Case Study 15: Hastings Deering — An Order for 16 Became 22, and Hundreds of Placements Since 2008

In 2008 Hastings Deering (Australia) Limited — one of the world’s largest Caterpillar Dealers — asked us to find 16 Caterpillar Dealer trained heavy equipment technicians.

Hastings Deering sent its own managers to conduct the technical and selection interviews face to face in the candidates’ home countries. They interviewed 25 candidates and hired 22 — increasing the order on the day of interview.

That first order became a bespoke international recruitment programme that has run ever since. It was extended to a second Australian Caterpillar Dealer in 2010, and to the Australian operation of a global equipment manufacturer in 2012. Across the programme, hundreds of Caterpillar and Komatsu trained workers have been deployed into Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.

Hastings Deering (Australia) Limited — one of the world’s largest Caterpillar Dealers

Australia

Due to skills shortages Hastings Deering was unable to train, upskill or recruit sufficient numbers of Caterpillar Dealer trained mechanics and technicians in Australia to meet demand — despite employing over 300 apprentices at the time and continually working to upskill its existing workforce and employ locally.

Source Caterpillar Dealer trained heavy equipment mechanics and technicians internationally, present them for face to face technical interview by Hastings Deering’s own managers in the candidates’ home countries, obtain Australian working visas, and deploy them into Hastings Deering’s operations.

Hastings Deering placed an order for 16. After interviewing 25 candidates face to face, the dealer selected and hired 22 — increasing the order on the day of interview.

Across the programme, interviews were conducted in the Philippines, Zambia and Botswana.

Hastings Deering sent its own people to conduct the technical and selection interviews face to face, rather than relying on a recruiter’s assessment — service operations managers, a technical trainer and the Group Human Resources Manager.

One of the dealership managers who interviewed on that programme later joined Skilled Migration Group, and now leads our interview team.

Candidates were sourced from industry connections and directly targeted sourcing — no job advertising was placed in the countries targeted.

Nomination and visa preparation and lodgement for every worker selected, followed by the same process for accompanying family members where applicable.

Arrange flights, in country meet and greet, sourcing, rental and furnishing of accommodation, cultural awareness and local familiarisation briefings. Follow up support provided as required.

Candidates were Caterpillar Dealer trained heavy equipment mechanics and technicians — a mix of dealership apprenticeship trained tradespeople and technicians from Caterpillar dealers and multinational mining operations overseas.

Candidates were tested on their knowledge of Caterpillar Dealer systems and processes, the use of reusability guides, use of Caterpillar Service Information System, dis-assembly procedures, contamination control, re-assembly procedures and the testing of components.

The 22 workers hired from that first round of interviews were deployed into Hastings Deering’s workshop, component rebuild, equipment assembly and field service operations.

The programme that began with this order has continued without interruption since 2008. A number of the workers deployed in the early years of the programme are still employed within the Hastings Deering group.

An order for 16 became 22 on the day of interview.

That first project became a bespoke international recruitment programme that has run since 2008, was extended to a second Australian Caterpillar Dealer in 2010 and to a global equipment manufacturer’s Australian operation in 2012, and has deployed hundreds of Caterpillar and Komatsu trained workers into Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.

Measure of ROI – Substantial

Three years into the programme, Hastings Deering’s Group Human Resources Manager wrote the following for our printed client brochure, “How to Successfully Employ Dealer Trained and Experienced Heavy Equipment Fitters from Around the World”. It was published in 2011 in a print run of ten thousand copies, distributed in print and online, and approved at the time by the manager named and by Hastings Deering (Australia) Limited. Our company then traded as Central Queensland Site Services (CQSS), which became Skilled Migration Group in 2015. The words are exactly as they were printed:

“Even with Hastings Deering employing over 300 Apprentices and constantly looking at ways to up skill its workforce and employ locally, the company still faced chronic understaffing and went down the path of recruiting from overseas due to the inability to find appropriate staff in Australia.

Although some of our supervisors may have been apprehensive at first due to some prior perceptions, they have had fantastic experiences with the process and it has allowed them to expand their training programs and pass on further skills to local younger and mature aged apprentices and trainees.

Hastings Deering Managers have been very impressed with the Highly Skilled CAT Trained Overseas workers that are being supplied and in fact have promoted leading hands and supervisors that were originally employed from overseas as fitters.

The service CQSS provides has proved to HDAL to be successful Domestically, Nationally and Internationally, it has removed a huge headache.”

- Andrew Brooker, Group Human Resources Manager, Hastings Deering (Australia) Limited