SEARCH AND EMPLOY
Campaign to find
destroyer workers
By PAUL STARICK
17may06
ADELAIDE-based ASC will extend a long-term recruiting campaign for 1000 shipbuilding jobs into schools in a bid to combat a national skills shortage.
Awarded a $6 billion air warfare destroyer contract in May last year, ASC is already starting a national hunt for 200 workers for the project's design and planning phase.
A further 800 workers, including project managers, boilermakers and welders, will be required before construction of the three ships starts in 2009.
ASC shipbuilding chief executive officer John Gallacher yesterday said the company and its contract partners would target schools, universities and vocational colleges across the country to promote long-term careers in high-end manufacturing.
"One of the things we see is a need to attract people to the industry," Mr Gallacher said. "It's not just going out and offering people a job. We think, in schools, that teachers, students and even the parents need to understand it's an attractive career."
A national skills shortage meant the shipbuilders would be battling mining and resources firms for workers.
"There's definitely a shortage of skills across the country. It will have an impact on us," Mr Gallacher said.
"That's why we're keen to go out and recruit and train and upskill people."
Mr Gallacher said some overseas recruitment would be conducted to replace staff diverted from ASC's submarine arm to the shipbuilding project.
ASC, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation, beat Victorian-based shipbuilder Tenix for the contract to build three hi-tech air warfare destroyers for the navy, the first to be delivered in 2013.
The State Government is injecting more than $140 million into a shipbuilding precinct, near ASC's Outer Harbor headquarters, which include a maritime skills training centre.
Premier Mike Rann announced plans for the centre in February last year.
The construction of this new infrastructure is expected to create contracting jobs. Mr Gallacher said ASC was meshing with State Government efforts to boost South Australia's population, including the Adelaide - Make The Move campaign targeting interstate migration.
ASC employs 1050 workers, including 140 in WA.
A Business SA study released this month found an acute shortage of skilled staff in SA was becoming a huge hurdle to business growth, confirming a national trend. More than 40 per cent of businesses identified the lack of skilled tradespeople as a problem. A third of respondents said they were worried by a shortage of white-collar, or professional, staff.
Mr Gallacher said ASC intended to capitalise on advantages, including Adelaide's attractiveness as a place for long-term careers.
He said a project stretching until at least 2017, based in a capital city, was more likely to be attractive than a two-year mining contract job. "If there's a skills shortage, some people will go to the bush (for mining projects) and earn more money," Mr Gallacher said.
"We think there's a lot of people who will see a career in Adelaide."
The project's long lead time would allow the company to hire people with basic skills, then train them for specific tasks on the air warfare destroyer project.
The project's design phase, during which two ship designs will be evaluated, runs until a Federal Government project approval expected next year.
The 200 workers required for this phase include project managers, production planners and designers.
Campaign to find
destroyer workers
By PAUL STARICK
17may06
ADELAIDE-based ASC will extend a long-term recruiting campaign for 1000 shipbuilding jobs into schools in a bid to combat a national skills shortage.
Awarded a $6 billion air warfare destroyer contract in May last year, ASC is already starting a national hunt for 200 workers for the project's design and planning phase.
A further 800 workers, including project managers, boilermakers and welders, will be required before construction of the three ships starts in 2009.
ASC shipbuilding chief executive officer John Gallacher yesterday said the company and its contract partners would target schools, universities and vocational colleges across the country to promote long-term careers in high-end manufacturing.
"One of the things we see is a need to attract people to the industry," Mr Gallacher said. "It's not just going out and offering people a job. We think, in schools, that teachers, students and even the parents need to understand it's an attractive career."
A national skills shortage meant the shipbuilders would be battling mining and resources firms for workers.
"There's definitely a shortage of skills across the country. It will have an impact on us," Mr Gallacher said.
"That's why we're keen to go out and recruit and train and upskill people."
Mr Gallacher said some overseas recruitment would be conducted to replace staff diverted from ASC's submarine arm to the shipbuilding project.
ASC, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation, beat Victorian-based shipbuilder Tenix for the contract to build three hi-tech air warfare destroyers for the navy, the first to be delivered in 2013.
The State Government is injecting more than $140 million into a shipbuilding precinct, near ASC's Outer Harbor headquarters, which include a maritime skills training centre.
Premier Mike Rann announced plans for the centre in February last year.
The construction of this new infrastructure is expected to create contracting jobs. Mr Gallacher said ASC was meshing with State Government efforts to boost South Australia's population, including the Adelaide - Make The Move campaign targeting interstate migration.
ASC employs 1050 workers, including 140 in WA.
A Business SA study released this month found an acute shortage of skilled staff in SA was becoming a huge hurdle to business growth, confirming a national trend. More than 40 per cent of businesses identified the lack of skilled tradespeople as a problem. A third of respondents said they were worried by a shortage of white-collar, or professional, staff.
Mr Gallacher said ASC intended to capitalise on advantages, including Adelaide's attractiveness as a place for long-term careers.
He said a project stretching until at least 2017, based in a capital city, was more likely to be attractive than a two-year mining contract job. "If there's a skills shortage, some people will go to the bush (for mining projects) and earn more money," Mr Gallacher said.
"We think there's a lot of people who will see a career in Adelaide."
The project's long lead time would allow the company to hire people with basic skills, then train them for specific tasks on the air warfare destroyer project.
The project's design phase, during which two ship designs will be evaluated, runs until a Federal Government project approval expected next year.
The 200 workers required for this phase include project managers, production planners and designers.