Group Training Organisations and Job Network - working together to get job seekers into Australian Apprenticeships

In response to suggestions that many group training organisations (GTOs) had difficulty filling all their vacancies at a time of chronic skill shortages, a project was undertaken in 2004 with funding from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to improve the flow of referrals from the Job Network and thereby reduce the number of unfilled vacancies.

However, not all of these vacancies will be filled by young people leaving school. With the ageing of the Australian population and the impact this will have on the Australian economy in terms of skills and labour shortages, there is an expectation that workforce participation will need to be increased to help address the problem. This will mean that employment and training opportunities will need to be made available for a range of potential workers including people with disabilities, people in receipt of income support, older workers and people displaced by industry restructuring. Many of these people are registered with the Job Network.

GTA and the National Employment Services Association (NESA) have jointly developed a Toolbox which distils the results of a number of collaborative partnerships between GTOs and Job Network members into a structured guide on the issues involved in establishing successful partnerships. The Toolbox has also been loaded onto the ECSN secure site where it can be accessed by Job Network members.

We hope that you find this Toolbox useful in looking for more effective ways to fill your vacancies.