Following Toowoomba Regional Council’s (TRC) successful implementation of an in-house casual and temporary employment program, TEMPO Pool, the council is calling for expressions of interest for a second round.
TRC Finance and Business Strategy Portfolio Leader, Cr Kerry Shine, said the program had helped address staffing shortages in the organisation.
“Attracting new staff has been a challenge for the past year or so and this is a problem we are seeing across most industries at the moment,” Cr Shine said.
“With so much competition for workers it’s important we look at innovative programs like the TEMPO Pool to assist our workforce.”
The program provides an opportunity for local job seekers to get a foot in the door and guidance with their applications.
The program gives applicants the opportunity to use their relevant experience, and encourages them to apply to jobs where they have some background in the relevant area.
Participants who successfully complete the training and demonstrate high performance throughout the program, will be awarded the opportunity to join Council’s pool of casual and temporary employees.
“We particularly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with a disability, migrants, mature age jobseekers, school leavers, people re-entering the workforce after a lengthy absence and veterans to apply,” Cr Shine said.
The program was launched in 2022 and had 77 candidates express an interest.
“We then provided training to develop and upgrade their skills, and from the candidates who came on board 90 per cent of the available indoor pool were placed in the first few weeks with 100 per cent of the outdoor pool placed which is a great result” Cr Shine said.
“Feedback from the work areas where we’ve used TEMPO services has been overwhelmingly positive of the initiative which is why we’ve decided to open the program up for a second round.”
