A New Type of 'Career Passport’ is Coming Soon
- Policy
- WR
In the near future, Australians will have access to an additional passport which showcases their skills and expertise to prospective employers — considered to be a digital CV with ‘verified’ qualifications and experience that can be effortlessly shared with the click of a button. For clubs, this means an easier way to discover and establish connections with skilled workers like kitchen staff seeking employment.
In January 2024, the Department of Education released the National Skills Passport Consultation Paper. The consultation seeks to obtain feedback on the potential appearance of this passport from various stakeholders.
ClubsNSW, through Clubs Australia, provided a submission to support the Federal Government’s efforts to introduce the Skills Passport. We are grateful for any feedback provided by clubs across the country.
How would the Skills Passport support clubs?
If introduced, the National Skills Passport will better align skilled workers with employers in need of specific expertise, qualifications and experience. For clubs, this means less time between a job ad being posted and finding suitable potential employees, while also making it easier for clubs to verify Australian qualifications held by applicants.
The National Skills Passport has already been a successful initiative in many countries across the globe, including Singapore.
What feedback did Clubs Australia provide?
ClubsNSW, through Clubs Australia, supports the introduction of a National Skills Passport.
Clubs Australia made the following recommendations:
- Give employers some access to the National Skills Passport of prospective employees with relevant skills in their industry to facilitate connections. Enable working visa holders to opt to use the National Skills Passport (in addition to permanent residents and Australian citizens).
- Enable secondary school students and younger apprentices and trainees to opt to use the National Skills Passport.
- Create a suitable process for uploading evidence of overseas qualifications recognised in Australia.
- Use MyGov’s existing infrastructure to administer the National Skills Passport, acknowledging the possibility of additional privacy considerations that may need to be taken into account.
When will the National Skills Passport be introduced?
The feedback received from stakeholders in the recent consultation stage will help the Federal Government in formulating a business case to introduce the National Skills Passport.
Should the Federal Government choose to move forward with the creation of the National Skills Passport, the ‘development’ process would most likely take some time.
ClubsNSW is looking very forward to further developments in this space. Clubs can stay tuned here.
