[Sub ID 4678] Regional Employment Brokerage (Give Where You Live Foundation (GROW))

Submission ID: 4678
Organisation name: Give Where You Live Foundation (GROW)
Contact name: Ms Anne O’Brien
State: VIC
Contact email: anne@givewhereyoulive.com.au
Contact number: 0408483839

Which priority group of the Try, Test and Learn Fund does your idea support?
Young carers, Young parents, Young students at risk of long-term unemployment

What need or issue are you trying to address?
The issue being addressed is at a systems level, where GROW research indicates that the broader employment service system is currently not meeting the needs of employers nor disadvantaged job seekers (such as those in the priority groups).

Issues for employers include:
• System not demand driven
• Unclear how to identify and increase employment opportunities for disadvantaged job seekers
• Many lack internal resources and/or skills to (a) recruit, screen, assess and (b) retain and support vulnerable employees (especially SMEs)
• Lack of trust in existing systems, services and supports
• Lack of system coordination means multiple employment agencies contacting employers, each with their own cohorts of job seekers they need to place, causing employer burnout

Issues for disadvantaged job seekers, particularly those from the priority groups, include:
• Many lack the personal and work readiness skills required by employers
• Lack of individual support to develop informed choices and motivation for personal change
• Difficulty finding employment opportunities that meet their aspirations, skills and capabilities
• Difficulty navigating training/education space to develop required technical skills
• Lack of access to ongoing wrap-around support to counter barriers to employment retention and counter complex personal and systems issues, requiring risk mitigation strategies

What is your idea?
GROW’s idea is to create a system-wide Regional Employment Brokerage solution which connects rather than duplicates existing services, and enables more effective employment outcomes for the priority groups of job seekers. The idea is a centralised, single point of contact for:

1. employers in the G21 Region, which matches their job opportunities with the combined pool of disadvantaged job seekers
2. employment services seeking to link to employers
3. job seekers wanting opportunities for work they aspire to, can get, and can keep

The Regional Employment Brokerage works purposefully with employers to understand their workforce needs and capacity, then collaborates with employment programs and agencies to comprehensively screen, assess and train eligible cohorts of disadvantaged job seekers (from priority groups) to meet the employer needs. The Brokerage then provides ‘best fit’ applicants for available jobs.

Benefits for employers:
• One point of contact to meet specific recruitment needs
• Trusted referrals of suitably trained potential applicants (who are supported for long term retention)
• Co-ordination point for regional training needs

Benefits for employment services:
• Access to a central coordination point working collaboratively with state and local business development managers, peak agencies and industries to identify jobs and connect job seekers to employment
• Levering business contacts with regional government and peak agencies
• Establishing a central repository for local jobs for new or expanding businesses

Benefits for job seekers:
• Opportunity to be considered for all available positions, not just those linked to current individual employment providers
• Tailored training and matching to individual aspirations of job seekers from priority groups
• Access to various employment strategies, including job-carving, work experience, transitional employment pathways, etc.