ASGA ASGA educates the sign industry on recruiting overseas workers ASGA held a webinar on recruiting overseas workers on the 30th of August. It was presented by Warwick Ryan and Simonne Pengelly of Hickson Lawyers and Noelene Murray of Perdaman Global Services. Where Simonne and Noelene provided an in-depth look at the visa and recruitment process, webinar moderator, Vernon Kingman of Kingman Strategies, provided an account from a sign business owner perspective, having gone through the process himself many times with successful outcomes as a previous business owner. Vernon opened the webinar by stating that every business owner he speaks to is desperate for skilled and unskilled staff. This results in the loss of business opportunities and increased financial risks associated with breaching contract deadlines overseas workers - employing is an option that every business should consider as a solution. Vernon spoke of the positive outcomes that hiring workers from the Philippines and the United Kingdom brought to his previously owned business, providing employee stability and growth opportunities. From a personal perspective, it meant a lot to Vernon to appreciate that it was not just about giving someone from overseas a job; he would be changing someone’s life. Several of the staff employed from the Philippines became leading hands, and the United Kingdom recruit became the Operations Manager. “In my experience, especially with the Philippines market, it is the willingness to work, the passion and appreciation that the individual shows for their ability to come to Australia that is so valuable. They would put up their hand for every single opportunity for overtime. Most would be prepared to work twelve hours every day, every single day of the week if we let them,” said Vernon. In her segment on the 482-visa application process, Simonne drilled down on the three major steps involved, providing all of the necessary detail and the costs associated with each step in an easy-to-follow format. Employer obligations were outlined as well as pathways to permanent residency. Simonne highlighted that while there were many other visa options, the 482 would generally be the most reasonable one to consider for sign businesses. With 22 years of experience in the industry, Noelene commenced her presentation on the overseas recruitment process by stating that this was the third cycle that she has seen with a severe skills shortage and believes this one will be the worst she has experienced. “We have come out of COVID and all that dynamic of the highly skilled people departing Australia, the international students departing Australia and the working holiday makers departing Australia, have left us with this economy that is struggling, and it does not matter what industry you are in, there are critical skilled shortages,” said Noelene. Source: Hickson Lawyers. The VISA process broken down into three main steps. Noelene stated that hiring overseas staff was a great long-term staff retention solution, and it helped the remuneration situation, especially with it currently being an employee’s market. Her presentation covered the many steps involved and detailed what costs a business should expect to pay along the way. Audience questions were answered during the webinar, such as, ‘do you need to employ the worker’s family?’ and ‘what happens if the worker is the wrong fit for the job?’. The current time frame to recruit an overseas worker is anywhere from six to eighteen months; all panellists agreed that the best way to way to make progress was to begin the process; the sooner an application is lodged, the sooner a business could have skilled people onboard. The importance that a decision-ready application is lodged to minimise any unnecessary delays was highlighted to attendees, to which both Hicksons Lawyers and Perdaman Global Services can provide assistance. ASGA members can access the webinar recording Top left to right bottom: Simonne Pengelly, Vernon Kingman, Noelene Murry, Warwick Ryan. 10 OCT/NOV 2022 and presentations by logging into the member’s area of the signs.org.au website. Contact [email protected] for further information. 3 STEP PROCESS:
