Engineers Australia releases migrant engineering employment guide

Engineers Australia has worked with Consult Australia and the Queensland Government to release a migrant engineering employment guide.

In response to member requests for tools to help with hiring and retaining migrant engineers, the parties created the guide, ‘Attracting and retaining engineers from migrant backgrounds: a guide for employers’, to provides support to engineering employers on how to tap into the skills, knowledge and experience of Queensland’s onshore migrant and refugee workforce.

It outlines the benefits of hiring migrant and refugee engineers, how to understand overseas qualifications, and what support is available for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Tips on retainment strategies including workplace support, community links and language development are available in the guide. It also features a list of Queensland government programs and funding employers can access to help assist businesses to retain migrant and refugee employees.

This piece of work is part of Engineers Australia’s continued commitment to addressing engineering skills shortages, highlighted in the ‘Strengthening the engineering workforce in Australia’ discussion paper.

Engineers Australia Queensland General Manager Stacey Rawlings said Engineers Australia research shows that almost 60% of our qualified engineers are not working because they are migrants, and they can’t crack the Australian jobs market at a time when employers are reporting skills shortages.

“Productive employment of our migrant engineers is vital to our national engineering capability and this guide will help employers access this ready-made pool of smart, skilled engineering professionals,” she said.

Already over 58% of engineers employed in Australia are overseas-born. The aim of the guide is to help employers to look towards migrant and refugee employment to fill some of the skills shortages being experienced.

“Engineering, like many professions, continues to face significant nationwide labour and skills shortages,” said Queensland Minister for Multicultural Affairs Leanne Linard. “We know there are many highly skilled Queenslanders from culturally and diverse backgrounds who, for a range of reasons, are not currently working in their field.

“This guide is focused on supporting employers to attract, and importantly retain and support, engineers from migrant backgrounds living in Queensland or those who are willing to move interstate to help fill these gaps.”

“This guide will help employers bridge the knowledge gap with practical strategies that will open doors to more skilled migrants who are not currently working in the occupation they are skilled in,” said Consult Australia Queensland Manager Kristine Banks. “We know there are increasing demands on our labour market — this tool will help us fill those gaps while proactively breaking barriers for our migrant communities.”

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