Plating up more staff — Albany takes the lead on worker shortage crisis with fast-track hospitality course

A WA-first short course set to fast-track training for Albany hospitality staff amid a regional worker shortage could help businesses across the State according to Tourism and Small Business Minister Paul Papalia. In a bid to connect workers with operators searching for skilled staff, South Regional TAFE Albany opened registrations last week for its new Fast Track to Hospitality Employment course. The five-day intensive course is specially designed to help new workers, including Year 12 leavers, gain the training needed to jump straight into gaps in Albany’s hospitality workforce. Students will be trained in customer service, preparing a resume and hygiene practices, and will earn their responsible service of alcohol and barista qualifications. At the conclusion of the course, students will be paired with local businesses looking for staff. The course was developed in partnership with the City of Albany, Albany Worklink and Impact Services, to make it more affordable for students. South Regional TAFE managing director Sue Lapham said the course would be delivered by lecturers with extensive experience in the hospitality industry. “It’s an example of a productive partnership, with organisations working together to support jobseekers as well as hospitality industry operators, who are desperately needing to recruit staff to keep their businesses viable,” she said. Visiting Albany and Denmark on Friday for meetings with more than 40 tourism businesses, Mr Papalia said the course could be replicated across WA. “I think it is extraordinary. It is exactly the sort of thing we need. But we need it everywhere,” he said. “This is a brilliant idea because you are packaging up a whole range of qualifications in a very compact, concentrated form and delivering it to people who are going to be motivated to find a job. “Then you are linking them to potential employers at a time when employees are desperately in need.” Mr Papalia said Albany businesses’ need for workers was an issue across the State as the sector grappled with a lack of seasonal workers and an influx of intrastate tourists. “Every regional centre that I’ve visited ... are confronting the same challenge,” he said. “What we have here is too much work and not enough people. We need workers and we need accommodation for workers, but that is a challenge that is everywhere.” Mr Papalia said the easing of the WA border restrictions last week could bring new workers, but ideally West Australians needed to fill the work available. “I think there are a lot of Western Australians who don’t have work right now, who can be trained and attracted into the sectors that need them,” he said. “I also think WA will be a very attractive place for people to come looking for opportunity because our economy is strong. “We will be leading the growth in just about every sector in the nation for the foreseeable future and there are a lot of reasons for why people would want to move from interstate to come and work here.”