Today Workible announced our partnership with the Port Stephens Community and the launch of the most significant community jobs program the country has ever seen.
It’s not often that you see ground-breaking technology heartily embraced by an entire community but that’s exactly what’s happening in the regional area of Port Stephens in New South Wales.
Launched today by the Mayor of Port Stephens, Bruce MacKenzie, the Port Stephens Community Jobs Program will put Port Stephens on the map as the first community in Australia to embrace mobile technology to connect local jobseekers with businesses and to create employment and job opportunities in the area.
“Jobs are vital to the well-being of the Port Stephens community and one of our greatest long-term community and economic challenges is to grow businesses while increasing employment opportunities for our residents.With the Port Stephens community launch of the employment smart-phone technology platform Workible, local residents will be able to connect with local businesses and jobs that are on offer close to home.Council is not an employment service provider, but we understand the importance of a well-functioning local labour market. This technology will be a real boost to that market.” — Cr Bruce MacKenzie, Mayor of Port Stephens
Port Stephens is the first community in the country to introduce Workible although we previously worked on a slightly smaller scale to connect Wollongong jobseekers to employers during the launch of the newly-expanded Wollongong Central Shopping Centre which saw the unemployment rate in the area decrease by a significant 1%. Click here for more about Workible’s partnership in Wollongong…
This exciting community jobs program will create a single connection point for all job seekers in the region to be able to connect with the employers who need them.
One of the biggest challenges for a regional community is to adequately cater for the employment needs of the public. Students, working mums, long-term unemployed as well as everyday residents are always on the lookout for great jobs that suits their needs.
Employers, too, are looking for great people - but connecting the two can be a challenge especially for a community as far spread as Port Stephens.
By utilising Workible’s mobile technology, this program reduces the complexity of distance and awareness and significantly reduces both costs and time for businesses looking to hire. And for job seekers, it makes knowing about local jobs easy, regardless of where they are.
Workible changes the way people apply for jobs by creating access. it’s not that there aren’t jobs for people in Port Stephens, it’s that people in Port Stephens find it difficult to connect to the jobs.
There are 42 suburbs spread across 979 square kilometres in Port Stephens, so how does a business in Nelson Bay find the right job seeker when they may live in Raymond Terrace? Most employers make do with a scattergun approach of newspaper ads, mainstream job boards, asking friends and families and signs in store windows but all of this amounts to a time consuming and costly process that often delivers less than stellar results.
Using Workible, Port Stephens jobseekers can join the Port Stephens Community Shortlist to find work in the community. By registering on this Shortlist, jobseekers will be alerted to job opportunities across the whole area that match their availability, skills and interests the instant they become available - and all directly to their smartphones. And employers will have access to this on-tap talent pool of active candidates anytime, anywhere.
So, now when that Nelson Bay business needs to find staff, they can post the opportunity in less than a minute and instantly notify all of the local and other candidates that match their needs, like that perfect job seeker in Raymond Terrace. They can even video interview them to save them travel time until they know they’re perfect for the job.
The initiative involves everyone in the community including local community groups, education providers, job placement services, Government offices and business Chambers and Industry groups and associations with a common goal of getting more local people into work and making finding people easier and cheaper for local businesses.
The Port Stephens Community Jobs Program will include all parts of the community from school leavers to TAFE and Uni students, long term unemployed, disadvantaged people like disabled and indigenous through to working parents and mature-aged workers. Some of these people come with substantial benefits to any employer hiring them such as wage subsidies, training support, apprenticeship support and these benefits may be available to a wide range of job seekers.
The program is a first for regional Australia however other areas including Newcastle and the rest of the Hunter will be launched soon after Port Stephens with other areas of Australia to come.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!