In today’s cutthroat world, the process of diversity and inclusion management in the workforce is much beyond a social CSR activity; it’s a strategic imperative. Indigenous Australians are one of the largest and talented populations in the Australian society, which presently comprises of about 3.3% according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, more ABS data pose that indigenous Australians are poorly represented in the workforce where they are only 0.9% of employed Australians. Such underrepresentation is indicative of the fact that businesses are not getting the chance to employ qualified talents as well as diverse perspectives. When organisations embrace equal opportunities in the recruitment process for indigenous people in Australia, businesses will benefit in many ways such as realisation of innovation, employer branding, as well as support the achievement of indigenous people prosperity in the future.
Building Strong Relationships with Indigenous Communities
Indigenous Australians in recruitment has close ties with the general diversity and inclusion (D&I) goals within your organisation. Global diversity implies more cohesion in the workforce, social harmony and therefore, improved organisational performance and workforce satisfaction. Through specific recruitment initiatives for Indigenous candidates, it proves your company’s genuine dedication to D&I that will attract more talented applicants.
• Partnering with Indigenous Communities - The priority is the establishment of good relations with Indigenous peoples. Collaborate with Indigenous employment service providers, Indigenous training organisations, and Indigenous organisations and/or community associations. These organisations hold vital information on job seekers and their capabilities within the indigenous community and can be a link between your company and the unemployed individuals.
• Collaborate with Indigenous Employment Agencies - There are specialised agencies among the Indigenous people of the country that deals with employment and vacancies. Cooperating with such agencies can help to receive contacts to the applicants from the Indigenous population and use the knowledge of local cultural characteristics during the search for employees.
• Connect with Training Programs - Today, to ease Indigenous Australians’ employment, many different organisations provide the adequate training that will provide them with the necessary educational background to succeed in the labour market. Such partnerships can also help link with potential candidates right from their stages of getting their first job, which creates an opportunity of building of a pipeline that can be used for the future.
• Engage with Community Groups - The application of Indigenous community group participation sets up rapport and a ground through which people can be interacted with. Community organisations can help you to ponder over the needs and demands of the indigenous workers to be employed within your region.
• Take Part in Career Events for Indigenous Jobseekers - Jobseeker fairs and events which are exclusively targeting Aboriginal personnel expose your organisation to such groups. It enables you to present career opportunities to the potential candidates and develop relevant discussions concerning the organisation’s work environment and beliefs.
Developing Culturally Safe Practices
This involves paying respect to cultural requirements starting from the recruitment procedures. Here are some key considerations:
• Job Postings - It must avoid using exclusive terminology which could be complicated and occluded by the jargon of a particular industry. Emphasise your company’s values concerning the diversity of its employees and managers and advertise available possibilities to get a promotion. It would also be beneficial to use native languages where possible in the advertisement of your jobs in a sign of cultural sensitivity.
• Acknowledgement of Country - Acknowledging the fact of native Aboriginals’ occupation, it is suggested to open the recruitment process by using an Acknowledgement of Country. This shows a compliance with the belief of Indigenous Australians about land.
Tailoring Your Recruitment Approach
• Broadening Your Reach - Do not restrict recruitment to popular media. This can be through placing ads in the Indigenous newspapers or magazines, and websites that this population group uses most. This helps the employer get a better pool of eligible candidates especially those that may not be actively using the standard job portals.
• Tailoring Job Descriptions - Develop the job adverts that will appeal to the Indigenous employment applicants. Mention career advancement possibilities, multiculturalism efforts in your firm, and flexible working if provided as well.
• Alternative Assessment Methods - Expand beyond traditional interview methodologies that may not be a good fit for Indigenous candidates and that could be replaced by Assessment Strategies that can feel more natural for the Indigenous candidates. This could be involving the team projects that provide the flavour of teaming and communication or the sharing the stories among themselves that would provide the flavour of knowledge and experience in the culturally sensitive ways.
Creating a Welcoming Workplace Environment
• Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs): Having a RAP shows your organisation’s willingness to enter a sphere of reconciliation with Indigenous Australians. Finally, a good RAP includes practical measures that the company commit to doing to improve the level of diversity and cultural intelligence in the organisation.
