Fiona Smolenaars is the right person for the right job.
I knew little about her new role as the community connector co-ordinator for Greater Shepparton until she presented at the Committee for Greater Shepparton AGM/dinner.
Fiona outlined what she does with passion and enthusiasm, so much so that by the time she finished, guest speaker AIA Insurance chief executive Damien Mu had already pocketed the brochure to take the idea back to his business.
“Every business should be doing this,” he said.
So what does a community connector co-ordinator do?
Simply put, there is a need to recruit specialist staff to the region to fill skills gaps, and there are compelling economic and social reasons to get them to stay for a long time.
University of Melbourne research on the attraction and retention of health workers to regional and rural areas found if a new employee failed to feel connected to their new community within the first 12 to 18 months of relocating, they resigned from their position and left the area.
A broad range of employers across different industries said they shared the same experience.
The Greater Careers and Lifestyle Working Group identified the opportunity to create a position to help new employees and their families settle in the area. The goal is to make them feel welcome and help them establish strong links in the community.
As the community connector co-ordinator, Fiona is there to act as a sort of social concierge. She can link with other businesses to help partners find work, often filling two skills gaps from one family.
She can work with workers’ existing hobbies and interests to connect them to like-minded groups or individuals, or open their eyes to the region's opportunities.
Not only is it often hard to recruit for specialised roles, it is also costly and disruptive for business.
If the community connector co-ordinator idea is successful, we will all be better off — but it won't work unless, as a community, we embrace people.
We are known as a welcoming community, but the reality of feedback from departing employees is that we can be a bit impenetrable.
Everyone is friendly enough, but breaking into the tight circles of people who know each other well can be daunting.
There are other elements to the workforce strategy, including supporting young people into roles where there are skills gaps.
There is some exciting work on virtual reality career experience under way.
Above all, it is great to see a broad range of community organisations working together on the problem.