The Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have launched a two-pronged attack on head-hunters and staff trying to game enduring staff shortages in permanent roles, backing in a year-long ban on so-called ‘revolvers’ with a positive culture push led by its first chief of personnel.
Defence on Monday came good on its earlier promise to pull the plug on recruiters poaching existing Australian Public Service staff within the organisation by placing paid refugees into contractor roles that backfill empty permanent positions.
The move, which ticks a big political box, is understood to have been instigated by secretary of the Department of Defence Greg Moriarty and locks out Defence APS staff who resign, and then, often, come back within weeks as temporary placements on market rates that have been ballooning as chronic staff shortages collide with the Albanese government tries to detox the APS from its chronic dependency on contractors and temps.
One of the big issues for Defence is that it often needs people with security clearances for many roles, a challenge that makes it harder to pull talent across from other agencies.
But there are serious staffing churn challenges on the uniform side of Russell Hill as well, with an estimated shortfall of 4,000 personnel despite 250 types of roles on offer and retention incentives now being rolled out.
The ADF’s first chief of personnel, Lieutenant General Natasha Fox, has also been out and about, talking up what needs to change to attract and retain the people the ADF and Defence want and need.
“Defence has to be competitive in the employment market, with our culture, how we look after our people, the roles we have and the professional development we provide,” Fox said.
“We can’t sit back and think our organisation doesn’t need to change. It needs to keep evolving.”
Defence’s big seller to prospective troops is a career of service with purpose, a necessary pitch given that like the APS it generally can’t match salaries, but can offer more stability, certainty and room for personal and professional growth.
Fox’s first major task as head-hunter-in-chief is to get her people out into the community and communicate their own experiences of defence careers, a move that goes along the lines of ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’.
“Everyone is a recruiter. Getting people to talk in schools, hometowns, industry and local sporting groups on what an ADF career is like is really important,” Fox said.
There has also been a subtle but discernible shift towards Defence better reflecting Australia’s broad cultural diversity in its ranks to appeal to migrant communities as an employer of choice of equal social stature to that of the medical, legal or financial fields.
That’s meant showcasing the successes of, and opportunities for, women to excel in their chosen field, but also to broaden their horizons as they gain experience.
The scope of Lieutenant General Fox’s role is not small either. She oversees the Joint Health Command, the Australian Defence College and Joint Support Services Division.
That comes on top of taking charge of the new Military Personnel Division, which, Defence said, includes Defence Force Recruiting, the Joint Transition Authority, Defence Member and Family Support, and “all career management and personnel branches from Navy, Army and Air Force”.
Then there’s the AUKUS imperative, with Defence needing to draw in a whole new cohort of nuclear propulsion and non-nuclear rocket scientists to deliver the biggest investment in stand-off capability Australia has made to date.
It also needs mechanics, and is snapping-up seasoned talent looking to transfer out of industries like the automotive sector which is making the hard switch from liquid fuels to battery-powered vehicles that require substantially less maintenance.
One of Defence’s recent scores is Navy recruit Stephen Thompson, who, at 51 years old, has just qualified as an Able Seaman and Certificate 3 Marine Technician, a role Defence says is responsible for “operating and maintaining propulsion systems such as gas turbines, diesel engines, electric motors, propellers, thrusters and more, working at sea and ashore.”
Prior to joining the Navy, Thompson owned and ran his own mechanical workshop but took the difficult decision to close the business post-COVID to take a mid-life shift in his career.
“I knew a lot of people in Defence and a lot of my customers were in Defence. Joining wasn’t a snap decision, but it came down to being a part of something bigger and being surrounded by like-minded, goal-oriented people in a team environment,” Thompson said.
“I have years of experience on the tools, in workshops and a lot of life experience as well,” Recruit Thompson said.
“Over the short term, I want to fine-tune the skillset that I have.
“Then I want to share that down the line with anyone who wants to learn from me. It is great to be part of a system that is helping people grow, be it physically or mentally.”
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