Skilled worker shortage makes recruiting for boom times a challenge

“The rise in [skilled worker] shortages reflects the cumulative impacts of recruitment challenges, stemming from a persistently tight labour market which began tightening from late 2021.”

— The federal government’s 2023 Skills Priority List

For a business that has only been around for three years, the picture is one of extraordinary growth which looks set to continue, says director Mike Walters. Underpinning Mergent’s success, he says, is its client-centric strategies, which makes for a unique approach in a competitive market.

Specialising in supplying engineering and technical experts for the mining, defence, oil and gas, rail, road, infrastructure and renewables sectors, Mergent offers clients a long-term strategy to guarantee full project staffing throughout the duration of a venture.

“Historically, we were a white-collar professional services business responding to multinational and tier two engineering firms,” Walters says. “We moved into recruiting for blue-collar roles because of the huge demand and it took off.”

That pivot has been timely given the desperate need of companies to fill positions. Indeed, the 2023 Skills Priority List, produced by the federal government’s Jobs and Skills Australia, recently revealed that 36 per cent of occupations were in national shortage (332 out of 916), which was about 5 percentage points higher than in 2022.

“The rise in [skilled worker] shortages reflects the cumulative impacts of recruitment challenges, stemming from a persistently tight labour market which began tightening from late 2021,” Jobs and Skills Australia says.

Walters argues that spending time on the ground finding out what a client needs is crucial in being able to meet their needs, while this approach has been instrumental in the growth of the business. It’s exactly this tactic that has seen Mergent emerge as a major workforce supplier for Roxby Downs in South Australia, a town purpose-built to support BHP’s Olympic Dam Mine Site.

“We have transitioned away from a traditional recruitment model,” Walters explains. “Rather than offering an individual candidate to multiple competing clients, Mergent collaborates closely with select clients fostering strong partnership and ethical values resulting in exceptional outcomes for all parties.”

“There is no doubt that there is a lot of work out there – the secret is that you need to be able to deliver on your promises to supply good people for clients and make sure they know you are looking after their interests.”

— Mike Walters, Mergent Group

With public infrastructure projects, such as Snowy 2.0, the National Inland Rail Project and big roads projects in NSW, Victoria and South Australia competing with construction and mining industries for skilled workers, the overlap means forward planning is paramount.

“There is no doubt that there is a lot of work out there – the secret is that you need to be able to deliver on your promises to supply good people for clients and make sure they know you are looking after their interests,” says Walters.

That includes finding out what people need and where the competition is coming from.

“There are some incredibly large, sophisticated infrastructure projects on the horizon that will need a skilled workforce,” he says.

“We’re proactive with our clients and help them see that they need to start preparing for the future now. It’s a long-term outlook and we have the experience to help clients see what the consequences will be if they don’t get their workforce needs in place now.”

To do that, Walters says the business uses technology to create efficiencies, rather than to replace human interaction.

“We’ve got the technology that drives efficiency – we can interrogate data and respond much more quickly than a larger organisation. Tech frees us up to provide a one-on-one response, which is a point of difference for us.”

It’s a strategy that will continue to propel the success of the business as the market continues to expand, he says.

“Everyone’s looking for the secret recipe, but at the end of the day, it’s old-fashioned service – shaking hands and looking people in the eye and saying, ‘We’ll deliver on our promises’.”

To learn more, visit www.mergent.com.au.