One of our clients, the Civil Contractors Federation (CCF), is a leading organisation in the construction industry. They wanted to generate a story to highlight the fact there is a shortage of 7000 workers in the civil construction industry. They also particularly wanted to focus on encouraging women to help to address the skills shortage.
When we met to workshop ideas, we recognised that a key date, International Women’s Day, was coming up. This day has become a synonymous date on many people’s calendars because it offers an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come towards achieving a more gender balanced world.
CCF were able to access to a rich ‘female focused’ story through one of their partner organisations, the renowned West Gate Tunnel Project. Ultimately the story would serve to both highlight the women currently working and thriving in this previously male dominated industry and the need to address the industry skills shortage.
Some impressive but relatively unknown achievements…
The West Gate Tunnel Project is not only one of the biggest road construction projects currently underway in Melbourne, it’s also playing a vital role in transforming the gender and social equity model in civil construction. The project is currently employing over 700 women.
They had a target to engage 400 women in the delivery of the Project, with a stretch target of 600. After only 14 months they smashed their first target. Over 700 women are currently employed on the project either as direct employees or with subcontractors engaged on the project.
But they didn’t stop there. They not only wanted to address the gender gap but also social inclusion, with a focus on groups such as asylum seekers, indigenous and people living with a disability to be employed on the project.
To date they have achieved the following:
- People seeking asylum – 11 women (47 men)
- New migrants (less than 52 weeks ) – 27 women (141 men)
- People Living with a disability – Three women (23 men)
We pitched the story to the Herald Sun transport reporter who wrote a great yarn that ran in the paper and online, along with some sensational photos. 3AW news also ran a news story to support the print piece.
Is there a special day coming up that you could use to leverage a story? Not sure where to start? The team at Good Talent Media can help.
Tony Nicholls
Founder and Director of Good Talent Media
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