Advertised a job in your small business and had applications from candidates who have qualifications on paper but lack basic knowledge and skills for the role they're going for?
It's become an issue in the painting and decorating industry, following the rise of vocational training courses that purport to teach students vital trade skills, such as safe handling of toxic materials such as asbestos and lead paint.
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Government targets dodgy education courses
Vocational education in Australia is set to be overhauled with the system plagued by rorts and dodgy courses.
The Master Painters Association of NSW and the National Institute of Painting and Decorating raised the alarm in February about registered training organisations issuing qualifications to students after "tick and flick" training that failed to impart basic knowledge.
Childcare problems
It's a similar story in the childcare industry, according to Adrian Grundy, owner of Murdock Early Education School, a 30-place day care centre in Perth charging $100 a day per child, and Murdock Recruitment, a job agency that supplies temporary and permanent staff to the sector and turns over $1.5 million a year.
![There's a steady stream of would-be childcare educators who don't understand the basics.](/web/20170427073552im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/p/1/u/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvrqhy.png/1493135029522.jpg)
An influx of registered training organisations offering subpar courses has made it tough for employers to be confident candidates will have the skills and knowledge one might expect from someone with a relevant vocational qualification, Grundy says.
He interviews up to 20 candidates a week and sees a steady stream of would-be childcare educators who hold Certificates III or Diplomas of Children's Services but don't appear to know the basics.
Many candidates do not speak English as a first language and struggle to discuss aspects of childcare such as nappy changing or the body temperature that constitutes a fever in a child, according to Grundy.
"They sit there and look at you … and they can't give you a definitive answer. And that's something that's pretty standard, you'd go, 'this is what it is' and they can't even speak to you about that – that's scary," he says.
![Vocational training is falling short in the childcare sector.](/web/20170427073552im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/s/i/2/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvrqhy.png/1493135029522.jpg)
Many also appear to lack an understanding of the early years learning framework, the set of principles, practices and outcomes developed by state and federal governments as part of the national quality framework for early childhood education and care, which underpins the way childcare centres are run, Grundy says.
"All of our documentation stems from the early years learning framework so if they can't even discuss what the early years learning framework is, then realistically we can't do too much with them," Grundy says.
![Having applicants complete a short trial or practical test can identify those who have knowledge and skills.](/web/20170427073552im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/s/9/s/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvrqhy.png/1493135029522.jpg)
"Because then they can't do documentation, they can't build a curriculum, there's nothing that they can really do in a childcare setting except, I suppose, babysit and we fought for years to move away from being babysitters and pushed to be called professionals. It's a very different case when educators hardly even have that basic knowledge."
Rigorous recruitment
A rigorous recruitment process should enable business owners to identify candidates whose vocational qualifications aren't backed by real life know-how, according to Davidson Recruitment principal Michael Simonyi who specialises in finding staff for SMEs.
You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes these days to do a bit of research into finding out whether the issuing organisation or the school actually even exists, or is it being deregistered by the regulator?
Stephen Hughes
"Most small business people aren't thorough in their hiring – I tend to find people hire on qualifications, they hire on how well people interview, in terms of their ability to communicate," Simonyi says.
Work samples are a good predictor of job performance and having applicants complete a short trial or practical test can identify those who have knowledge and skills, as well as a piece of paper to say so.
"[If you can] get a person to physically or practically do a bit of work that reflects their ability then that's an ideal circumstance," Simonyi says.
Look at the institution
Looking into the institution that supplied a candidate with their vocational qualifications can also be enlightening, Macpherson Kelley workplace relations lawyer Stephen Hughes says.
"You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes these days to do a bit of research into finding out whether the issuing organisation or the school actually even exists, or is it being deregistered by the regulator?" Hughes says.
"That would tell you whether the certificate is worth the paper it's printed on."
While you're at it, check the person you're interviewing actually attended the course, Hughes adds.
"The quality of home printers and scanners these days, it's pretty easy for someone to actually get a certificate off somebody else and substitute their own name into it," he says.
"So it's worthwhile attempting to contact the issuing school or RTO to see if they can confirm the applicant did the course there."
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