We’re thrilled to announce our first ever joint forum between the LG Professionals SA General Managers and Directors Network and the LG Professionals SA People and Culture Network. Together, we’ll explore the important topic of Innovation in Recruitment, sharing practical and implementable solutions for attracting and recruiting talented staff.
This Forum will be held in person and via Zoom on Friday 17 November 2023 from
1:15 PM - 4:35 PM at Perks People Solutions 8/81 Flinders Street.
Consistently, difficulty filling vacancies has been rated as one of the biggest challenges facing the local government sector – whilst this isn’t a problem that can be fixed overnight, there are actions that can be taken now. Join your Network peers as we explore the current state of play, and how the local government sector are taking innovative steps to address skills shortages across the state.
Panel Conversation - Local Government: Attractive and Accessible
- Matt Hobby, Perks People Solutions
- Rebecca Hunt, McArthur
- Melanie Mansfield, Mansfield and Co Recruitment
What is the current state of play? How can we make local government roles accessible and attractive? How are we performing against the private sector? What should we be doing to attract and place candidates ‘now’?
Join Matthew, Rebecca and Melanie as they explore these important questions.
Local Government Case Studies - Innovative practices to fill roles
Farlie Taylor, Director City Strategy, Community and Culture, City of Prospect
Farlie is the Director City Strategy, Community and Culture at City of Prospect is passionate about fostering the next generation of leaders through her work and as a Non-Executive Director at SEDA College. Placing her trust in emerging talent and supporting them to excel is a passion project and a real-life example explained.
Facing the challenge of advertising for a Manager Communication, Strategy and Engagement for the third time, Farlie needed to look at an alternative approach to ensure a candidate was sourced who not only had the skills, but importantly had the right values.
Laura Hewitt, Talent and Acquisition Partner, City of Onkaparinga
Laura has worked in People and Culture roles for over ten years in various industries in both private and public sectors.
At the City of Onkaparinga, she has been focused on workforce segmentation of skills, especially how local government roles are typical. While we all can agree that the local government sector is special, the roles we offer are not different from other industries. While there may be a lull in recruitment across the sector, it is essential to focus on transferrable skills and how to leverage this to recruit talent successfully.
Sue King, Manager People and Culture, Whyalla City Council
Sue commenced a career in the Public Sector in 1990, moving into HR in 1994, and then to local government, where she commenced as Manager People and Culture at Whyalla City Council in 2021.
The People and Culture Team at Whyalla City Council have introduced a career pathways program that includes the Grow our Own strategy – they are achieving this through traineeships and recruitment of hard-to-fill roles by offering applicants the opportunity to apply for specific roles without all the essential criteria and qualifications by providing the options to learn and study on the job through a structured on the job and formal training and mentoring.
Louise Williams, Manager People, City of Adelaide
Louise commenced her role of Manager People at City of Adelaide in December 2022 after working for over six years in HR Leadership roles in state government. She is responsible for the leadership of human resources, organisational development, work health and safety, and payroll functions, with a key strategic focus on workforce planning and workforce strategy. Several projects have fallen from this focus, including the recently launched City of Adelaide Graduate Program.
The proposal for a graduate program was developed in early 2023 with a focus on aligning with workforce planning and supporting the employer brand. This program was granted five positions as a part of the 2023/24 business plan and budget, and City of Adelaide aims to offer these positions to commence in early 2024. Louise will touch on the process followed to gain internal support, ensuring that the program met business needs and the planned program structure, including learning/development support and external stakeholder engagement.
Innovation in Recruitment
Join the above local government speakers as they explore how local government can step into innovation. Through pushing ‘the norm’ and asking ‘what if?’ when it comes to attraction and retention these local government leaders have seen first-hand the benefits of thinking outside the square.
Hot Topics
Join your peers for an interactive session to identify and share emerging issues across the sector, in particular, how the People and Culture Network and General Managers and Directors Network can leverage opportunities for collaboration and support to drive positive sector change.
Please join your General Managers and Directors Network and People and Culture Network peers as we head to a nearby venue for informal Networking Drinks - an opportunity to further expand on discussions of the forum and foster relationships and connections.
Registrations for this forum are open to Local Government Professionals Australia, SA members, council employees, employees of regional subsidiaries and Local Government Professionals Australia, SA invited guests.
By registering for this forum you will be subscribed to the LG Professionals SA mailing list. Should you wish to unsubscribe at any time, please email admin@lgprofessionalssa.org.au.
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