Entry level jobs opportunities and barriersJune 2015
Note: This report is the overall analysis of the Department of Employments research into entry level labour markets. Individual occupation reports are at: www.employment.gov.au/entry-level-labour-markets.
Labour Market Research and Analysis Branch, Department of EmploymentPage 1
Executive summary
The Department spoke with around 1200 employers who were recruiting for
Bar and beverage attendants
Caf workers
Labourers
Receptionists
Sales assistants
Waiters
Few employers will hire inexperienced workers.
Entry level positions are easily filled and competition from job seekers is strong.
Inexperienced job seekers face competition from experienced job seekers and have limited opportunities in these occupations.
Employers dont generally require applicants for these occupations to have vocational qualifications or extensive training.
To be competitive, though, applicants may need tickets or licences relevant to the occupation (such as an RSA or Construction White Card).
Many young people gain their first job in Retail Trade, Accommodation and Food Services and Construction. These three industries, together, employ around half of all young workers (those aged 15 to 24 years).[footnoteRef:1] [1: ABS Labour Force Survey, four quarter average to August 2015]
ISBN: 978-1-76028-609-5
To understand the opportunities and barriers for young people who do not have work experience, the Department of Employment has undertaken research into six entry level occupations, within these industries.
Key findings
There are generally large numbers of applicants for these positions. One third of employers were continuously or often approached by job seekers asking for work.
Lack of experience is a significant barrier. Only about 30% of jobs in these occupations are open to applicants without experience and, reflecting the strong competition for vacancies, some of these are filled by experienced workers.
The vast majority of applicants are considered by employers to be unsuitable (on average, there are around 36 unsuitable applicants for each vacancy). Despite this, employers generally have the choice of multiple suitable applicants.
A range of factors lead to employers regarding applicants as being unsuitable. Some are hard to address, like lack of experience, but candidates can work on many of the other factors (such as having a well presented application and maximising their hours of availability) to enhance their prospects.
Many employers (44%) had a positive view of young job seekers without experience, indicating they would employ them, but in practice they sought experienced applicants for their vacancies.
Department of EmploymentPage 2
Barriers
Lack of experience is a key barrier for young people entering the labour market in these occupations, with relatively few vacancies being open to them.
There are large numbers of people looking for work in the reception and hospitality occupations. Employers for these occupations are generally unwilling to recruit workers who do not have specific experience in these fields.
Inexperience is the key reason for rejecting applicants, even if many of them have the qualities and attributes required for the job.
Lack of training or certification is not a major barrier to employment in these occupations, with employers requirements generally being for relatively easily obtained licences or certificates.
Not having reliable transport or a drivers licence is often mentioned as a barrier. The ability to obtain a drivers licence may be challenging for some young job seekers given the time and cost involved.
Employers often assume that candidates who have to travel a significant distance may be unreliable or will not stay long enough to make investing in training worthwhile.
The ability to demonstrate many of the main qualities and attributes employers seek in their workers also presents difficulties for many new job seekers. Even those candidates with excellent soft skills, may have difficulty getting past the shortlisting stage due to their lack of experience.
Opportunities
Although there is strong applicant competition, employers sometimes have difficulty finding the workers they need.
Opportunities exist across a variety of employment conditions, with permanent, casual, full-time and part-time jobs offered in these occupations.
Many employers have a positive view of school leavers, with about 44% saying they would consider hiring a school leaver or school age applicant without experience.
Overall, around half of surveyed employers were willing to take on someone with six months or less experience.
The survey highlighted that there are some relatively simple steps that job seekers can take to enhance their competitiveness, such as
following instructions when applying
having a well presented application
demonstrating genuine interest
indicating availability and being flexible
ensuring email addresses and social media content are appropriate
reassuring the employer that they have reliable transport
tailoring their personal presentation to the business
highlighting their soft skills.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that by applying early, applicants can enhance their prospects.
Some employers take on the first applicant who meets their criteria.
Researching the business may help to show interest. Around one third of employers expected candidates to have researched their business, with some commenting those who do stand out.[footnoteRef:2] [2: Due to changes to the survey, employers recruiting for receptionists were not asked this question.]
Department of EmploymentPage 2
Recruitment outcomes
These vacancies are generally strongly contested by applicants and employers overall have little difficulty recruiting (Figure 1).
Employers usually have the choice of multiple suitable applicants. The few vacancies which remained unfilled generally attracted applicants but they did not meet the employers expectations.
Despite attracting multiple applicants, employers recruiting for labourers and waiters have some difficulty finding workers who meet their skill and experience needs, and a higher proportion of these vacancies were unfilled.
A significant proportion of employers (21%) recruited applicants who exceeded their expectations. The proportions were notably higher for receptionist (28%) and bar and beverage attendant (26%) vacancies, but relatively low for labourer (12%) and waiter (15%) positions.
Just 6% of employers said that they recruited people whose skills fell short of their expectations.
The results suggest that some job seekers may shun labourer jobs. There is less competition for these positions than there is for hospitality, sales and reception work, with fewer candidates (although there are generally multiple suitable applicants) and 20% of the surveyed vacancies were unfilled.
Just 18% of employers had not been approached by people seeking work in the past year. About 33% said they were continuously or often approached and 40% were occasionally or rarely approached.
Employers of bar and beverage attendants were the most likely to receive unsolicited job applications, with almost half saying they are continuously or often approached.
Figure 1: Proportion of vacancies filled and applicant numbers, by occupation (ranked by proportion of vacancies filled)
By location
The vast majority of vacancies were filled, regardless of location, although a slightly higher proportion of metropolitan vacancies were filled than regional vacancies.
Regional employers were more positive about applicants, considering around 20% to be suitable (compared with 15% of applicants for metropolitan vacancies).
There was no real difference between regional and metropolitan employers willingness to take on a job seeker with no experience.
Applicant competition was lowest in the Northern Territory (with 10 applicants per vacancy of whom 2 were regarded as suitable, on average) but there are few unfilled vacancies.
Figure 2: Proportion of vacancies filled and number of applicants and suitable applicants, by location
Figure 2 shows a map of Australia that shows the percentage of vacancies filled and the average number of suitable and unsuitable applicants per vacancy.
New South Wales, 86% of vacancies were filled, there were 25 applicants per vacancy on average and there were 5 suitable applicants per vacancy on average. Victoria, 91% filled, 47 applicants, 5 suitable. Queensland, 90% filled, 66 applicants, 10 suitable. South Australia, 82% filled, 45 applicants, 8 suitable. Western Australia, 89% filled, 54 applicants, 8 suitable. Tasmania, 93% filled, 24 applicants, 7 suitable. Northern Territory, 91% filled, 10 applicants, 2 suitable. Australian Capital Territory, 85% filled, 45 applicants, 11 suitable.
90% of metropolitan vacancies were filled, compared with 84% in regional areas. Metropolitan vacancies also attracted significantly larger numbers of applicants (48 applicants per vacancy compared with 28). Despite this, metropolitan and regional employers both considered a similar number of applicants to be suitable (7 and 6 respectively).
Experience requirements
Almost 30% of vacancies were open to workers who did not have previous employment experience.
Notably, though, 26% of these employers stated that they considered applicants for the surveyed vacancy to be unsuitab
