Central Safety Group Melbourne

OHS employment trends + CSG AGM

Date & Time: Tuesday 11 February 2025, noon

CSG Hybrid Lunchtime Presentation - via zoom or in the room

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

Topic: OHS employment trends

We were privileged once again to have Helen O'Keefe share her knowledge and advice about the latest employment trends in the OHS sector at our first event for 2025.

This is of particular interest to our cohort, who no longer remain with an organisation for their entire career. Rather there is considerable movement between roles and industries, due to the transferable skills of the OHS professional. This presentation showed the scope of what's out there and how best to navigate it, including dealing with the impacts of AI...Read more

Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 10 February 2025.  When booking, please ensure you select the February Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.

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OHS employment trends

It is becoming a fixture on the CSG calendar to have Helen O'Keefe present at our February event and what a popular speaker she is. Her succinct and informative insights into OHS employment trends are always of interest and a great way to kick off the year ahead.

Helen began by reviewing where the jobs were in 2024 and what that means for us in 2025. One trend is the degree of change in job and department titles and functions. For instance the terms "OHS" & "HSE" are now out-dated, having been superceded by "HSW" as the current flavour of the month.

However, that is the least of the changes one needs to come to grips with. It was fascinating to hear Helen talk about impacts of AI on recruitment, such as the use of BOTS to weed out CVs into a shortlist and, subsequently, the decline in a more personal aspect of recruitment. Helen gave some great tips on how to manage this, including explaining the importance of a LinkedIn profile.

It was interesting to learn that January 2025 was not the quiet month as is traditional in Helen's field, so there is plenty to explore for those seeking new positions. One possible factor is that businesses are increasingly demanding workers return to the office, which could spark resignations.

We thank Helen for both her informative presentation and her generous sponsorship of our event venue, the Regus Yarra Room with its wonderful view from the top floor of 120 Collins Street.

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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OHS job market analysis

HOK Talent Solutions is a fantastic supporter of Central Safety Group 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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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