Electrical Connection Autumn 2015

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E L E C T R I C A L CO N N E
around to school teachers, to parents, to
people you know and get into the social
media space.
Just be aware that while you check out
the candidates on social media to see
what type of person they are – candidates
are also looking at you. Managing
your reputation works both ways, and
Whirlpool Forums can be lethal.
We’ve got a free job vacancy service
for employers wanting apprentices and
trainees, and we’ve had to adjust the site
to allow young people to upload a variety
of formats of applications I never would
have considered before; including taking
photos of every page of their resume and
sending each page as a separate picture.
So job applications are coming in via an
increasing array of formats beyond the
traditional PDFs and Word documents.
It’s all fast communication – fast
decision making – and heavily based on
peer endorsement.
To keep up with this trend, the way
we’ve been writing recruitment ads has
been changing too, and we’re seeing the
difference in the number of applicants. If
the young person we want to hire makes
a decision based on the first few words
they see on their phone or in a text – then
the first lines of the ad need to include
the reason why someone should work in
that job. If you’re not getting the number
of applicants you used to – then try out
different descriptions on the free job sites
and see what works best.
USE YOUR CONNECTIONS
Around the end of January to the end of
February is a big time of year for taking
on apprentices and getting them into their
courses, signing them up in their Training
Contract and getting things sorted at the
same time that the building industry gets
back into full swing.
The competition for the best applicants
is between you and every other
construction industry employer, and can
mean either you are the one with the
extra pair of hands you need – or the one
that has to make do. Or worse, you could
miss out on projects because of lack of
resources.
The construction industry has always
used its connections for work – tradies
networking with suppliers and other
tradies. Turn them into your recruitment
network and put the word out about
why you’re a good boss to work for. And
take the plunge into the ether for the
networking power of social media. Check
out candidates online and make sure your
own profile is a good one.
If in doubt – ask a teenager!
Linda Nall is group marketing manager
for MEGT Australian Apprenticeships
Centre – providing a free service by
local people with local, state and federal
knowledge across every state and the
ACT. Visit
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