With 6,000 MW of renewable energy capacity to build by 2020, where are all those people going to be recruited from?

Today’s announcement from ARENA on the winners of funding for solar projects feels a bit like a starting gun. Certainly the last six months have seen an uplift in renewable energy recruitment but much of that seems to be people moving within the sector.

I have been speaking to many renewable energy business leaders about recruitment over the last few months, and they all recognise the need to bring people in from outside the sector. Equally, we get a lot of calls from people who want to move into the renewable energy sector, especially as the lucrative resources jobs are gone.

Bringing these two markets together should be fairly easy right? If only. There is a lot of pressure on the renewable energy sector now to deliver what they have been asking for, and that delivery has to be done well – on time and on budget – if the sector is to be taken seriously.

Therefore, Managers in the sector naturally go for the safer option of recruiting someone with relevant renewable energy experience. While many skills from outside the sector are clearly transferable, how do they know that the individual will successfully make the change to a different sector? This is a critical issue that needs to be acknowledged and managed in order to successfully bring in the required number of people into renewable energy projects in Australia.

If this is not addressed, then projects will not be delivered successfully. Hiring companies will need to be ready to recruit people internationally, and support them in that transition, and all recruitment will need to be done using more than just the usual tick box of skills and experience. There are many tools and approaches that can be used to ensure successful transition from one sector to another. Come and talk to us to see how we do it at Freshwater Group.

Freshwater Group is a renewable energy recruitment business that focuses on all renewable and low carbon emission, energy efficiency and disruptive clean technology businesses as well as energy infrastructure, storage and management.

Great People Better Outcomes www.freshwater-group.com.au
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