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• How many of these 2,846 Australian employers surveyed regularly hire graduates? Having recently completed a Masters degree in finance I expected a prompt placement. After a month of being unemployed and having to absorb the cost of living in Sydney, I'm now considering joining the exodus to Europe. Perhaps if employers were less myopic and spent some time training graduate employees for so-called entry-level roles rather than insisting they have six to 18 months of irrelevant experience there wouldn't be a shortage.

  Graduates? 13 Apr 2007

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• I don't believe there is a real skill shortage. The so-called shortage is simply the output result of a number of 'soft' factors being used by the recruitment industry as a whole.

  
  

  So the shortage is not people, but more likely whether they are 'regarded' as suitable.

  
  

  The key question government SHOULD be asking is  whether recruiters actually invest sufficient resources in both targeting and assessing all potential applicants – and not just the first six who 'fit'.

  
  

  Accordingly, I would like to know how the so-called "29% increase in difficulty" in finding employees is measured?  Is this by candidate application volume, by database size, frequency of job adverts or what?

  
  

  More likely is that it is based on some 'intuitive' reaction to all the media hype about the issue.

  
  

  So try asking candidates if they think there is a skill shortage. If this really were true, then not only would basic wage rates be rising (economics 101) but most people would be cherry picking from the plethora of available jobs.
  In fact it seems the reverse is true; most are applying at a frequency far higher than ever before – but without success.

  M.Walker 13 Apr 2007

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• I am a qualified Accounting Clerk who has wide experience in a number of fields including Auditing, and International Banking. The number of jobs advertised is just overwhelming. Yet, over the last six months I have only been successful in obtaining a five weeks temp position. I sometimes wonder whether the resumes are truly well read and analysed before sending a negative reply. Promises are made that CVs are kept on files for future reference; experience shows otherwise with employment agencies. I truly look forward to having the estimation of lift in employment in the next quarter by 31%.

  Magdoline Nour 13 Apr 2007

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• I think these surveys are flawed. Do Manpower mean 'qualified' staff as in those who have educational attainments or 'experienced' staff? It amazes me that McDonald's show more initiative than some employers. Pay an employee minimum wage and spend an hour to train them up / hire a graduate who has no prior experience, initially pay them less and train them. How hard is it?

  Dean 15 Apr 2007

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• Skills shortage is inevitable with the growing economy and ageing population which needs financial planners, etc. I just hope that migrant skilled workers will be given a chance to work in the financial sectors.  There's plenty of us ready to fill the void.

  Roberto III Bascuna 15 Apr 2007

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• I heard similar stories for many years now. I couldn't agree more with all of the above, except the person who wrote the article. Clearly a journalist without a clue about what the real story is.

  
  
  

  And as for the Manpower stats, I've seen something similar on the back of a Rice Bubbles packet. Sure, we do have an ageing population, but many of those people are unwilling to train anyone for fear of being outshone and pushed out early or left feeling inadequate.

  
  
  

  The heirarchical order is pathetic. The people saying that there is no-one, are the same people that need a swift quick up the rear end and out the door. They're the same people that think they are the only one's who can do their job.

  
  
  

  Fact is, 3 months grace for many people and what was a 'hard position to fill' just became filled with a qualified person. It's a society that fosters mediocrity and stifles natural progression. It's a small market for small people, and I'm not trying to belittle those people who truly attempt to develop the next generation, it's just that the problem in Australia is with attitude, not demographics. Time to grow up Oz!!!

  head shaker (London) 18 Apr 2007

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• I agree with London. If companies and their preferred recruiters spent less time pandering to the 'corporate fit' motto and more time concentrating on the individual's experience education potential to add value and then provided real guidance, training and opportunities - they might find that some of their employees are actually dictating a negative culture which precipitates the Aussie firm mediocrity and thereby lower returns.

  
  
  
  

  Most people no matter how good they are at their job get too tired to take on the nonsense of fighting the die-hard employees and taking on the culture because these die-hards manipulate every situation they can to try and gain accolades for themselves at the expense of the firm's business, reputation and in particular their peers(what?)  Hence Enron Andersons NAB back office and the pillage/plunder disasters that we actually know of?

  
  
  
  

  HR forget your own egos and concentrate on job independence not back-pats ie find the best fit applicant for the actual job description and nurture. Team player is important in any facet of business and life but so is being talented and this is a problem in Australia which is why so many talented people go overseas for work!

  another head shaker (NSW) 23 Apr 2007

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• Shortage....?? Where ...?? Created by lack of understanding, initiative and risk taking from Australian companies and HR groups. Having just returned from a tour of Asia (3+ years), now I am in the Oz job market, thus far I have been told on numerous occasions:

  
  
  

  i/ that my skills and level of experience are to high for Australia and I should head to New York

  
  
  

  ii/ I am a threat to anyone more senior to myself in an organisation

  
  
  

  iii/ I do not have enough pieces of paper

  
  
  

  iv/ My knowldege could show up fellow staff

  
  
  

  The list could go on, last night a colleague suggested I write a book about my experiences, no thanks I'd prefer to trade, teach and mentor the next generation and add some value in Australia.((hmmm Perhaps in exacerbation I should hand in my Australian citizenship and go to New York and become a American citizen ))

  
  
  

  Agree with "head shaker.. Time to grow up OZ" Interestingly Australian talent does better overseas than in Australia, perhaps that is because "talent" has guts to create their own future? July one look out NY...!!!

  and another head shaker ....What a joke! 10 May 2007

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• Can someone tell me where these skill shortages are? Twenty years plus experience, higher education and still looking for a reasonable offer.

  Sanderson 10 May 2007

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• Unbelievable. Narrow-minded. Bordering on stupidity.
  
  
  
  
  These institutions simply do not focus on where the REAL value is. I absolutely, whole-heartedly agree with the previous 2 headshakers. I just hope I dont get a migraine shaking too much.
  
  
  
  
  You feel like shaking the potential employers because the simply do not GET IT. Why is it so much easier to deal with employers in the rest of the world, yet here they are all myopic, suspicious, overly concerned about bs political correctness and corporate hype???

  Yet another head shaker 17 May 2007

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