It's working well

It seems the reasons for talent to turn down a role on the Sunshine Coast are becoming fewer.

We are getting closer to wage parity with our city cousins, have more and more large businesses either choosing to have a head office (or a presence) here, and there is a greater diversity in both the type of roles on offer as well as seniority levels of those roles.

One of the most positive outcomes we are seeing from our economic strategy, being driven by the Sunshine Coast Council, is higher paid jobs for our residents – and it’s a strategy that is clearly working with the Sunshine Coast’s average household income on the rise.

We are now only 10 per cent behind the State average, and our game changer projects have clearly had an impact on this.

The new hospital has attracted talent from all over the world, and to secure that talent you have to pay accordingly.

Attracting Talent

However, finding the talent in some areas is proving challenging.

Sally Desch, Director of HRM Contracting and Consulting has been matching candidates and employers for over 15 years and says there is a “candidate skill shortage” on the Sunshine Coast at the moment. She has been trying to recruit for a senior medical role and despite her best efforts they still have not found the right person.

She is also about to recruit for a senior IT based role and feels that she will have to recruit nationally to find the right person for this role simply because a person currently living on the coast is not likely to have had exposure or experience in this area, as up until now we have not had roles like this to fill.

As we mature as a region, and seek to fill a broader range of jobs, if we are to attract the right people we will need to pay accordingly. 

Sally said, “a lot of talent considering positions here are from Sydney and Melbourne rather than Brisbane”, and companies recruiting talent from outside of the region have had to accept that to attract the right person, you need to pay them what they would earn in our cities. A company’s “salary expectation can be a little unrealistic in terms of what they will pay a candidate, but we are getting better at bridging the gap”.

The adage of sacrificing salary for the Sunshine Coast lifestyle is well and truly behind us as companies are realising that to attract and retain talent salaries must be competitive.

 “While a person may accept a role on a lesser salary, they may continue to look for a role paying more and that will cost you in the long run. If you want to retain long-term employees then you need to ensure they are remunerated appropriately”, Sally said. By not paying market rate you are also “undervaluing the role”.

Other factors

So, assuming the salary meets the candidate’s expectations what are the other reasons people are choosing to relocate to the Sunshine Coast? According to Sally, the three main reasons people are relocating here are housing affordability, reasonable private school fees, and a lifestyle like no other.

Jen Hannan, Executive Director of HMR Healthcare moved her family to the Sunshine Coast from Melbourne last November. Like many of us before her Jen fell in love with the region after one visit, “Our family went on a holiday to Noosa and fell in love with the region and all that it encompasses”, she says.

Jen and her husband Campbell operate a successful healthcare business and have plans to relocate their Victorian distribution centre to the Sunshine Coast within the next six months. “We will need to employ administrative, sales and warehouse staff upon relocation. The pros for relocating to the Sunshine Coast are definitely the better lifestyle than the big city, which equates to a happier workplace”, Jen said.

Connecting with your kind of "tribe"

 Attracting talent is so much more than simply meeting the financial objectives of a candidate. Creating an environment in which they feel welcome and can identify with the regional culture is also imperative and we all have to do our part to welcome new people and their families to the area. 

 Most of us have moved to the Sunshine Coast from somewhere and how quickly we settled in had a lot to do with who we first came into contact with. A greater mix of talent, cultures and diversity only serves to enrich the fabric our region is built on.