Rachel Bryant, APL Capability Development Manager

Attracting and retaining staff is an ongoing challenge for businesses in the pork industry. It’s a multifaceted issue, and as such, there is no simple ‘silver bullet’ solution.

To address it, work is ongoing in a range of areas from supporting staff migration from overseas, to investing in the development of industry leaders, to providing schools and universities with resources about the pig industry.

We’re excited to announce a new resource in this space; a new ‘Careers’ section on the APL website.

Screenshot of Careers section on APL website.

Careers in the pork industry are hugely diverse – they span the farm, service and support industries, as well as the broader supply chain. Careers in pork utilise a wide range of skill sets – from animal handling and husbandry, to trades and mechanical skills, to science, to business – but most prospective employees don’t know that.

With this tool, industry can showcase the opportunities available to prospective employees. They will be able to see what sorts of jobs are out there, what the average salary range is, and what experience or education they’ll need.

They’ll also be able to see a role’s associated activities and responsibilities, and the skill sets which will help them succeed. If they’re interested, they’ll also be able to follow a link straight to SEEK and other recruiting sites, where jobs just like the one they’ve been reading about are being advertised.

The other thing this new tool does is show potential career pathways; people looking to take a job in the pork industry will be able to see the possible careers that a job could lead to. Similarly, people already working in the industry will be able to see where their skills and experiences could take them.

Screenshot of careers pathway on APL website.

One way to tackle the challenges of attracting people into the pork industry is to build awareness of the opportunities out there, and this tool does just that. By showing both new and current employees that there is a future in pork, the tool will also help in retaining them.

This has just gone live on the APL website but is by no means finished; we will be updating it over time to include more jobs and career pathways from more sectors of the industry, as well as profiling people in certain roles.

So, watch this space, feel free to get in touch with us with any feedback or suggestions, and in the meantime, go check it out here.