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John McIlwraith
Australia's Mining Monthly

Australia has to compete vigorously in the global pool of skilled workers for its resource industries – and there is no sign of the shortage easing.
By John McIlwraith

Man Hunt
• Demand is increasing for skilled worker, leading companies to look offshore for their staff.
• Resource companies now seek three kinds of help: planning the composition of a workforce, recruitment and retaining skilled people.
• It has been found that workers aged between 25 and 35 fit into the Australian mining culture best.
• So great was the global competition that Australia would often not win a candidate on salary alone.

Recruitment companies report that, if anything, the demand is increasing, and skilled professional people and highly qualified blue-collar workers are becoming more selective. Skilled workers are sought “in every region on the planet” according to Gerard Daniels, a Perth-based recruitment organisation with office in London and Houston.

In addition to seeking individual candidates for jobs in Australia’s resource industries, the firm is given the task of finding groups of people, perhaps 60 at a time, for specific projects.

In some cases there is a tight deadline to meet in gathering these elite workers, providing considerable challenges for the firm’s 70 staff, 20 of them overseas.

Gerard Daniels recruits not only for Australian projects’ it has assignment in Central Europe, North America and Africa.

The industry – for that it what it has become – of recruitment has grown so much that this firm, which began 20 years ago with the two founding partners, Michael McAnearney and Lloyd Smith, has found it necessary to open its two overseas offices to cope with the demand from some of the world’s biggest resource companies.

These resource companies now seek three kinds of help: planning the composition of a workforce, recruitment and retaining skilled people. They require a recruiter to acquire an intimate knowledge of a client company, and leads to long-term relationships.

The well-recognised shortage of skilled labour for new projects is a major factor in considering when – even whether – a venture can proceed.

Gerard Daniels places about 500 people a year in the group commission, another 350 individually. The positions range from chairmanships of companies to highly qualified blue-collar workers (the latter in the group assignments).

The salaries range from a rare $1.5million to the $200,000-$300,000 range for individual recruiting, and perhaps $100,000-$150,000 in the groups.

The partners point out that while there is great upward pressure on salaries, big companies in particular face a dilemma. They have a well-established salary structure and departing from this to win an attractive candidate could cause considerable resentment among existing staff. A major group will depart from its salary structure only rarely to gain a particularly desirable skill.

Small companies, which cannot usually compete with the big multinationals on salary, offer the possibility of share options and professional challenges that attract some outstanding skills.