The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts required the client to produce a comprehensive environmental impact statement, environmental review and management plan, for the project to be approved.
Western Australia is considered sacred land, with a cultural significance to Indigenous Australians. In order to protect, assess and review the environmental action plan, the client required an experienced local recruitment agency to source and manage Indigenous Australian contractors for the ‘Sea Rangers Programme’ – the operation that would oversee the assessment and protect the local environment throughout the project scope.
Our Solution
Having successfully partnered with the client since 2009 in Australia, NES Fircroft were exclusively selected to manage recruitment needs for the Sea Rangers Programme.
To maximise our support efforts we appointed a dedicated account manager to:
- Source and screen Indigenous Australians
- Support new hires with all logistics including arranging medical check-ups, assisting with onboarding documentation and mobilisation needs
- Provide exceptional candidate care for contractors and drive awareness of our Employee Assistance programme which allows contractors to connect anonymously with qualified psychologists for free
- Help implement a school-based two year traineeship for young Indigenous Australians, and arrange various training courses for Sea Rangers members to improve their technical skills
- Consult with the Sea Rangers to introduce female Indigenous Australians into the programme – a culturally complex concept within the Indigenous community
- Visit the team each quarter to track their success in the programme and to review the environmental findings reported to the government with the client – through this method we have been able to tailor our recruitment campaign on an ongoing basis
The results of our support
We leveraged our existing partnership with the client and strong local Indigenous candidate database
- Sourced and placed 6 Indigenous Australians within 6-8 months
- Maintained an excellent relationship with the client and contractors, which in turn has helped us to improve the rapport between the two parties
- Eased cultural barriers and placed the programme’s first ever female Indigenous Australian within just 4 months
- Had one young Indigenous Australian graduate from the Sea Rangers traineeship – who now works fulltime on the programme
- Thanks to our comprehensive qualification methodology we continue to have an exceptional retention rate, and have only needed to replace one contractor throughout the programme’s duration.