• Culturally Sensitive Training - One must set up training methods to pass knowledge of Indigenous culture and other forms of prejudice to all employees. This training enhances the employees’ interactions and makes the workplace more tolerant to create a more comfortable environment for Indigenous employees.
• Celebrating Indigenous Culture: Always consider national days such as NAIDOC Week. Hold SACAs or invite Indigenous guest speakers to educate the red team via presenting the knowledge which they had. By supporting cultural adoption within your workplace, you enhance the company’s inclusiveness for Indigenous employees.
Success Story: Northbridge Recruitment Exceeds Client Goals for Indigenous Workforce Representation
It was a great honour for Northbridge Recruitment to partner with a large Australian Telecommunications company to perform a project in Central Queensland. The client sought to achieve engagement of 10% Indigenous workforce diversity. Northbridge exceeded its target by 200%, placing 30% of the project workforce with Indigenous Australians. This accomplishment proves that we are focused on the matter of diversity and inclusion and that we can find, select and retain workforces that meet diversity targets.
Here's how we achieved this remarkable outcome:
1. Building Strong Community Connections
We collaborated with the Indigenous communities surrounding the project, thus letting them know about this project and some of the available opportunities.
2. Empowering Indigenous Businesses
Formed partnerships with Indigenous-owned businesses in Queensland, urging them to support and popularise the project.
3. Using Technology for Inclusivity
Employing the search tools, we trained our AI to effectively identify indigenous candidates.
4. Creating a Welcoming Environment
About candidate experience, we engaged the applicants with a positive experience to everybody who applied for a position.
Through the integration of these strategies, Northbridge Recruitment achieved record-like performance for the client in addition to increasing the industry integration of diverse talents.
Overcoming Challenges
• Unconscious Bias - Understand that it is not out of the ordinary for hiring processes to become a victim of blind-sightedness. Unfortunately, enacted prejudice may happen in invisible ways causing effects in the employment process; Use techniques that help avoid prejudice as for example the removal of candidate names and other personal data from the resumes prior to their evaluation.
• Combating Stereotypes: Change the beliefs that people have about Indigenous Australians in workplaces. Aboriginal peoples are professionals with various abilities that can be useful to any company. Stress the fact that Indigenous applicants can provide benefits that would complement your workplace or organizational culture.
The Benefits of a Diverse Workforce
• Enhanced Innovation - It is true that a diverse workforce is composed of a large population of diverse types of individuals and their ideas, problems and solutions. This improves the working culture in that employees are more creative and innovate when making decisions thus improving organisation’s standing in the market.
• Stronger Employer Branding - Recruitment of Indigenous peoples also reveals a set of principles that Royal has taken, that is the principle of diversity and inclusion. This is a perfect pitch for Indigenous employees in addition to other talented people and gives your employer brand value by being racially diverse and socially aware.
• Improved Community Relations - Engaging with the Indigenous communities creates a positive belief towards your firm hence helping it eventually. Indeed, by being part of those communities and highlighting the organisation’s willingness to approach them with the purpose of employment, you create goodwill in the extended communities.
A Brighter Future Together
It is beneficial for organisations to implement suitable hiring practices that target Indigenous Australians same way it is suitable for everyone, as there are many advantages of getting it right when it comes to employment of the Indigenous Australians. Employers are provided with qualified candidates and the indigenous populace have a better chance of employment and contributing the society with their ability and perspectives. And focusing on the values of tolerance and respect, we will be able to create better living for all Australians in the future.
Time to break the corporate colour barrier and open the doors to first steps to a diverse workplace. Go through your current recruitment policies and see what part of it can be done in a way that will incorporate some of the strategies highlighted in this article. Northbridge Recruitment is focused on its mission of helping businesses create rich talent pools. We then work hand in hand with Indigenous employment agencies and organisations to ensure the right talent is sourced for your business.
About Northbridge - IT Recruitment Agency in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
Northbridge specialises in connecting your business to top talent across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Feel free to reach out to our dedicated recruitment teams: Government & Key Accounts, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
Our solutions cover Permanent Recruitment, Contract, SOW and Temporary Staffing, Labour Agreement - On-Hire, Payroll Management, and IT On-Demand.
