By CASEY NEILL
TAPPING into the multicultural workforce will give the south-east’s manufacturers more scope to grow, according to one Berwick businessman.
New Australians in the skilled migration program need an industry placement and evaluation to have their qualifications recognised.
So Successful Endeavours managing director Ray Keefe runs an internship program.
“The intent of that program is to make sure they really do have the capacity to work in that kind of career,” he said.
“The big problem is they can’t get places for the industry component.
“If companies aren’t prepared to take them on and give them a go, the process stalls there.
“Most companies are reticent to take someone on and put that effort into them for, say, 12 weeks.”
But Mr Keefe said taking on people who wanted to contribute to the economy could only be a good thing for Australia.
“There’s a silly little road block in their way,” he said.
His involvement started when Chisholm TAFE in Dandenong asked him to take on an electronic technician student.
“A lot of the courses require students to get an industry placement of some kind,” he said.
“You build a better world by actually behaving the way you want the better world to be in the first place.
“When you become someone that invests in other people, rather than use other people to get something done, I think that grows you as a person.”
Skilled migration program representatives then approached him for assistance.
“The first time we did this process it was so obvious that it needed to be done,” Mr Keefe said.
“I just decided then that we would keep doing this at the speed we could.”
He said many were fully-blooded engineers with experience and maturity.
“We had an excellent Chinese intern with us who has been a university lecturer in China, training engineers,” he said.
Mr Keefe said taking on workers from different backgrounds exposed workers to new cultures.
“It helps broaden your perspective about the world,” he said.
“Whether we like it or not there is still a lot of prejudice in the Australian culture against people from Asia.
“They only way you can get past that is getting to know some people.
“This is one way that it can happen.
“It helps to break down the presuppositions we have about people.”
He said workers from different backgrounds also brought new perspectives and ideas.
But he admits there are challenges.
“Communication can be awkward at times – for them as well as for us,” he said.
“It’s not an intelligence issue, it’s just a communications issue.”
Mr Keefe said Australian workplaces were more individualistic and less guided than those in many countries.
“I’ve had to give much more directive with these people, much more in charge with them,” he said.
“It took me a little while to come to grips with it.”
