Employing a skilled migrant may be easier than you think. The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) has a useful tool to help you find a great candidate for your unfilled, skilled jobs – the Skill Matching Database.
Employers can view summaries of suitably qualified people on the Skill Matching Database with the click of a button via the website. Full resumes of the applicants you are interested in can then be requested.
Best of all, it is completely free of charge. What happens next is up to you. Using the contact details from the resumes, you can contact applicants directly, as you would a local applicant. So, give it a go.
Many of the applicants on the database already have visas approved but are looking for the security of a definite job offer before packing their bags.
Some applicants require nomination by an employer. Either way, if you would like more information, your local Regional Outreach Officer is available to help you, (telephone 13 18 81) or you can access all the information you need at www.immi.gov.au/skills Take the story of Scotsman Stephen McLeish.
“I was identified as a potential candidate for the State/Territory Nominated Independent visa by the Victorian State Labour Department,” Stephen said. “My details were then passed to employer, John Ostermeyer, who started the process that led to my job offer at GP Motors. It was very simple.”
Stephen relocated to Bairnsdale in November 2004, filling a gap at GP Motors that had been affecting the business’s bottom line.
“I was experiencing huge problems finding staff and not having any success recruiting anyone locally, within the region and even in Melbourne,” John Ostermeyer said. “I heard about the Skill Matching Database through my local member and thought that it was worth checking out. When the process led to Stephen, we both knew that it was a good match.
“My staff are my biggest asset. Stephen had the skills and was from a small community like this one. He and his partner have recently bought a house, so I think he is pretty happy with the way things have turned out – I know I am.”
Stephen relishes his leisure time on the waterways near his newly adopted community, Bairnsdale. When the fish are biting beneath the Mitchell River or in the Gippsland lakes, Stephen can be found dropping in a line. For the avid angler, it was the simple act of hooking onto the Skill Matching Database that landed Stephen one of the biggest catches of his life – a great job in Australia.
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Affairs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said that Stephen and John’s story is a great example of how the Government is working closely with industry to help Australian employers access the labour they need.
“Skilled migration has clear economic and social benefits for Australia,” Senator Vanstone said. “The Australian Government has a range of initiatives to attract skilled migrants, especially to regional areas.”
For information about regional skilled migration options, go to the DIMA website www.immi.gov.au/migration/regional
