accountants was closed. "And it was just the second session of the day," he said, disappearing into the foggy twilight.

The disappointment was amplified by the collective expectation of job guarantees or interviews at the very least. "Ninety-nine per cent of the people came expecting some sort of job offer. And in terms of that anticipation, I guess, the expo might not have been a success," said Ashok.

Kelly and Waters set out to dispel the gloom. "There have been some firm offers made today though it is less than I expected. And certainly less than the candidates themselves expected. I would have certainly liked more employers in finance and IT and more in the health and trade areas. Nevertheless, the participants are companies with the deepest need for skilled workers," said Waters. As for job guarantees... "I'm sorry that people are disappointed that there were no job offers. We made no great commitment in that direction but we want to meet people's expectations if we can," he said.

The duo admit that the entire venture was a learning experience, and the lessons range from tackling logistic issues such as being sufficiently stocked on scissors and tape to getting more involvement from Australian industry. "Would I have preferred to have done this a different way? The answer is `absolutely'. Is this still successful from our point of view? Yes. Would it still be successful for a number of people? Yes, absolutely. Is it the best use of everyone's time and resources? Probably not," said Greg. "But," added Bernie, "we've learnt so much from all four of the expos that our next lot are going to reflect that."

Most of the candidates' names have been changed.

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