One of the most prevalent concerns I hear from employers is this:

“We can’t find any Aboriginal applicants”

“I’ve never had any Aboriginal people apply for our vacancies”

I see and hear this at many of the forums I attend, and short talks I give across Sydney, the Hunter, and the Central Coast. Employers advertise jobs. They don’t get any Aboriginal applicants, even when they would happily accept Aboriginal applicants. This happens job after job, vacancy after vacancy.

I know most Australian employers want to do more for Aboriginal employment but just don’t know how. They don’t know what they’re doing, or not doing, that is getting them such poor results. And, it certainly isn’t helping them make progress against their Aboriginal employment goals. How, they ask me, can they grow their Aboriginal staff numbers if they can’t find any applicants?

The good news is that it doesn’t need to be this way. There are things you can do that will help you get applications from Aboriginal people. Smart, qualified, experienced Aboriginal people, as well as keen whipper snappers looking for a start.

But before we talk about how you can get on the right track, it’s worth looking at the problem a little closer to see what is really going on; what’s happening that is holding you back from finding Aboriginal applicants.