Australian Company, The Job Shop was in the Solomon Islands last week to recruit workers to pick Mangoes on the Northern Territory in Australia.
The Job Shop, joins a growing number of Australian Companies looking to the Solomon Islands to source workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme.
Andrew Coldbeck is the Managing Director of ADCO Holdings, operating under its trading name ‘The Job Shop’ and was in Honiara last week to conduct recruitment for the upcoming Mango season in the Northern Territory.
Mr Coldbeck said 60 male workers have been identified during interviews carried out last week. These workers are from the Work Ready Pool set up under the Labour Mobility Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade.
The workers will be under a six months contract where they will spend three months picking Mango from Darwin down to Katherine in the Northern Territory. The Mango season runs from September to the end of November.
Mr Coldbeck said after the Mango season some of these workers can go over to pick grapes and avocado in Western Australia, there is also the opportunity to work at Apple farms in Queensland or harvest melons and work at a large Fish farm in Darwin.
On the interview process, Mr Coldbeck said he was impressed at how easy it was to engage with the candidates, as from experience, this is a very challenging exercise when asking questions and trying to get something out of potential workers.
“That is the highlight of my trip here, how well-organized things have been and the communication has been pleasing.
This is the first recruitment drive by Job Shop in the Solomon Islands and the company is eager to conduct a similar exercise in September 2023 to recruit more workers to start in early 2024.
Mr Coldbeck said for now he is concentrating on picking men to work in Australia, but will eventually recruit women to also help out in picking and packaging in future recruitment drives.
He also stressed his intentions of looking to recruit workers from the provinces in the near future and with the guidance of the Labour Mobility Unit.
Trade Commissioner in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Barrett Salato said the Labour Mobility Unit (LMU) stands ready to assist secure workers for Approved Employers in Australia who might them.
Source: Press Release, MFAET
