Locating to Rural Australia Recruitment for farm jobs and rural jobs in Australia
by Guest Author
The story behind Workforce Partners, A recruitment company dedicated to helping Southern African rural employees
My husband Ralph and I have been cotton farming in SW Qld for over 25 years. Faced with a worsening labour shortage crisis and the reluctance of Australians to live west of the Darling Downs Range we were forced to rely on backpackers to fill our labour requirements. It was not that we were dreadful employers; we always paid well, provided good on-farm accommodation and never asked an employee to do anything we wouldnt do ourselves.
While backpackers are a great temporary labour resource, it was both inadequate and uneconomical for building our farms long-term skills and knowledge base. Several years ago, we decided to go outside the square and recruit our farm labour from South Africa. So successful was the placement for the migrant couple and ourselves that we went on to recruit more South Africans and a Zimbabwean. Our Southern African employees have embraced the opportunity to live and work in safe, rural Australia, keen to learn and to assimilate into our community. Receiving enquiries from other interested employers about our workforce, we decided to develop a business that we hoped would offer a solution to the present and future labour shortages.
Our Team
The Workforce Partners team includes the energy and expertise of Peter McCleary, principal of recruiting company HRM Partners, with over 15 years of recruiting and human resource management in rural and regional Australia. Linda High is our office administrationcustomer relations consultant, and being an ex-Zimbabwean is an invaluable team member, providing great insight and background knowledge.
In August 2007, Ralph and I were honoured to win Cotton Australias 2007 Innovative Cotton Grower of the Year award for our new business venture.
What we do best
Workforce Partners success in finding the right people for jobs in rural and regional Australia, comes from our teams firsthand experience in jobs on farms and agribusinesses in South Africa, Zimbabwe and rural and regional Australia. For interested employees, the business is largely conducted online and by email. We undertake to build a comprehensive understanding of the individuals experience and expectations. We work closely with ex Zimbabwean and South African migration agents who are based and registered in Australia. The Australian government is quite stringent with their entry requirementsprocesses, and we strongly recommend candidates work with an agent to complete the visa process. While most employers are looking to recruit someone yesterday, unfortunately the visa processing does take considerable time, 3 to 7 months from submission to the Department of Immigration.
However, we point out that we are also happy to assist those South Africans and Zimbabweans who are already residing in Australia, who may be looking for a change of employerlocation. Workforce Partners is currently recruiting qualified farmers, mechanics, engineers, architects, chartered accountants, veterinarians and teachers for high quality employers with vacant positions or farm jobs and rural jobs in Queensland, New South Wales and Northern Territory.
Immigration Advice
Sabona is happy to announce that we are now authorised to provide immigration advice to our readers with the assistance and expert knowledge of Registered Migration Agent Chris Carman.
Send your questions directly to Chris online at www.sabona.com.auimmigrationfaq. Chris will endeavour to answer all your immigration questions in a timely manner on a weekly basis.
Some of the questions Chris will address in his weekly blogs willinclude:
1. Should a family want to migrate and have an elderly mother or father living with them as a dependent does this person qualify as a family dependent and fall under the visa as kids do?
2. What options are available for parents: Parent or Aged Parent visasContributory Parent orContributory Aged Parent visasRetirement Investment Visa
3. Other Options:Employer Sponsored VisasBusiness VisasVisitor Visas...and much more
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