The realities of skill and labour shortages - an industry perspective

The guest speaker at my Rotary lunch this week was the President of the Institute of Foresters of Australia, Peter Volker.

Peter has been targetting community services groups to raise the profile of the career of a Forester. According to Peter, the greatest challenge facing the industry at present is the inability to attract people to consider a career as a Forester.

Peter believes there are a number of factors contributing to the industry's predicament. Firstly, the general negative perception of the forestry industry, and secondly that a Forester is required to undertake a 4 year university degree, predominantly science and engineering focussed. Peter says the industry requires 80 new entrant Foresters per year, however at present the five universities offering the course in Australia are producing around 20 per year. The degree entails around 35 contact hours per week and numerous field trips which require days and weeks away at any one time. Peter believes that the cost of undertaking a university degree to students is so excessive that the student is required to work on a part time or casual basis for survival purposes. Given the extent of contact hours required for a Forester education, part time work is not possible and therefore prevents people from considering a career as a Forester.

While these two issues may be very real factors in contributing to the Forester industry's inability to attract new entrants, it again highlights the lack of understanding of the causes of skill and labour shortages.

Almost every industry in Australia (and world wide) will experience the same challenges in attracting people to the careers offered within their industry. Each one will have their own specific barriers to overcome, whether it be the perception of the industry, the non-traditional working hours required, the physical or seasonal nature of the industry or some other barrier.

Industries are already competing against each other to attract the diminishing supply of labour to their sector. Industry will have to start early in educating students (and their parents) about the opportunities within their sector and continue to invest and be proactive in attracting and maintaining their workforce through retention strategies.

The early bird catches the worm = success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort.