WELD OF OPPORTUNITY
BOSS ARCS UP: IF YOU’RE THE RIGHT FIT THERE’S A ...
SKILLS shortages are holding back a Geelong company’s expansion.
Rhino Grating in North Shore has been trying for five months to hire new welders for its growing manufacturing business.
However, the search has been fruitless, with director Ken Williams now desperately seeking up to six staff to meet the rising number of jobs.
“We just can’t get welders. I have tried everything I can,” he said, referencing advertisements in print and online and the use of recruitment agencies.
Mr Williams said staff were being paid overtime to work a sixth day per week, to try to keep up with the demand.
Government data, published in March, shows there is a statewide difficulty in attracting structural steel and welding workers.
A survey last year showed welder employers were able to fill just 40 per cent of their vacancies.
Apprenticeship commencements had been trending down for the past five years before reaching a five-year low in June 2017.
The recent closure of Ford and Holden’s manufacturing facilities in Victor- ia was contributing to a perception that there were limited long-term opportunities in the sector, the survey found.
Rhino Grating has three sites across the country, employing about 120 staff.
The North Shore base has nine workers, but Mr Williams said he would like to boost that up to as many as 15. His plea comes amid the latest job figures that show Geelong’s unemploy- ment rate has risen above the state and national averages. The city’s unemployment rate was 6.6 per cent in April, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
That is at least one point higher than the Australian (5.6 per cent) and Victorian (5.3 per cent) averages.
Anyone interested in the vacancies can contact Mr Williams at ken@rhinograting.com.au
“We just can’t get welders. I have tried everything I can.” KEN WILLIAMS