One of the stark realities of the catastrophic February 28 flood was the impact on employment.

Many business owners could not reopen fast enough for their employees to stick around and wait to be paid a full-time or part-time wage once again so they were forced to look further afield. Others want to stay and work locally but there are just not enough businesses that are open.

The NSW Government, Regional Development Australia Northern Rivers and the team at My Future Workforce are collaborating to help flood-displaced workers get back to work. 

Today the group launched the redeveloped My Future Workforce Platform which directly connects displaced workers with local businesses at no cost.

“The need for a local, free platform to connect workers with businesses has evolved to now include workers recently displaced due to the devastating flooding,” said Tim Williamson, Director of Regional Development at RDA Northern Rivers.

According to the Australian Government’s labour market portal, the North Coast is seeing an increase in advertised vacancies across the region. 

Overall, April 2022 vacancies are 125.6 per cent above April 2018 levels. Over 4,000 vacancies were advertised in April 2022.

“While many businesses are still getting back on their feet, we are seeing an increase in advertising for vacant positions across the board. Our collective aim is to link skilled and job ready workers to those positions,” said Tim Williamson. 

Employers can now specify to make their jobs visible to both general job seekers in their region as well as those who have been displaced.  

Employers are also encouraged to highlight any additional incentives to people registered as displaced workers.

The Northern Rivers’ My Future Workforce Displaced Workers addition is one way we are working to match the jobs to the job seekers as well as supporting them with information about relevant training. 

As a free service with effortless customised job matching, registering on the platform is made easy for both job seekers and employers.

Displaced workers can register here: https://northernrivers.myfutureworkforce.com.au/jobseeker/register-displaced-worker

Employers can register here: https://northernrivers.myfutureworkforce.com.au/employer/register

Visit the My Future Workforce Northern Rivers platform here https://northernrivers.myfutureworkforce.com.au/