Local industry on show at Expo

SOME of the region’s biggest employers will come together at Bendigo Townhall next month to show off the jobs they have on offer.

Locally based companies include Coliban Water, Safescape, On time Healthcare, and Sonora Foods are all set to take part in the Bendigo Jobs Expo.

Sonora Foods is returning to the event after last year’s expo led to the successful appointment of an administrative assistant.

HR manager Brent Bruns said the company attends employment expos with the aim of fulfilling a corporate responsibility and to make people aware of the work available at Sonora Foods.

According to Mr Bruns, employment shortages have increased in many industries since COVID and events such as the expo helped employers to fill gaps.

“It is two-faced for an employer to complain about the lack of people but not actually participate in these expos,” he said.

“Because the people that are arranging the expos they’ve got no hidden agenda, it’s all positive.

“At the end of the day, I’m the HR manager but I’m a parent as well and my kids are working, and you just want to create opportunities for people.”

For mining safety company Safescape, and sister company Bortana, the upcoming jobs expo is an opportunity to the businesses in front of a new audience.

Beau McKenna, marketing manager at Safescape, said staff are attending to gauge interest and let people know what the two companies are doing.

“Our Bortana side of the business is building electric vehicles, so we’d be very interested to know what the perception of that is,” he said.

“I don’t know many people recognise that there’s an electrical vehicle manufacturer in Bendigo.”

Safescape has had limited success with online recruitment and Mr McKenna said staff hoped to have face-to-face conversations with potential employees.

“We’re really interested to hear what they think of us, whether they’ve heard about us before, whether this is something they would be interested in understanding,” he said.

Mr McKenna also said Safescape and Bortana are rapidly expanding companies, and both have a variety of roles on offer.

The Bendigo Job Expo will be held at Bendigo Town Hall on 6 September.