Defence Business: Recruitment - Attracting the right people | ADM Feb 2009
Nearly 700 personnel from Defence, the public service and contracted private companies - the approximate numerical equivalent of an infantry battalion - are now directly involved in boosting recruitment to the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Julian Kerr
At stake is the ability not only to maintain the three services at their authorised levels and fill vacancies in a number of vital professional and trade areas, but also to allow the ADF to grow by about 5,000 to an overall strength of 57,000 by 2016 as the army creates two extra battalions and the RAAF and the RAN both increase their numbers.
The recruitment company Chandler Macleod signed a contract last July worth about $404 million over five years to provide recruiting services to the ADF in collaboration with the 240-plus military and Defence public services who manage recruiting for the services.
Last October Defence received 1,863 more inquiries from would-be recruits than in the same month in 2007, a result thought to have been driven as much by the tightening jobs market as by extensive advertising and promotional activities, and a new focus on the intake of women and indigenous Australians.
The gap year program, in which school leavers are paid up to $44,000 to spend a year in the ADF, saw women make up just over half of the 700 successful applicants.
Notwithstanding the encouraging October result, permanent ADF enlistments in 2007/08 at 7,074 reached only 77 per cent of target.
The figures for new recruits - Navy 73 per cent of target, Army 76 per cent, Air Force 85 per cent - illustrate both the scale of the recruitment task and the perceived merits of the individual services as a career choice.
Reserve recruiting figures reached 93 per cent of target, an important achievement with 1,862 Reservists in full-time service as of early November, but the average was dragged down by Navy achieving only 49 per cent of its desired figure.
While the global financial crisis and its effect on Australia's hitherto booming resources sector is assisting recruitment, Major-General Craig Orme, Head of People Capability in Defence, identifies retention as his number one priority.
"If you're going to have a balance of investment, you'd invest more in retention than you would in recruitment because you've got the sunk cost of all the training," he said.
"It's a question of getting the harmony right, of having between 10 and 12 per cent leaving and about that same number refreshing itself and in our case, because we want to grow over the new few years, we want to bring in a few more than we lose."
The recruiting challenge is exacerbated by the mix of applicants.
"I'm getting plenty of prospective riflemen, which is great, but the difficulty is in finding those with a more technical bent," commented Commodore Tim Barrett, Director-General Defence Force Recruiting.
"We've just introduced the Defence technical scholarship which is aimed at Years 11 and 12 so they have the skills they need for us to be able to recruit them and move them to a higher level of technical proficiency.
"We're also looking at experienced tradesmen who may not have a specific qualification."
Probably the best-publicised example of skills shortages is the RAN's ability to crew only three of its six Collins-class submarines.
"When you're looking at submarine technical specialists, not only are you seeking someone who is competent in the trades but who can work in that environment," says Barrett.
"We've had a fairly low number of enquiries about the submarine service so our response has been to explain more prominently in our advertising what submariners are required to do."
Financial incentives play a major role in retention.
Submariners extending their service for 18 months receive a payment of $60,000, general service sailors who serve for a further 18 months receive $24,000, while $20,000 awaits eligible air force plumbers, carpenters and electricians who sign on for an additional two years.
Pay too has been increasing steadily if not spectacularly.
ADF salary increases have averaged about 4.2 per cent each year since November 2006, or 13.2 per cent compounded over the three-year life of the current agreement.
ADF members below the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel or equivalent already receive a service allowance of $10,672 in addition to salary to recognise the special nature of military service.
A new pay structure is under development and, according to Defence, it will meet contemporary workplace standards, "by recognising the work value of different military employment groups and reward them accordingly."
For Orme, retention is not limited simply to remuneration but also involves satisfaction with service and issues affecting family wellbeing such as free medical and dental care, subsidised meals and accommodation.
He does not regard the high tempo of operations as a disincentive, and believes that since 9/11 a strong sense of contribution to national security has reduced separation rates, which at 1 October were running at 10.3 per cent.
A further boost to retention has been a new-found flexibility in breaking down career barriers - for example, an infantryman who was considering leaving the army being encouraged to transfer to a different trade.
Another move to boost retention saw the RAN announce a two-month stand-down over the Christmas break so more personnel could spend the festive season with their families.
Similar flexibility is also being shown in benefiting from former ADF personnel wanting to return.
"Now we've got a 20 year career over 40 years.
"We weren't ready for it in the ‘90s but now we are," said Orme.
"Recently someone came back as a Lieutenant-Colonel after being out for 10 years, and after a year we made him a Brigadier.
"We're trying to recognise the qualifications and experiences that people get outside the ADF, and I think you're going to see more and more of this."