The Oz Jobs Expo, which gained headlines back in May after attracting over 6000 visitors during the course of the three-day event, has pulled its November event, originally due to take place on November 17 & 18.
Jason Clayton – director of New Zealand based Custom Employment Events, which runs the expo – told DIESELtalk about the factors influencing the decision, the future of New Zealand job expos, and attracting our own skilled workers.
“It was a very complicated decision to make and it came right when we were getting the final commitments from employers in Australia to come and recruit,” says Clayton.
“At the same time there were a number of changes occurring in the Australian work force, especially in the mining sector, as prices for iron ore and coking coal dropped.”
A number of companies scaled back plans, such as BHP Billiton’s August announcement that they would hold off an investment decision in regard to their Olympic Dam mine expansion.
Clayton says these factors were changing future work force demand and the types of jobs that would be available,
With around 50% of previous exhibitors and employers at the expo being either mining or mining service companies, and recruitment needs in a stat of flux, Clayton says the March Oz Jobs Expo is very much an evolution.
Australia’s oil and gas is slated as an area of expansion, with a number of infrastructure projects getting the green light; it is predicted Australia will be the largest natural gas exporter in the world.
May’s expo saw around 45-50 transport-specific jobs up for grabs, a number Clayton says may increase, but with a similar mix of roles.
Held at the ASB show grounds as opposed to the last Sky City Convention centre, the expo will grow by around 50%.
“It’s not a radical expansion; we have to keep it condensed and focussed in order to deliver people coming through the door to the employers who are recruiting.
“For a market the size of New Zealand we have to keep it scaled to deliver on objectives. It’s tailored to the employers, the composition of jobs that need to be filled; and the skills, qualifications and experience people coming to it need to have.”
While some employers who had committed to the November date were disappointed, Clayton says bookings have been transferred to March, and the decision welcomed by most recruiters.
“There hasn’t been any backlash from anyone in New Zealand either, as we hadn’t actively started to promote the event. Things have ultimately played into our hands, with BHP Bilton in the last two weeks announcing new expansion plans for projects, such as coking coal production set to increase 50% over the next few years.”
Boosting the variety of the Expo will not only attract a wider cross section of the New Zealand public, but it also opens opportunities for Clayton to run a domestic job expo alongside.
“There are companies here who are obviously very interested in getting face to face with the same demographic that the Oz Jobs Expo attracts,” he says.
In the past his company ran the New Zealand Job Expo, a prospect he says became a difficult proposition in terms of getting people through the door.
“The last one we ran was in July 2010. The reality was that the NZ Expo was only working with a distribution of skills that were already present here. We were simply showing people similar job opportunities in their area, or a different part of the country.”
“Something we might look at for the future would be running a New Zealand expo at the same time. They would be quite separate events but you would have access to both. A few international recruiters might also attract those who are unlikely to go to just a New Zealand or Australian expo, but can then be re-engaged.”
