Mapping our forest industry careers
An exciting new project mapping our forest industry careers is soon to commence, guided by the Workforce Development and Diversity Reference Group and in partnership with the Tasmania Forestry Hub.
Simon Talbot (General Manager, Tasmania Forestry Hub) and Tracey Taylor (Manager, Workforce and Diversity – TFFPN) have been collaborating with an industry working group to scope out a project that will research current and future forest industry careers, with the required skills mapped against education and training pathways with clear entry points.
“Undertaking industry-wide career mapping is a first for the Tasmanian forest industry. An understanding of the career entry points, and educational pathways is critical to attracting, recruiting, and retaining the industry’s workforce of the future,”said working group member Eva James from Reliance Forest Fibre.
An improved understanding of the Tasmanian forest industry careers and training has been identified as a key priority in the following:
- The Regional Forestry Hub Road Map 2021
- The Tasmanian Forest Industry Workforce Development and Implementation Plan
- Connecting & Belonging: Forest Industry Diversity Action Plan
Darcy Vickers, from the Forest Education Foundation said that for many forestry careers, career entry points, and training pathways are complex and confusing.
“The pathway from school to industry is unclear and recruitment uses traditional methods, often relying on existing networks,” Mr Vickers said.
The working group identified three career groupings based on the current structure of the industry, current careers and anticipated future demand for workers and skills into the next five years. Within each of these groupings, here were sub-groupings identified based on the job roles and skills required.
“You will notice that some of the job titles may not match those traditionally used in the sector, at this stage, these are only draft ideas from the working group, but are an attempt to define job titles that could be attractive to our future workforce” Mr Vickers said.
The project will be led by RMCG Consulting who will liaise with Simon, Tracey and the working group to identify the careers, detail the skills, define entry points and map the training pathways. Key to the success of this work is consultation with the broader industry, and anyone with an interest in careers and training is invited to participate.
Please reach out to either Simon or Tracey to learn more about this project, your input can be as little as an email or phone call, or you can participate in the consultation phase or in the working group. See the project flyer for more information on this project.
Tracey can be contacted on 0499 623 791 or Tracey.Taylor@tffpn.com.au and Simon on 0447 599 622 or Simon.Talbot@tffpn.com.au
