Industry and government have developed a strategy aimed at improving recruitment and retention in the region's manufacturing and engineering sector, after it was discovered certain skilled employees were difficult to find.
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The Regional Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Skills Road Map, created by the Bendigo Manufacturing Group, Regional Partnerships Loddon Mallee and the City of Greater Bendigo, outlines challenges to the region's industry and how they can overcome them.
Manufacturing group chairman Mark Brennan said the idea of the road map was formulated after it was found that businesses were having real difficulties attracting skilled welders.
The road map report says tertiary-qualified engineers are also particularly hard positions to fill in the region.
The report identifies several challenges facing the sector in this region, including a highly competitive culture and lack of collaboration between businesses; confusion around education pathways; youth unemployment; misconceptions about the industry; and attracting workers from outside the region.
But it also provides numerous recommendations on how to address these challenges, based around addressing the perceptions of the industry, supporting industry to develop a skilled workforce, strengthening the ties between education and industry, and developing leadership capacity.
Mr Brennan said one of the areas the industry was working on was recruiting workers from outside the region.
He said it was not difficult to sell the job to the prospective employee, but it was challenging to convince their family to move to the region.
There was plenty of focus on selling the Bendigo area as a tourist destination, Mr Brennan said, but the industry hoped to spread that to employment, promoting the region as a good place to live.
"It's not hard to sell a job to an individual, it's hard to sell it to a whole family," he said.
When it came to welding and other trades, Mr Brennan said there were negative perceptions about career security and progression, with many young people encouraged instead to pursue other paths.
He said it was "absolutely not true" that trades did not offer a secure career path, with many tradespeople eventually working their way into management.
A lack of training and commitment to trades were other factors, he said.
Mr Brennan said the Bendigo Manufacturing Group would meet with Bendigo East MP Jacinta Allan at a later date to discuss what could be done.
The manufacturing sector is responsible for more than 10 per cent of all employment in the Loddon Campaspe region and contributes $5.6 billion to the economy each year.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
