Consultants working on upgrade of the job seeker experience
Australia’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment has selected a host of external partners for a planned upgrade of its online portal for job seekers.
Unemployed Australians can access myriad services – payments, training, career support, etc – online via the government’s portal for job seekers. Help is available for everyone on the job hunt: new starters, youngsters, individuals made redundant, as well as those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
As part of a New Employment Services Model (NESM) to be rolled out nationwide by next year, the government aims to digitalise this job seeker experience via an integrated cloud-based system. Several partners have been called in to support the transformation – including Microsoft, SAS, DXC Technology, ThinkPlace, Annex and Veritec.
Relying on its vast team of certified cloud experts, DXC Technology is leading the digital-focused consortium of partners in the implementation process. Microsoft and SAS are the technology suppliers: Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure and SAS CI360 will all play key roles in the project.
ThinkPlace brings to the table its expertise in design and transformation, while Annex will support with digital product and service development using agile and collaborative processes. Veritec – a Microsoft Gold Partner – contributes its end-to-end system implementation and transformation expertise.
Each of these capabilities is crucial to the end goal: to deliver a cloud-powered, integrated portal that can make the job hunt fast, accurate, efficient and flexible for job seekers and job hunters alike.
For tech-savvy job seekers, the new seamless experience features tools to make more informed choices for their career. A contact centre is available to answer questions, while tech support is also available for those less digitally literate. For employers, the single, digitalised interface allows for a filtered and streamlined search for candidates.
Rebuilding the economy
All this falls under the NESM framework, designed to make the employment process easier. Payments, skills training and subsidies aside, the new programme also offers ‘enhanced services’ such as personalised training, support and counselling to seekers from disadvantaged backgrounds.
NESM was already being piloted back in 2019, although the pandemic and all that has ensued over the course of 2020 has given the programme a whole new relevance. Originally designed to tackle a marginally unhealthy unemployment rate – 5.3% in 2019 per the Australian Bureau of Statistics – NESM could now become the cornerstone of Australia’s economic recovery, as the pandemic-induced crisis chalked up billions in job and income losses.
