A highlight of the year, particularly for our recruitment team, is the Melbourne Career Expo.  Dubbed Australia’s largest career expo, the three-day event was held from Friday 26 July – Sunday 28 July 2024.

Uniting AgeWell participates each year to meet, inform and attract our aged care employees of the future.  It’s an opportunity to engage with a different audience and reach those who may not be familiar with our organisation or the aged care sector.  A significant number of attendees are students and as only one of two aged care providers in attendance, the pressure of flying the flag for aged care was on.

Uniting AgeWell made sure we stood out from the crowd this year.

A giant, walk-through love heart welcomed visitors into our stand, designed to showcase why Uniting AgeWell is a leader in aged care.

Almost 20 team members drawn from People and Culture, Residential, Home Care and Social Connections teams staffed the stand over the three days.

Recruitment Manager Daniel Knox led two sessions on centre stage using a Kahoot! to debunk some of the theories around working in aged care, particularly as the audience were mainly high school students.

Kahoot! has become a staple in schools and the corporate world for fun employee games or finding out facts about a future career.  

Investing in attracting the workforce of the future

“Ultimately it’s about planting the seed now, so when the students come to choosing a career, aged care is there on the list.” says Daniel, fresh from spending three days at the event.

Daniel says it’s important to know we don’t always see the benefits immediately, but by being in the arena that seed is planted.  Interestingly, sometimes mums and dads come along and show interest.  Uniting AgeWell’s values really resonate with them and spark an interest to work for an organisation with meaning.

Daniel says, “They see Uniting AgeWell can offer them a career with heart and through discussions realise how our work impacts the community at large.”

With over 200 roles, the diversity of careers available was on show

While the expo attracts high school students, school leavers and university students, those looking for a career change often show an interest in aged care.  A challenge for organisations like Uniting AgeWell, is to dispel some of the myths around working for not for profits and in aged care.

A common misconception for people new to aged care is that the only work on offer is personal care.  Daniel noticed many of the conversations between colleagues and the public was about sharing the multitude of roles available when working for an organisation like Uniting AgeWell.

“We were fortunate to have staff from across the business reflecting many different careers present at the stand.  It was so cool to see different areas of the organisation get together and hear what they had to say, explaining what they do every day.”

Daniel was also grateful to have a couple of Uniting AgeWell stars featured on the walls of the stand, who had started at the front line and are now in different roles within the organisation.

These included Sophie Rowlands who works with Daniel in recruitment and is based in Tasmania after starting as an Extended Care Assistant and Garima Shrestha who started as a Food Services Assistant and now works in Accounts Receivable in the Finance Team.

The Uniting AgeWell stand and display received a great response from attendees and other exhibitors, with the event generating enormous interest from potential candidates and employees of the future.

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