From my 8 years of experience as a recruiter, I’ve always used LinkedIn to search for top candidates that suit vacancies for my clients. Whether for White- or blue-collar roles, Linkedin has always been a handy space for me to search, find and connect with potential candidates, build my network there or share opinions with others in my network regarding any work relevant topics, even learning new skills, information and techniques. It’s an effective social media site for professionals to seek employment opportunities, leads for businesses, learning new information, etc. The benefits and potential for all is immense…
The most common roles that I get requests from clients in my career are for Blue collar job vacancies. Examples would be for Heavy Equipment Fitters, Mechanical Fitters, Boilermakers, Welders, Heavy Equipment Operators, Carpenters, Electricians, Auto Mechanics, Auto Electricians, etc.
But there’s one main issue I always face when searching blue collar workers there: they are not many Blue Collar talent on LinkedIn.
So what does the term blue collar mean? When I asked @Chat GPT, it’s answer was this: “The term “blue collar” typically refers to a type of job or work that involves manual labor and is typically performed by individuals who may wear durable work clothing, often colored blue, as part of their uniforms. Blue-collar jobs are often associated with industries such as manufacturing, construction, maintenance, transportation, and other physically demanding occupations.”
And those that are on the social media platform aren’t using it as well as it’s meant to be used. Examples would be not listing all their former employers on their profiles, not putting their email/mobile phone numbers on their profile for recruiters to use to contact them, not putting information like machinery, tools used on the job, etc. This makes it difficult for me or any other recruiter to gauge their experience or contact them to have a conversation regarding the vacancy on hand.
The Blue collar workforce here in Papua New Guinea who aren’t knowledgeable in utilizing social media to market themselves effectively to potential employers makes it difficult for recruiters to find them to communicate job opportunities. Recruiters are now using the latest in information systems & communication to source qualified blue collar workers, like social media, cloud technology, Sophisticated Application Tracking Software’s, Video Calling Software, AI, etc, but the majority of them aren’t informed about how to utilize them to their advantage as a tool to maximize gaining employment opportunities.
Blue collar workforce in PNG must inform themselves as much as they can on how they can use current trends in Information Communication & Technology. There really is no excuse at all for them to not know how to anymore. If we can put so much thought and effort into creating videos on Tiktok or scrolling on Facebook or Instagram , we should have knowledge on how to create an email address via Gmail, actively apply for jobs via Job Sites like PNGWorkforce.com or PNGJobSeek.com, or research contact details of potential employers via their websites, etc.
And I know the excuse of having to pay to access these tools can cost you money but I believe if we can spend so much on betel nut, cigarettes’ and alcohol, there shouldn’t be an issue with spending money on data to access tools, knowledge and information regarding job seeking.
So if your a Tradesman or woman, Blue Collar worker , or know anyone who works in this field of work and is having issues with getting a job, share this blog with them to let them know that no one is going to teach you how to use the Information Communication Technology to your advantage to obtain that dream job. Em stap long han blong u!
And if you need advice, feel free to message me.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
#ThePNGRecruiter
