The Australian defense ministry has selected Adecco Australia as its new recruitment partner in a bid to attract more Australians to the service.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh said given the strategic circumstances Australia is facing, the recruitment and retention of personnel has never been more important.
“Our people are the most important capability for the defense of Australia, and our national interests. It’s exciting to be working with a new recruitment partner to ensure we’re engaging with the very best people our nation has to offer,” said minister Keogh.
The announcement on the new recruitment partner was preceded by an ABC News report from last week, which said that the defense ministry would be introducing new benefits for its workforce as a way of addressing recruitment and retention issues observed by military bosses.
As reported by ABC News, the six initial initiatives include the expansion of assisted study and study bank programs, enhanced family health benefit payments, new travel allowances, as well as a new framework for employee value proposition.
The defense ministry is currently looking to increase their employment footprint by 18,500 people by 2039-40.
“There’s no doubt that right now we’re seeing an incredibly tight recruitment market with really low unemployment, that’s why we need to step up our recruitment efforts.”
“People are looking for jobs with purpose, we need to take action to ensure students, their teachers and parents have a solid understanding of the excellent opportunities that a career in the ADF can provide. We also are very keen to engage with older Australians who want to contribute to the defense of our nation.”
“Our new partnership with Adecco will focus on redefining how we can modernize recruitment efforts in a hyper competitive labor market.”
“I thank our current service provider, ManpowerGroup, for their valued contribution to building defense’s recruiting capability over the last 20 years.”
Current service provider ManpowerGroup has attracted more than one million applicants and helped enlist more than 121,600 individuals into the ADF over its 20 year contract with the defense ministry.
The new contract with Adecco officially begins July 1, 2023, while a transition handover between ManpowerGroup and Adecco Australia begins on next month.
