With commodity prices steadily improving and major projects coming online, there are some steps that mining companies can take to enhance their recruitment processes and optimise their existing human capital.

While some saw the GFC as bringing relief to the mining skills shortage, it may not yet be recognised that in effect the crisis has only worsened conditions for the Australian mining industry in the long term.

Amid stock markets tumbling, commodity prices crashing and the credit squeeze, mining companies sought to reduce headcount to maintain profitability and reduce unwanted debt.

As a consequence, those professionals who lost their jobs and were unable to find a new role in mining were forced to move into other industries. Past evidence indicates that these professionals are unlikely to return to the industry, for example geologists from previous downturns, such as in 2000-01.

Ill-fated graduates who didn’t have the foresight to apply for graduate programs found themselves in the unlucky pool of unemployed, unable to gain the valuable industry experience that will again become highly sought after.

The importation of highly skilled migrants on employer-sponsored visas also dropped dramatically during the GFC, largely as a combined result of local professionals seeking new jobs, an unwillingness to engage in a higher cost process in a cost-reduction environment, and the myth that there was a myriad of great job seekers available.

The combined departure from industry by many redundant professionals with unemployed graduates and a vast reduction in imported skills is effectively creating the “perfect storm”.

So while the GFC may have given some employers temporary relief, it has for the most part weakened Australia’s talent pool of mining professionals for the next resources supercycle (or its recommencement).

With many multi-billion dollar projects in coal, liquefied natural gas and coal seam gas set to be developed concurrently from 2010 to 2014, the mining industry will be forced to compete fiercely with its cousins in oil and gas for skilled professionals in project design, construction and commissioning.

So what can employers do to secure the skills they need?

Make your company a place where people want to work.

To make a company an attractive place to work, companies need to consider employee basics, such as salary, location and roster.

They also need to review their overall “employee value proposition”, defined as the rewards and benefits an employee receives in return for working.

This includes, but is not limited to, training and development, progression opportunities, workplace culture, industry-leading IT, non-monetary benefits and performance incentives.

While on the surface it may seem an expensive exercise to offer all the above benefits, you’ll also be optimising your existing human capital as well as maximising productivity.

Your company will be a better place to work, thereby reducing staff turnover and minimising the need to return to the job market to secure new external talent.

Align your recruitment strategy with a strategic recruitment partner.

There are various types of recruitment methodologies and search techniques, but there are ultimately two different types of recruitment providers.

There are “recruiters” and “consultants”, or strategic recruitment partners.

Recruiters dominate the typical haunts of job seekers, namely online job boards, and while they may be effective in finding a couple of good CVs, they typically aren’t aligned to a business for the long term and are therefore unable to ensure a cultural fit due to their limited understanding of a client’s culture and organisational needs.

Recruiters don’t have the internal understanding to advise clients on critical areas such as employee value proposition and are thereby unable to assist in the development of a client’s employer brand or EPV.

Many recruiters operate on a contingency basis (fee on success only) and subsequently cannot be held accountable for a successful outcome on all occasions if they do not deliver, particularly for difficult to fill positions.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are consultants. They take a vested interest in the long-term success of their client’s business and commit to ensuring that the best possible candidate is sourced for the role.

Through proactive candidate sourcing strategies and ongoing constructive advocacy of an employer’s brand and EPV in the marketplace, these recruitment consultants are far more effective in attracting the industry’s best talent.

Typically, consultants are considered to be strategic recruitment partners as they develop successful long-term relationships with clients and gain a thorough understanding of a client’s culture and requirements, resulting in better recruitment decisions, optimisation of the EVP, development of the employer brand and ongoing access to the industry’s best talent.

While on the surface the skills shortage appears to have eased with the GFC, it has created the perfect storm for the next mining talent war. Now is an opportune time to consider your future recruitment and human capital strategies. Find the best talent, optimise your existing human capital and get digging.

* Alex Beutler is a technical and executive search consultant for Talent2’s mining recruitment practice. Talent2 is Asia-Pacific’s largest end-to-end HR out