Central Safety Group Melbourne

OHS job market analysis

HOK Talent Solutions is a fantastic supporter of Central Safety Gro up with provision of their beautiful Collins St boardroom for our monthly events and an annual informative review of the current OHS recruitment scene nationally.

The February 2024 presentation was based on Helen’s direct contact with hundreds of employers and deep data analysis from online recruitment sites such as Seek.com and LinkedIn. Further insights were derived from the thousands of interviews that Helen has undertaken while coaching candidates to land their dream OHS job. In summary, OHS job numbers have increased by 3% with candidates at advisor level being most in demand.

Helen's expertise and passion for her work were greatly appreciated by those of us online and in the room. In-person attendees not only enjoyed the view from the top floor of 120 Collins Street, but also the opportunity to continue the conversation with Helen after the formal part of the event.

Financial members can watch the full presentation on the CSG website. If you are looking for a new job check out www.hoktalentsolutions.com.au

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Kevin Jones

Date & Time: Tuesday 12 March 2024, noon

CSG Hybrid Lunchtime Presentation ~via zoom or in the room

Speaker: Kevin Jones, Editor, SafetyAtWorkBlog

Topic: Emerging OHS challenges

Some of the hot topics in OHS at the moment are not directly about work health and safety. You can find out more on Tuesday 12 March 2024 when Kevin Jones will be discussing what’s new, what’s getting attention, and some of the latest and re-emerging challenges in OHS.

His talk will include comments, and recommendations of books on issues including work psychology; the management of time; suicide; troublemakers; corporate values and leadership.
The presentation will be followed by a question and discussion session.

About the speaker:

Kevin Jones is a consultant and advisor in a wide range of OHS projects.

He is internationally recognised for his commentary and analysis on safety-related matters in his popular award-winning SafetyAtWorkBlog (safetyatworkblog.com).

Kevin is a Life Member of Central Safety Group.

Event Flyer - Print version

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 8 March 2024.  When booking, please ensure you select the March Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

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Helen O’Keefe

Date & Time: Tuesday 13 February 2024, noon

CSG Hybrid Lunchtime Presentation -via zoom or in the room

Speaker: Helen O’Keefe, Director, HOK Talent Solutions

Topic: OHS job market analysis

If you are interested in what's happening in the current OHS job scene, either as a job seeker or employer, you’ll appreciate this presentation by Helen O’Keefe on 13 February 2024.
Helen is the Managing Director of HOK Talent Solutions, exclusively specialising in health and safety recruitment. She will share her insights about the OHS job scene from 2023, and talk through some of the challenges and opportunities she predicts will emerge for both hiring managers and job-seekers the year ahead

Helen will also share data her company has collected, which details the number of OHS jobs advertised across SEEK and LinkedIn (the two most popular job boards) in 2023, and how that compares to 2022. This data is cross-checked against reports released from the ABS, SEEK and other sources to understand the "why" behind it.

Helens' presentation will include an opportunity for questions and discussion.

The presentation will be followed by the 2023 AGM for Financial Members.

About the speaker:

Helen O’Keefe is the founder of HOK Talent Solutions, which specialises in national HSE recruitment.

Helen has a passion for the health and safety industry, and had been working in recruitment for this sector before founding her own agency in 2015.

Prior to this, her background includes working as National Recruitment Manager for the Australian Red Cross, and as an HR consultant with pharmaceutical company GSK.

Event Flyer - Print version

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 12 February 2023.  When booking, please ensure you select the February Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

RSVP Here

Recruiting and retaining OHS staff

It was a great start to a new year of presentations with Helen O'Keefe's insights into the OHS recruitment scene. As it happened to be St Valentine's Day, Helen gave her presentation a cute twist by drawing an analogy between the employee life cycle and a marriage, and it fitted surprisingly well. She covered the full gamut from recruitment as the dating phase; onboarding & retention equating to a marriage; and separation as a divorce. To avoid the latter, Helen gave several tips on how to maintain a happy marriage in the work sense.

She explained how January started as strongly as 2022 did, which had already broken records with the number of positions being advertised. In particular it is specialists that are being sought. Post lockdown candidates have become more selective, which is making recruitment harder. Position descriptions are changing as a result of this, so that they are more like an advertisement to attract people. Helen gave some practical suggestions about how to make a PD more attractive.

Helen also had some great tips during her presentation for retaining staff, and further tips came up during the engaging discussion afterwards. One fascinating insight was how important a platform like LinkedIn has become. Having an up-to-date profile is advantageous for both a candidate and a potential employer, because it can show how well-connected you are and the range of activities you are involved in. In fact, Helen predicts that CVs will become obsolete and will be replaced by a LinkedIn profile or similar.

Helen is such an enthusiastic speaker on her topic and the attendees really appreciated her expertise.

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Helen O'Keefe

Date & Time: Tuesday 14 February 2023 at 12:00pm 

PLEASE NOTE: ONLINE ZOOM Event:

Speaker: Helen O’Keefe, Director, HOK Talent Solutions.

Topic: Recruiting and retaining OHS staff

Like many areas of the current job scene, employers looking for quality OHS professionals are finding themselves in an inflated job market, where there are more roles available than suitable applicants.

So what’s required to attract and retain OHS talent when good candidates are spoilt for choice? What do you need to be doing differently? Some useful advice will be offered by Helen O’Keefe, who runs a leading national health & safety executive search agency, at a presentation for CSG at noon on Tuesday 14 February....read more

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 13 February 2023.  When booking, please ensure you select the February Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

RSVP Here

The current OHS job scene

There was a lot of interest in this very timely and fascinating presentation. As Helen said, the current job scene in OHS is HOT and, as it is likely to stabilise next year, now is the time to pursue new opportunities if that has been on your mind. It's a candidate's market!

It was heartening to hear that the pandemic has had one positive effect in that the reputation of OHS has been boosted, making it a great career choice.

Helen shared some interesting national statistics on recruiting that showed the most sought-after job categories. She also offered valuable advice to both potential candidates and organisations looking to fill roles.

Helen conducts a regular podcast series where she talks to CEOs about OHS, which you can learn more about at https://www.hoktalentsolutions.com.au/podcast-webinars/

If you are interested in OHS job opportunities a bit further afield, check out Nan Austin's presentation from July 2020 about her experiences in New Zealand: Safety shake-up across the Tasman, which you can access here (log in first)

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