Top Tips on Finding Farm Workers » FarmReady Hub
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Top Tips on Finding Farm Workers

By April 25, 2021 May 8th, 2021 No Comments
Farmworkers

If you are a farmer or employer and are having trouble finding farmworkers.  Here are some ideas.

www.farmreadyhub.com is a ‘hub’ of information that freely provides links between job seekers, regional Queensland, Government training & employment initiatives and employers.

Secondly, it is home to the FarmReady Card, Queensland’s own agricultural industry-endorsed and government-funded training program.  Designed to help job seekers ‘hit the ground running‘ on your farm, so they arrive better prepared.  FarmReady aims to provide a large percentage of your on-farm induction – leaving you to put your valuable time and effort into the specifics of your workplace during your employee’s first morning on the job.  The FarmReady Card is a 12-month membership ($49) charged to the job seeker but with free employer benefits.

The FarmReady Card also teaches job seekers about Queensland’s agri-industry, its regions, and employers.  This is where an employer can position themselves to be a job seeker’s first choice.   After FarmReady jobseekers contact you for work, they can email you their resume, letter of offer and job start kit (Employment Agreement) This service is free to employers.  This information comes directly from a FarmReady Cardholder’s Skills Passport (part of their 12-month membership).

Apart from the website, FarmReady’s other broader services are in adult education and workforce development.  Meaning that FarmReady also works with various community initiatives and government projects to educate and employ people in agriculture.  As a result of this, many different types of potential workers go through the FarmReady Hub and, they ALL need a JOB!  So, FarmReady goes that extra step to offer a community service that links job seekers (who are interested in Ag) to employers like you.

These potential employees include migrants, visa holders, Australians, school leavers, vocational or academic graduates.  Harvest and packing staff are essential, but we also need specialist operators, team leaders, managers and technical staff. FarmReady attracts a diversity of people who have differing skills and qualifications for farm careers.  Agriculture is made up of so many different jobs across various commodities.  There is a job for everyone, but not all jobs are suitable for the individual, so job seekers need training in the industry and how to find the best job for themselves before they set out on their journey.  FarmReady offers this level of training and standard induction topics like FWO, OHS, IR, Food Safety, COVID and Biosecurity.  Making FarmReady Card a holistic preparation course for the Queensland agricultural industry.

If you wish to see all the topics included in the FarmReady Card training, visit here.

FarmReady’s ethos

FarmReady’s ethos is to promote agriculture as a long-term career of choice, whether a job seeker starts off as a casual labourer or is qualified to move into a specialist role. As well as ensuring they ‘self-filter’ themselves into the right job.  So, they arrive at the farm gate ‘not quite so green’, which helps with an employer’s induction efficiencies and compliance.  This approach helps an employer stay connected to a resource of workers who are interested in agriculture and may last longer than average on your farm.

 

Here are some top tips on how to utilise FarmReady:

Get listed on FarmReady Hub

So you are directly promoted to job seekers and any students who have joined through a government training or employment initiative like GapYear.

Participate in the GapYear program

All employers may list themselves on the FarmReady website. However, the GapYear program is an initiative of Growcom to help young Australian school leavers into agricultural employment around Queensland. If you would like to be part of this initiative, Blair Brown (of Growcom), is the coordinator and he will assess your suitability for this program. If your application is successful, a 'GapYear Approved' logo will appear next to your business's listing on the FarmReady Hub website. Young Australians will be trained in how to look after themselves and find the most appropriate farm job as well as contacting you for work as an 'Approved GapYear Employer'.

Make your job easier to understand - use videos

A picture tells a thousand words. Take a short video of your farm jobs (10 or 30 seconds on a mobile phone - using landscape aspect). Ensure all WHS and food safety visuals are appropriate. Send a link to Farmready and it can be uploaded next to your job listing. Note: if you don’t have a Youtube account – FarmReady can host it for you, just ask.

Talk about location & life outside of work

Take the ‘too hard’ out of your job and give them the full picture: what type of farm you are (ie: crops grown/industry), where to work, where to stay, where to play. If you are having trouble, email FarmReady for assistance.

Use social media

Social media is a great place to advertise jobs or just tell everyone about your farm. Facebook even has a ‘jobs’ template that you can use. You can run free ads or paid ads to improve your reach. Don't know how? No worries, FarmReady can help you set it up, or promote a campaign for you (at cost).

Benefit from FarmReady's marketing campaign

FarmReady is currently running a professional social media marketing campaign to attract people into long-term careers and shorter-term casual jobs for all types of agriculture across Queensland. If you are listed on the FarmReady website, you can take advantage of this reach. If you need help to set yours up - just ask. FarmReady’s socials are:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Farmreadyhub

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmready/

Tag: #farmreadyhub

Cross promote your social media and job ads

If you do post a job ad on social media – tell FarmReady (or tag farmready), so FarmReady can repost it to the FarmReady social channels and a wider audience for you.

Ask FarmReady to send out an email for you

Do you want to promote something special to job seekers? Just ask FarmReady – we can send out a broadcast to our members (job seekers).

Missing information in your region?

Check out the regional pages on the FarmReady website and tell us if there is something else that a job seeker should know in your area. Farmready relies on local knowledge to get the best information out to job seekers so they can hit the ground running on your farm.
Our website delivers an initiative of the RJSA.
The FarmReady Card Micro-Credentialing Pilots Program project is proudly supported and funded by the Queensland Government.
The contents of the FarmReady Card have been developed to provide preparation training & information for job seekers wishing to connect with agriculture. The © ™ FarmReady Card is a micro-credential training program resulting in a digital credential.  The FarmReady Card concept was originally developed in 2003 by the Lockyer Valley Alliance.
Janne Dipple

Janne Dipple

GradDip Adult LLN in Practice. FarmReady Founder and Project Coordinator. "Connecting employers, job seekers and programs whilst promoting agri-careers, industry preparation and adult education."

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