Defence

Defence Personnel Executive

Planning to enhance ADF recruitment

By Alexander Seccombe

"I regard recruiting and retention of people as the most significant issue facing the ADF in the future. Recruiting and retention is fundamental to our ability to sustain ADF capability now, and set us on the path of achieving my vision of the ADF: A balanced, networked and deployable force, manned by dedicated and professional people, which excels at joint and coalition operations.'

Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston

Australian Defence Force (ADF) recruitment is more than just filling current vacancies. Rather, it is focused on long-term capability development, in which people are the most important element.

The fact is that Defence must maintain a substantial force of highly trained personnel if our country is to meet its operational requirements and achieve the Defence mission.

Brigadier Simon Gould.
Photo by Katharina Chase

The Directorate of Strategic Recruiting (DSR), within the Defence Personnel Executive (DPE), was recently established to coordinate Defence's strategic approach to recruiting. Working under the Director-General of Defence Force Recruiting, Brigadier Simon Gould, DSR's mission is to provide strategic guidance to ADF recruiting operations and planning to enhance a sustainable recruiting capability.

The Challenge

The ADF, like many other Australian employers in recent years, has suffered a downturn in recruiting. This is mainly due to an ageing population, historically low unemployment, declining health standards and access to a smaller pool of young people aged 15-24.

Accepting these challenges, the ADF is looking to recruit another 8733 full- and part-time personnel across the three services in Financial Year 2005-06.

Special attention will given to shortfalls in critical categories, such as technical trade personnel in both Army and Navy.

Guiding all this effort will be the ADF Recruiting Strategic Plan 2005-10, which was endorsed by the Chiefs of Service Committee (COSC) in October 2005.

The Strategic Plan also outlines a number of actions for 2006, including a review of recruiting processes and standards and the development of other initiatives aimed at making the ADF the preferred employer of young, skilled Australians.

DSR plays an important role in managing implementation of the Strategic Plan and will be responsible for coordinating the evaluation of the current Defence Force Recruiting contract, which commenced on 1 July 2003.

Directorate of Strategic Recruiting team members (from left) Jennifer Clews, Emma Gorny, Alex Gerrick and Alexander Seccombe.
Photo by Katharina Chase

The Director of Strategic Recruiting, Alex Gerrick, believes a whole-of-Defence approach will be essential.

"DSR will consult widely across Defence, working particularly closely with areas involved in personnel policy, reputation management, branding, workforce planning and cadets, as well as other areas that affect recruitment," Mr Gerrick says.

This approach will also extend to embedding recruiting and retention issues in wider Defence strategic planning.

"A consultative, cooperative approach with all Defence Groups will not only result in better recruitment practices and outcomes, but also ensure that all stakeholders can contribute to generating future ADF capability," Mr Gerrick says.

DSR will be taking the lead in enhancing recruiting capability, but it does not have a monopoly on good ideas. While DSR-led Working Groups will provide important sources of counsel, cooperation throughout Defence is vital to achieving short-term and long-term recruitment goals.

If you have any ideas or comments about recruiting, please let us know by emailing adf.recruiting@defence.gov.au.

The ADF Recruiting Strategic Plan 2005-10 is available on the Defence Intranet at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/dpe/ under 'Hot Issues.'

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