Entrepreneurial local rural government?
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April 28, 2007How CAN local government attract excellence in economic development officers? What about some more challenging advertisements to attract business winners who might really ‘progress’ rural areas?
Out of exasperation with the slow rate of progress in rural areas we have received this suggestion as to how local government might ‘do it better’. Two key rural dilemmas emerge in a direct response to a job ad for an economic development officer for Queanbeyan City Council, NSW. (See below this post.)
1)Why aren’t rural towns progressing economically?
2)How do councils find/attract experienced, entrepreneurial people?
Our reader asks:
Q. To progress development of a ‘music/band’ industry who would you like to appoint to advise you ? A. Peter Garret.
Q. To encourage your youth to take up tennis, and train to become champions, who would you like to appoint to advise you ? A. Leyton Hewitt.
Q. To encourage local Aboriginal youth to take up athletics, to become champions, who would you like to appoint to advise you? A. Cathy Freeman.
These are all very obvious choices and clearly advertising for a ‘Music Development Officer’, a ‘Sports Development Officer’ or a ‘Youth Development Officer would not attract these experts.
So…in the first place:
Councils seeking excellence need to state exactly what they want eg:
‘Proven business winner sought to develop new Festival/attract new businesses/more tourists.’
Advertising for an economic development officer may attract many applicants, but most likely they will be aged under 45, carrying a fistful of degrees, Commerce, Community Development, Economics, and who may never have built a seven figure ‘new business’ operation, nor driven down purchasing costs substantially improving industry profits, nor originated a new Festival that has attracted thousands.
With globalisation, industry takeovers and Australia’s manufacturing moving to China, there are a number of resident, 46 to 70 year old ‘senior, proven, business winners’ that Council advertising and the present HR system is not catching. They would love to pitch their business winning development skills, to compete, to progress rural towns on a short or long term basis.
…in the second place:
When Councils advertise the position of Economic Development Officer they don’t ask applicants to state their ideas for boosting local business. This would make it much easier to find the right person and it would refine the list of applicants to those who have a clear idea of how to resolve the Council’s advertised challenge.
…in the third place:
Councils, who have had years to think about it, don’t say what are the real economic problems facing their towns eg:
- Residents are travelling to other towns to do their shopping.
- Our young people have nothing to keep them in the town.
- Our town hasn’t attracted one new business in the past ten years.
- This is the best place for Canberra workers to live but it is not attracting new residents.
- 10,000 people travel past our town but never call in.
- The drought has decimated our local residents’ ability to sustain local businesses and our retail centre.
…in the fourth place:
Council advertisements rarely state their known development opportunities eg:
- We have NSW’s largest inland hospital but we lack accommodation for the families of visiting patients;
- Our town is next to what will be Australia’s largest new open cut mine, but we lack worker accommodation;
- We have a large youth/elderly persons/new Australian population but little in the way of specialist community engagement facilities;
- We are a seaside fishing community but lack local fish packing, city delivery, and export facilities.
- We have excellent motels, restaurants and local attractions that could easily accommodate increased, special interest, visitor numbers.
WHY do Councils NOT advertise exactly the specific skills, the specific industries and the specific local business challenges and then invite applicants to state upfront what they could do to deliver the results sought?
Have you got something to add?
Queanbeyan Job Advertisement
EDA – Economic Development Australia – 17-04-2007 Economic Development Officer – NSW Queanbeyan City Council Salary Range $1034.90 to $1246.95 pw (plus super) Council has created an excellent opportunity for a motivated, enthusiastic and innovative person to promote economic growth and promotion in the local area. Applicants should have degree qualifications in Business, Economics, Marketing or a related discipline as well as a minimum of 5 years experience in small/medium business management and small/medium business economic development/enterprise facilitation. Persons without degree qualifications, with extensive business planning experience and a track record of implementing successful business initiatives will also be considered. Applicants must have good skills in communication, market analysis, public relations and business development including funding opportunities and budget management. This position will be subject to a 19 day, 4 week month based on a 35 hour week. Salary progression will be based on meeting skills and competencies set in accordance with Council’s salary system and NAPSA (Notional Agreement Preserving the Local Government (State) Award) conditions apply. Contact: Intending applicants must obtain an information package from the Human Resources section located at 263 Crawford Street or alternatively by contacting the 24 hour answering service on 6298 4504 or by Email to: recruit@qcc.nsw.gov.au. The information package may also be obtained from Council’s website at www.qcc.nsw.gov.au/positionsvacant. Further information can be obtained from David Carswell on (02) 6298 0276. Applications close 5pm Monday 26th March 2007. Gary Chapman General Manager Queanbeyan City Council is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from Multicultural and Aboriginal people. Council employees enjoy free parking and a dynamic, safe and healthy working environment.
4 Comments
Mon may 7 , 2006
To the Editor of PWF.
Nicely put Gail.
In the next few days I will be lodging , as additional comments, details how specified Councils, by not doing as you suggest, have missed out on their advertising, either not attracting, or alternatively, not identifying, for Council to interview, the right person(s) interested, and available, to successfully develop Council local business and local employment employment opportunities. Specifically I will be identifying how the SA Flinders Ranges Area, the Sydney, Blue Mountains Area, the SW Central NSW the inland NW of NSW and the inland CWA have all missed unique opportunity to substantially and dynamically progress their local development.
I will be sending this PWF Editorial to David Carswell and Gary Chapman, General Manager of the Queanbeyan Council and inviting
them to comment.
