Australia is currently facing a hiring challenge that traditional recruitment methods are failing to fix
The issue at hand is a lot more than a simple shortage of people. What it actually is is a fundamental mismatch between people’s capabilities and the roles businesses are desperate to fill.
Recent ABS data brings this situation to light. Of the 3.2 million Australians who were without work in the September quarter of 2025, one in three reported that their biggest hurdle was finding a job that actually suited their skills and experience. This suggests a massive portion of our workforce isn't disengaged from the market, but rather sidelined by a lack of clear pathways to transition their expertise.
Understanding the skill-lock effect
Despite having a pool of a million people ready to start work within a month, a huge portion of that same workforce feels trapped. They are willing and able, but their existing expertise doesn't align with what the market demands today. For HR professionals, this insight is sending very loud alarm bells as upskilling can no longer be treated as a secondary benefit for high achievers.
The gap between skills and jobs is most obvious in the sectors expected to drive Australia’s future growth, such as technology and sustainability. Projections suggest we will need 1.3 million tech workers by 2030. But, while many job-seekers are eager to enter the field, they often feel locked out because they lack specific, technical competencies.
We see the same trend in the green economy. RMIT Online’s research found that half of Australian businesses are struggling to hire talent with the right environmental and sustainability knowledge, even as we move toward a requirement for a million more sustainability-skilled workers by the end of this decade.
Moving beyond traditional hiring
The heart of the skill-lock issue is that the speed of change in these industries is simply outrunning traditional education cycles. The old model, where you get a degree in your early twenties and rely on that knowledge for the next thirty years, is effectively over. In today's market, professionals have to constantly learn and adapt just to keep pace with new software, AI tools, and regulatory shifts. If businesses don't provide the pathways to do that, they will leave the best people behind.
To fix this, HR leaders are encouraged to lead a transition toward a "skills-first" strategy. This starts with changing the way we think about hiring. Instead of using degrees or past job titles as the primary filter, recruitment should focus on verified skills and practical evidence of what someone can actually do.
Internal mobility also offers a massive, often ignored opportunity. For example, our research found that over 660,000 women, who could move into tech roles right now, could do so with the help of short-term, targeted training and a bit of on-the-job support.
So instead of seeking out entirely new and lengthy degrees, HR can focus on short, industry-aligned courses, giving employees the specific data or project skills they need without requiring them to put their careers on hold. Crucially, this learning needs to be woven into the actual work week to ensure professional development is treated as a core part of the job rather than an extra burden for employees to carry after hours.
HR has a unique opportunity to frame upskilling as a commercial priority. For larger organisations, closing the gender gap in technology alone could lead to annual gains of $1.8 million through better retention and faster hiring cycles. If the ABS figures have shown us anything, it’s that Australians are ready to work. But the one thing they need is a viable path to move their knowledge into the roles of today, so our resilient workforce can grow alongside the economy.
By Nic Cola, CEO at RMIT Online
