Recruitment a priority for fast-growing National Group

National Group is rapidly expanding its workforce in response to new contract wins and extensions.

National Group’s human resources team, led by Scott Tobin and Erin O’Sullivan, are spearheading the largest recruitment campaign in the company’s history.

In the past two years, National Group’s workforce has doubled to more than 200 employees in response to rising demand for the company’s services.

National Group recruitment manager Scott Tobin expects that figure to be almost 300 within 12 months as staff are hired for contract wins and extensions.

“Mining-services recruitment is not easy in a tight labour market,” Scott said. “But we’ve been able to recruit really good people who fit National Group’s culture, are customer-focused and want to build long-term careers here.”

National Group talent acquisition specialist Erin O’Sullivan said the company can interview up to 10 candidates in a day to find the right person for a job.

A recruitment specialist, O’Sullivan relocated from Adelaide this year to join National Group.

“A lot of work goes into National Group recruitment,” O’Sullivan said. “In addition to job interviews, there’s reference checking and then the onboarding process to ensure new employees hit the ground running and understand the company’s values.”

Word-of-mouth is still the firm’s key recruitment tool, O’Sullivan said.

“A lot of job candidates hear that National Group is a great place to work or they know people who work here,” she said. “They like that the business is founder-led and privately owned, and can see how their career can grow here over the long term.”

O’Sullivan has enjoyed the transition from white-collar recruitment to mining-services recruitment.

“It’s a been a great experience so far,” she said. “Mining recruitment is faster paced and there are more issues to consider. I’m learning every day in this role.”

Multi-faceted HR strategy

National Group’s recruitment strategy has several parts. A HR project last year focused on streamlining and digitising the job application process to make it faster and easier for job candidates, and more efficient for National Group.

This included the implementation of candidate-management software.

“There’s less paperwork and more time to speak to more job candidates,” Tobin said. “The digital application process also makes it much easier for candidates who don’t want to waste time printing and sending forms.”

Paying airfares for fly-in, fly-out workers has been another key HR initiative this year. National Group introduced its new airfare policy to attract diesel mechanics who live in south-east Queensland and can fly to the Bowen Basin for work.

Scott said National Group’s significant investment in airfares is already paying off.

“We’ve had a lot of interest and have already recruited some staff from Brisbane because of the new policy,” he said. “It’s a point of difference for National Group in the labour market at a time when many firms are cutting back on airfares.”

Expanding National Group’s apprenticeship program is another HR priority. The company reintroduced its apprenticeship program in 2020 to develop more diesel mechanics internally and bolster its future workforce.

The apprenticeship program has since grown to 14 with plans to increase it further.

“We’ve had some terrific male and female apprentices go through the program,” Scott said.

“The program’s success encouraged us to double the size of it in the past 12 months and take it much further over the next few years. It’s a great way to train people in our way and address industry shortages in diesel mechanics.”

A new marketing campaign to assist National Group’s recruitment strategy is also part of the HR strategy.

Developed by National Group head of marketing and partnerships Kain Ford, the recruitment campaign will feature geo-targeted online advertising to attract job candidates.

“We want to get the message out there that lots of good opportunities are available at National Group,” Tobin said. “We want people from all walks of life to consider a career in mining services through National Group.”

As O’Sullivan and Tobin implement the firm’s HR strategy, an immediate focus has been on onboarding 65 employees who have joined National Group since June 2024.

About 40 of them are operators who joined the company on a full-time basis through its project at the Moorlaben coal mine in New South Wales.

“That transition has gone smoothly,” Tobin said. “We’ve done a lot of work in the past few years to build deeper HR foundations and enable National Group to accommodate a much larger workforce and recruit more people. It’s an ongoing process, but we’re pleased with the results so far and the quality of new hires.”

This feature appeared in the March 2025 issue of Australian Mining.