Four caravan parks in Echuca and Moama are resorting to extreme measures to attract staff in the post-COVID rush to fill roles that were vacated during a lull in tourism activity in the border towns.
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With a constant flow of inquiries to caravan parks in the towns there is a sense of urgency within the Discovery Parks group to find cleaning staff.
So much so that regional operations manager for Discovery Parks Victoria and Tasmania, Sean Goggin, resorted to what he likened to a speed dating version of a “job interview” to fill seven of his vacancies at the twin towns’ parks.
“We did 15 appointments and seven were appointed, some of those on the spot,” Mr Goggin said.
The four parks are struggling to fill several cleaning staff positions and are now offering free on-site accommodation and “as any hours as people want” to find the right candidates.
“Despite the success of the open day and the appointments we made we still have a shortage with housekeeping,” he said.
Mr Goggin is responsible for Northern Victoria, Southern NSW and Tasmania, explaining that the parks had been able to find people to fill administration and groundskeepers roles — leaving a void in the housekeeping space.
The four Discovery Parks in the two towns are Discovery Park Echuca, Maidens Inn, Moama West and Horseshoe Lagoon.
There are about 65 staff working at the four locations, but there remain vacancies for six or seven cleaning staff.
“We did have to stand down some people during the COVID lockdowns,” Mr Goggin said.
“We were able to bring them back earlier than anticipated by completing some projects around the parks to improve them.
“But we just didn’t have the hours for our casual staff. Hence, we have come out of lockdown with these vacancies.”
Mr Goggin said the national caravan park group was predicting to be busier than ever during the next 12 to 18 months.
He said the mass interview process, which was completed at Echuca only a week ago was taken from the model used at the company’s Nagambie site.
“We did one at our Nagambie park the week before,” he said.
“It was kind of like speed dating, but for interviews.
“There were panels of interviewers, some were hired on the spot, the others were put on the next day.”
Discovery Parks Australia wide had an 80 per cent decrease in bookings for the 12-month period of COVID-19, but has bounced back strongly.
“Every park in Echuca and Moama is pretty much booked for the summer period now,” Mr Goggin said.
“At Moama they’ve been inundated with phone calls and it’s the same with Echuca.”
Mr Goggin said the live-in roles were designed to enhance the appeal of the cleaning roles to candidates.
“The accommodation for the workers will be free,” he said.
“They will have a minimum five days a week of casual work, but could pretty much do as many hours as they like at the moment.
“We are that busy.”
Mr Goggin said the company had even reached out to professional cleaning contractors, who were in a similar boat and were unable to take on the extra responsibility the park’s cleaning work.
“We don’t necessarily need experience, just a good attitude, reliability and people able to work in a team situation,” he said.
“It’s a good place for someone to spend their summer.
“It will be a bit more than summer, actually it will probably go until Easter.
“Someone could apply and live in the park, working, until the middle of April next year.”
He said the organisation offered strong career progression, no matter where people started.
“We’ve had housekeepers move into management roles,” Mr Goggin said.
“We now have 380 parks around Australia, there are opportunities in every state and we are acquiring a lot more in the next 12 months.
“A lot of our staff do move around.
“Some are semi-retired, it’s a good way to earn some money while you are travelling around Australia.
“We have recently purchased some big resorts, including El Questro Wilderness Park in King’s Canyon at the top of West Australia.
“People often go to parks like Rottnest in the peak season and then come back to us.”
For more information about the opportunities at Echuca and Moama people can phone any of the four Echuca Discovery Parks on 5482 5500 or 5482 1533.
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