The National Broadband Network (NBN) is currently on a recruitment drive as it seeks to triple
its headcount from 100 to 300 by the middle of 2010, however, recruitment experts have
warned that a shortage of skilled IT professionals could hamper the project.
NBN, which is set to create about 25,000 jobs over the life of the eight-year project, is
seeking to attract field construction staff with a particular focus on systems engineers, net
work planners, testers, systems architects, project managers and IT professionals.
CEO Mike Quigley said recruitment at NBN is focused on cost efficiently hiring individu
als in short time frames who have a demonstrated track record of experience and delivery.
He said NBN utilised a range of recruitment practices including the use of recruitment
agencies such as Egon Zehnder, Launch Recruitment/MFJ Partners advertising roles in na
tional daily newspapers and individual referrals similar to all other Australian businesses.
So far, Quigley said NBN had received nearly 1000 resumes, which its HR department,
headed by Qantas’ former executive general manager of human resources Kevin Brown, was
evaluating.
Quigley said during 2009 NBN had sourced 40 percent of its people via individual refer
rals, 32 per cent through agencies, 7 per cent via direct advertising and 21 per cent through
offering contractors full-time jobs.
NBN also announced that it had signed a five-year, $23 million deal with Accenture, which
will provide HR administration, records management, recruitment administration and per
formance and rewards administration to NBN.
