Heidi Morris says younger generations go to social media to find work.(ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
With Australia's unemployment rate close toa record low and job advertisement figures climbing, farmers in remote rural areas are struggling to compete with the employment options available incities.
But agricultural employment agencies based along the NSW/Qldborder are connecting with a new demographic of potential farm employees, and they're finding them on Instagram.
For Heidi Morris, who runs Seasonal Work Australia from Moree, it's a first to have more interest from people looking for farm work than farmers looking for workers.
I think the reason we've found so many people is that we go through Instagram, she says.
The younger generations are all on Instagram every day, so if they see an ad pop up, it's happy days, they're ready to rock and roll.
No wonder it's hard to find farm workers. Job ads are peaking higher than the unemployment rate.(Supplied:ABARES)
Ms Morris is liaising with 30 people looking for both short- and long-term jobs on farms, with a keen interest in the upcoming cotton season.
We know that there are farmers out there looking for these workers; it just seems that maybe they don't know where to look, she says.
As a labour economist with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, known as ABARES, Louise Capel has heard plenty of stories about farmers looking for workers in the wrong place.
Advertising farm jobs on social media is proving successful for both farmers and potential employees.(ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
One I heard was a dairy farmer who was advertising in a local newspaper looking for short-term workers and he was attracting no responses, Ms Capel says.
Then his daughter took the initiative and put an ad on social media and promptly received 300 responses.
Offering more than just money
Michelle Sleeth, regional manager for Agri Labour Australia, based in Goondiwindi, saysit's not just about offering the highest pay.
Money used to be the number one reason people would take a job. Now we're finding it has gone down to number four on the list, she says.
Now the focus is all around lifestyle, job flexibility and accommodation.
She says the key is portraying these important elements in a job ad.
Building a brand
Ms Sleeth says young people today aredigitally aware, So you need to build your brand online, on social media.
Your brand is your farm, so take some nice photos of the accommodation, take some photos of the crops you grow, and the kind of work you do, she says.
But also take photos of what your district has to offer. Promote your whole lifestyle to find the right person for the job.
The people and the lifestyle of the country often leadworkers staying for longer than first planned.(ABC Rural: Alys Marshall)
Falling in love with the country
From her home on the plains of the Moree shire, Heidi Morris understands the attraction of the rural lifestyle. It's something she sees her workforce fall in love with over and over again.
The number of seasonal workers I've organised to come out here who turn into full-timers is astounding, she says.
I reckon 60 to 70 per cent of workers I set up with farmers end up staying on.
They get involved in the community, they stay and they fall in love with the place.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-23/farmers-turn-to-instagram-social-media-to-attract-workers/102096188
