Engaging disadvantaged job seekers

The intent of Grow Your Own models is to provide employment and job progression opportunities to people of all ages, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, this includes disadvantaged job seekers such as under or long-term unemployed job seekers. There are several government funding interventions that provide an opportunity for industry to access disadvantaged job seekers who may otherwise not have been considered. One of these funding initiatives is the Queensland Government’s Skilling Queenslanders for Work (SQW) program, which aims to enhance Queensland’s labour supply by reducing unemployment and under-employment and increasing workforce participation among disadvantaged groups. The following is an example of how the energy sector is capitalising on SQW to support disadvantaged job seekers to gain the skills required to secure local employment within Queensland’s energy, telecommunications and rail industries.