careers for young people in local government by shereny selim

ATTRACTION AND RETENTION

Grab them While They Are Young by Shereny Ghobrial SelimSenior Traffic Engineer – Hurstville City Council

• Australia’s workforce is starting to grey at the sides and we are facing an ageing workforce that are looking forward to a nice long

retirement while someone else can take over their duties.

SKILLS SHORTAGE

GENRATION GAP

- People born between 1946 and 1964 are called The Baby Boomers.

- People born between 1965 and 1979 are called Generation X, .

- And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called Generation Y.

Why do we call the last group Generation Y?

Y should I get a job? Y should I leave home and find my own place? Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours? Y should I clean my room? Y should I wash and iron my own clothes? Y should I buy any food?

But a cartoonist explained it very eloquently below...

There is a big Gap between the

BABY BOOMERS GENRATION – Who are mostly the employers

And

GENERATION “Y” – Who are mostly the employees

Hi, how are you ?

How has your day been?

It will be great to catch up sometime soon.

HEY!!!..waz up mz thang ?

Wats the hap ?

Checkya later….LOL!!!”

Generation Y speak a different language than that of baby boomers

For some reason everything just needs to be abbreviated!!!!!!!!!!!

DESPITE THE GAPBOTH GENERATIONS NEED EACH OTHER

• In the past 15 years alone the world has dramatically changed. The World Wide Web has brought an unfathomable amount of knowledge to the fingertips of our young generation;

• IT BROKE DOWN BOUNDARIES

• ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS THAT MIGHT HAVE TAKEN DAYS TO

RESEARCH NOW TAKE NO MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES BY A PRESS OF A BUTTON ON A PHONE.

WHAT DOES ALL THAT MEAN???That our young emerging workforce literally “has the world at their fingertips”.

Most of them know exactly what they want; they know how to get it and they won’t settle until they find who can offer it to them.

THE WORST THING AN ORGANISTATION CAN DO….

Is loose touch with

• this emerging generation of workforce;

• the way they think;

• the way they communicate;

And most importantly what is it that makes them think of your organisation as an employer of choice

You only need to look at the events that happened earlier this year in the Middle East to know how devastating it is for an organisation, being it a government or a company to lose touch with the emerging generation.

OUTDATED

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

KNOW HOW TO ATTRACT THOSE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

KNOW WHAT TO OFFER THEM

KNOW HOW TO KEEP THEM INTERESTED

SO BASICALLY DO A LOT OF LISTENING

Hurstville City Council has the largest number of staff among other Councils, with its number of employees reaching 350 employees.

It has also managed to attract and retain a high number of professional women in management positions.

Of the current 17 managerial positions that directly report to a director, 11 are filled by female professionals, including the position of Manager of Engineering Services.

As an organisation, it needs to do its bit to raise awareness of the great benefits that Local Government has to offer.

The best way to do that is to train the new emerging generation of employment

through an interactive process that provides exposure of trainees to seniormanagement and vice versa.

HCC Trainee Programme

Hurstville City Council currently has 15 trainee positions across the organisation as follows:

· 2 Engineer Trainees· 6 Childcare Trainees· 1 Entertainment Centre Trainee· 1 Museum & Gallery Trainee· 1 Library Trainee· 1 Records Trainee· 2 MIS Trainees· 1 Customer Service Trainee

The programme aims to get all the trainees to meet once a month in a formal meeting structure

whereby a chairperson and a minute secretary is elected from among the group.

The Chair is elected by the Trainee Group on a rotational basis for a period of 2 months (where care is taken to give all Trainees an opportunity to participate as the Chair)

Same for the Secretariat is elected by the TraineeGroup also on a rotational basis for a period of2 months. (Secretariat support is providedby a Trainee undertaking a Certificate inBusiness Administration)

The quorum for the Group is five members

• During their monthly meetings the Trainees are encouraged to share ideas among each other

• As per formal meeting structures there is an agenda and it is usually distributed by the close of business the Friday prior to each meeting

• All items for the agenda, with all supportingdocumentation, must be submitted to thesecretariat by noon on the Wednesdayprior to the meeting.

The following are some examples of agenda items that have been discussed by the trainees in their monthly meetings

• New Trainee position – recruitment and selection• Trainee award nominations• Functionality of the Intranet• Workplace safety and occupational• Health and safety issues• Workplace training opportunities• Mentoring from Senior Staff

They relay their ideas to management, advising them of what they as Managers

• are doing right,

• what they can improve on and

• most importantly what they as young trainees are looking for in an employer.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME It is an opportunity for Trainees to experience formal meeting practices and learn communication skills, meeting etiquette and the role of Chair and Secretariat. (importantskills staff need in all areas of Business)

· It is a formal and informal/social networking opportunity for Trainees to socialise among each other

The programme provides a forum for issues affecting trainees working in all areas of Council to be discussed, by providing a safe haven through the presence of their mentor to discuss any issues that may arise during their training with Hurstville City Council.

MOST IMPORTANTLY Its an opportunity for Hurstville City Council management to get a better understanding of what to offer these trainees by means of training and experiences so that when these trainees finish their studies, they return to Local Government

AS THEIR EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

CONCLUSIONJust imagine

if every council all over Australia had a similar programme !

if every council took the time to invest in the new emerging generation of work force in any way !

So go on, I encourage you to go back to your organization and lobby whoever it is you need to lobby to get a similar programme started.

Do not allow your organization to be left behind and outdated.

If you want your business to be successful and prosper in the future

Listen to the young emerging workforceand

“Grab them while they are young”

THANK YOU