As our immigration debate rages, cooler heads look to the UK

The UK engineering media is buzzing with Australia stories. The word is out that we are the hot ticket for British workers looking for lucrative Australia engineering jobs.

Immigration remains a sensitive issue for a lot of Australians. It’s easy to understand why, given the speed at which the population is evolving. Last year’s census revealed that there are now 21.7m people in Australia, which is a 9% increase from the 2006 figures.

2011 census data shows a steep climb
in immigration

This week we’ve seen the perils of illegal immigration and the tragic risks to which people are prepared to expose themselves to get here. This is a serious discussion and it’s happening in parliament as we speak; it’s beyond my pay grade and I’ll leave it to the people best placed to resolve the many issues associated with it.

Let’s talk about a different kind of immigration; let’s talk about white collar workers, those with advanced, critical skills and where we’re going to find them.  

We all know the background. Massive increases in demand for our natural resources from fast-growing economies with substantial populations are creating tremendous urgency to develop the infrastructure that can help meet demand. We have the buyers, we have the product; the hard part is finding the engineering professionals to get the job done.

The solution lies in bringing in contract workers on long term assignments and ensuring that the skills we bring into Australia temporarily remain here permanently through training and engagement.

We’ve never had such strong opportunities to attract engineers from the UK for example. Our brand as a country of opportunity is growing there more than ever. Every economy in the world is either suffering, or recovering from, a major financial crisis. Australia, in the eyes of the technical world, is boom town.

In my years working in London, I never encountered this degree of interest coming from all areas of the UK market. It’s time to take advantage of this; it’s in the long term interests of the Australian economy. The British represent the best source of long term temporary workers we’ve got. They are one of the world’s most mobile populations in professional terms, there are no language issues and there are cultural synergies that make every stage of the process easier.

If this is not a major target for you as a recruiting organization, it needs to be. It’s a very good idea to have a specific staffing strategy right now. There’s a lot of competition for these skills and there’s a limited talent pool anyway (as there is in every area of global engineering.)

If you’re a British engineer potentially looking for an exciting foreign opportunity, you need to make sure you’ve fully considered the Australia option. There’s a chance we may really need you out here. It’s a great place to bring your family, compared to many of the more traditional expat spots, and it’s going to be a lot easier than you think to make it a reality. 






Trevor Burne is Managing Director of Talascend. He blogs about Australian engineering jobs, and issues affecting Australian Engineers.

The biggest mistake made in meetings...

Everyone’s an expert.

Do you ever notice that? When you’re sat in meetings on more or less any subject, the people sat round the table always seem to have plenty of opinions, often expressed with the certainty of fact, but very few have a lot of questions to ask.

I wonder why that is. In all circumstances in life where groups of people are trying collectively to reach a correct decision, the process is always question and answer based. Courtroom trials are based exclusively on questions and answers, as are committee hearings, enquiries and tribunals.

Asking questions is not just a practical necessity, it’s also a basic human courtesy. It’s the foundation of human interaction, for strangers as much as for old friends.

Do you come here often? What team do you support?  How are Mary and the kids?

Virtually all conversations are question and answer led, until you’re in a meeting room with eight of your colleagues. Then suddenly everyone seems far more interested in asserting their own opinion than they are in soliciting someone else’s.

Why do we indulge this? The most awful people we meet socially are those who never ask questions. You know the type. You’re at the pub and every time a line of conversation emerges, this person can only reference it in some way back to themselves. They are not interested in taking in, only in giving out.

“I’m very excited, I’m going to Tunisia next month.”

“I went to Tunisia last year.”

“I just got a text from my friend, she’s living in London at the moment.”

“When I was living in London I found the weather was just too much.”  

It’s easy to do. Relating things back to personal experience is natural, but it’s also intrinsically selfish and a real social turn off. How much better is it to ask questions? Imagine if the same person answered each statement with a question…

“I’m very excited, I’m going to Tunisia next month.”

“Really? Why did you choose Tunisia?”

“I just got a text from my friend, she’s living in London at the moment.”

“Where abouts is she staying?”

A person who asks questions is immediately more likable and will ultimately accomplish more. Asking questions makes the person you’re talking to feel like you’re interested and it gives you more information. When it comes to business, information is almost always useful in making progress and problem solving.

We all need to ask more questions and listen to the answers. There is a danger that you're asking less questions than you actually think you are. Paying close attention to how you behave, and whether you're a listener or a talker is very important. As an old poker-playing friend of mine says, if you look round the table and you can't see who the loser is, then it's you.

What do you think?




Trevor Burne is Managing Director of Talascend. He blogs about Australian engineering jobs, and issues affecting Australian Engineers.