While the Government has introduced a range of initiatives such as scholarships, pay raises and financial incentives for registered nurses, there is currently a shortage of around 6,000 aged care workers in Australia. Because of this, many facilities are unable to operate at full capacity, and recruitment has become an increasingly challenging proposition.

With few local candidates available, providers are looking overseas for skilled talent. However, in order to be successful in this endeavour, the steps differ from the standard local hiring process. 

Local recruitment vs international talent sourcing

Hiring ‘locally’ means advertising a role and filling it with locally available candidates. When there is plenty of interest from local applicants, it is relatively simple to fill a role by placing an ad on SEEK or a similar platform. However, if the candidates are few and far between or if they lack the required experience, attempting to hire locally can result in delays and additional expenses. 

With international talent sourcing, the process is different. Firstly, the talent tool is significantly larger, so you have access to a greater volume of candidates. This makes it easier to source the people you need, but the challenge can be knowing who to select and how to help them relocate.

If your organisation connects with a team with experience hiring overseas candidates, you can strategically find care workers who have the right qualifications and are ready to move to Australia. These individuals will be deployed in a timely way, giving you a stable and sustainable workforce now and into the future. 

Building an international team can be a fulfilling and rewarding experience for your business, your employees and your residents. 

Once everything is set up, the cost of taking an international approach to talent sourcing can be significantly less in the long term than local recruitment. This practice is also beneficial for the following reasons: 

• Improved retention of employees (Global Talent Agency’s retention rate for international aged care employees reflects best-in-industry of 80-90% per cent and the employees we place are expected to remain with their organisation for at least three years.)
• A multicultural workforce who can support residents with diverse backgrounds
• Bringing international experience, perspectives and best practices to your aged care facility.

Making international talent sourcing easy

It’s possible for your experience hiring international employees for your aged care facility to feel easy and seamless. 

Global Talent Agency facilitates this by providing a ready-made pipeline of pre-vetted applicants who are job-ready and excited to migrate to Australia. We also support our aged care facility clients helping successful applicants to secure a visa. 

Our candidates are highly skilled and mobile global citizens who have a range of qualifications. We pride ourselves on our unique Candidate Success Program, which includes best-practice techniques and tools for strategic planning, initial sourcing, screening, interviewing, work visas, relocation, orientation and settlement.

As part of our services, we also take steps to manage candidate and employer expectations, and play a role in helping new arrivals to settle comfortably in Australia. The result for aged care facilities is enthusiastic employees who make a valuable contribution and remain in their roles for longer. 

Reach out to the international talent solutions specialists at Global Talent Agency today.