There’s no doubt that low unemployment rates are good news for Australia. A lower rate of unemployment makes us all better off, said economics expert Jeff Borland in January. Australia’s unemployment rate of 4 per cent is good news, mused the ABC in April.
By June, when rates hit 3.5 per cent – the lowest they’ve been in 48 years – some news outlets were even starting to talk about Australia having reached full employment, where the number of job vacancies (480,000) is almost matched by the number of officially unemployed people (494,000).
So far, so great, particularly when it comes to the employment aspirations of Australia’s working population – for those who want work, it is in abundant supply. But what about those who want workers? For many businesses, this is the sting in the tail. Coupled with a massive skills shortage, finding the right talent at the right time is becoming an increasingly challenging proposition.
At a recent roundtable discussion led by PLUS UTS, representatives from multiple industries lamented the crippling costs of trying to access talent.
“There are some organisations who have deeper pockets than others, [and] that creates problems for everyone,” one participant said.
Rather than trying to compete on new staff salaries, businesses would be wise to consider upskilling their current workforces. Not only does this cost less than hiring from outside, it also shows your team that you’re committed to their ongoing development and potential for growth.
But as the world of work has changed, so too has the process of connecting staff with new expertise. At the roundtable, participants agreed traditional routes to upskilling – like formal degree qualifications – are often too slow to deliver the type of rapid change that businesses need.
“[I’m] at the point in my career where the last thing in the world I’m going to do is sign up for another master’s degree,” said one.
By contrast, microcredentials emerged as a clear area of opportunity. These short, sharp, industry-focused qualifications can usually be completed in just a few months. University-led offerings were seen to provide both rigour and relevance in a largely unregulated market – at UTS, microcredentials also offer credit towards various levels of ongoing postgraduate study.
Similarly, corporate training packages, like those on offer through PLUS UTS, offer highly tailored development programs that can be designed in collaboration with businesses themselves. Recently, a major telco found itself struggling with an increase in emerging roles — that is, job roles in new areas, or positions that did not previously exist — which left staff members on the back foot trying to keep pace with technological change.
In response, the PLUS UTS team developed a series of bespoke data analytics microcredentials to help team members build rapid, highly targeted skills and knowledge in these high-demand areas.
This is just one example of the potential of university-led professional development to overcome the challenges of the skills shortage.
If your organisation needs to develop new skills in your workforce, talk to us at PLUS UTS to find out how we can help.