Notwithstanding the above, a current search continues for the right Rural NSW Council(s), a Committed Rural NSW Mayor, and an appropriate inland site to be dynamically developed to show the way to Rural Australia how to attract , the vast global market of long haul, longer staying, bigger spending, overseas visitors. The same “Inland Discovery Village, Accommodations and Regional Tours, development” will also attract much greater numbers of Australians to preferentially, holiday first. in and throughout, all of inland Australia.
Hi Gail
In 1997,I conducted a 12 month consultancy with Wellington Shire Council and Cabonne Council to develop an economic development plan for each council. The history of the two resulting documents is interesting in that Wellington Shire put theirs on a shelf and promptly lost it. Cabonne went on and employed me for a further 4 years (1998-2001)to progress their “Vision 2007” and won National and International Awards for economic development. The 8 villages of Cabonne continued to grow despite the general downturn in the rural economy. The methodology was based on “grass roots” renewal.
In 2004, I was approached by Sutherland Shire in Northern Scotland and the methodology I developed for Cabonne was rolled out across Scotland, Denmark and other areas with excellent results. We kept in contact via email and the internet.
I tell you this as a former (recognised by Federal & State Govt) rural womens leader.
The most disturbing thing about the current economic development policy being pursued by local, state and gederal governments alike is the total lack of focus on rebuilding at “grass roots” preferring to pursue an economic rationalism that we all know is ‘dead in the water’. And I might say, it is not just rural NSW that is in trouble.
The NSW Government under Harry Woods pursued ‘local’ economic growth through the encouragement of small to medium enterprise, the Mainstreet Program and other creative, effective funding projects. However, towards the end of 2000, economic development in NSW started to move away from these ideas and instead pursued such ideas as ‘trying to poach’ industries from other areas (not development but redeployment!)
In Queensland however, a policy of ‘community capacity building’ continued to be the central theme and is still currently the basis for development projects.
It’s amazing how award winning methodologies were plagarised and decimated, creative and wonderful programs (aka Mainstreet) were dismantled and the highly effective and motivated people that ran those projects were scattered and lost. All that amazing knowledge fragmented and forgotten.
Economic development has been reduced to a narrow band of predetermined ideas and policies, most of which can’t work in the current climate because of the need ‘box it’ for consumption via the universities. The economy can only grow with adaptable methodologies, not with stultified and petrified principles.
What is needed is the emphasis to once again be on creative and proactive projects and people (leaders?) that drive the “grassroots” to initiate, implement and achieve once more.
And I agree, you won’t get ‘local’leaders with ads like local Queanbeyan put out.
But we’re a lazy lot…..aren’t we. It’ll be much easier I suspect to flood the economy with all sorts of ‘distracting’ goodies from China, Vietnam and India……..all of which can be paid for on a ‘dole’ income……..
One suspects we’ll see Australia go down the drain before we wake up.
nJoy
Gail,
This is an excellent issue that I believe needs to be addressed. My experience as a tourism development specialist of over 32 years and having extensive experience conducting economic development of regional and international environments, I must concur that there is a requirement for government employers and authorities, to be more exacting as to attracting the ideal candidate for such roles. Authorities must apply a more defined address to attract the ‘right people’ for positions that require extensive’hands-on’ professional experience, rather than academic qualifications, especially for regional development roles. This requires that the ’employers’ apply a concise detail and knowledge of ‘who’ they wish to perform the role(s) for to a profession, that requires ‘a proven success track record, in this field.’ If the position advertisement does not stress this point then their chances of attracting their ‘ideal person’ (i.e. ‘ideal professional candidates,’) will in many cases deter the right applicat from applying. In my experience, I have noted that in many such cases, where the position advertisement and job criteria factors have attracted people who are not ideally suited (yet they may have relevent academic qualifications), because they do have the ‘critical hands-on’ experience and a ‘successful track record’ managing similar roles, particularly in regional development environments. These cases invariably result in ‘re-advertising’ the position and wasting valuable time and expenses. Regional economic and tourism development requires ‘entrepreneuarial and skilled experience’ agumented by practical experience and business acumen, to achieve results and objectives. An inexperienced degree qualified candidate will be on a ‘learning curve’ and not able to apply the necessary ‘hands-on experience’ required to get a ‘jump start’ and achieve a positive success factor to gain positive and immediate inroads to structuring and implementing development campaigns and early results.
This is an interesting issue. I’ve worked in Economic Development for many years, in the public and private sector.
In my experience the problem is perhaps that it is difficult to attract people with appropriate experience and skills because it is rare for them to stay in the field of economic development due to: the intense pressure of the (often thankless) task at times, lack of recognition by employers of the significant skill of the role, and the poor remuneration which tends to see them leave the field for more lucrative, and often easier, roles. I’ve seen many a competent project officer or junior consultant move on to substantial positions in other sectors. Significantly, a lot of employers don’t understand what they want from an EDO or similar, or what is needed to get what they think they want (even if it is not a sensible economic development strategy they are pursuing). The starting salary for the Queanbeyan job illustrates this point, $50-$60k is a very low salary for a graduate of any discipline even without work experience, let alone someone who is expected to manage the complexities of economic development for a Shire (a graduate nurse for example gets in the order of $70k in NSW). To put this into context, I would hardly be surprised to find the PA for the General Manager was earning 50k or more and certainly the junior town planning or engineering staff at Council, who have a very easy job in comparison, would be remunerated more highly.
Any job of this nature is competing for talent with other providers of employment, in government and other sectors – it needs to provide sufficient intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to attract high calibre candidates.