Businesses

Does your organisation need talented people with digital skills?

Hosting a Digital Jobs participant is a great way to fast-track recruitment for digital roles and increase diversity in your digital team.

Digital Jobs is a $63.8 million nation-leading program that is upskilling 5,000 talented mid-career Victorians to transition into high-demand jobs in the digital economy.

Our participants are over 30 years of age, come from diverse backgrounds and have experience in a wide range of sectors. Digital Jobs has 59 per cent female participation, including women looking to return to professional work.

With newly acquired digital skills, demonstrated aptitude, and transferable skills from their previous careers our participants can make a valuable and immediate contribution to your business.

Employers receive a $5,000 wage subsidy for each 12-week work placement or entry level job offered to a program participant and have the option to retain the participant as an ongoing employee.

Attend the next Digital Jobs Business Information Session

Apply to become a host employer

Contact us to discuss the needs of your organisation.

Digital Jobs in languages other than English

Access information to assist businesses in languages other than English

Industry backed training

Digital Jobs participants complete a free 12-week training course prior to applying for a work placement opportunity.

Each course is industry-backed and delivered by a leading university, TAFE or private training provider.

Training streams include:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning
  • Cloud computing
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Cyber security
  • Data analytics
  • Digital marketing
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • IT operations and support
  • Product management
  • Programming / software development
  • Project management (agile)
  • User experience / user interface (UX/UI)
  • Web development

Selecting the best talent

Digital Jobs participants are selected on merit through a competitive three-step process which assesses their employability, as well as their propensity and readiness to move into a digital career.

Participants typically have 10 years of experience working across a wide variety of industries.

Our participants bring transferable skills and the following critical competencies:

  • growth mindset
  • resilience
  • planning and delivering
  • critical thinking
  • problem-solving
  • working with people
  • communication skills
  • digital literacy.

What do businesses say about Digital Jobs

Victorian Businesses finding solutions to tech staff shortages with the Digital Jobs program

Victorian Businesses finding solutions to tech staff shortages with the Digital Jobs program

Text: Digital Jobs. Building Victoria’s Digital Workforce. Victoria State Government.

Glenn Watson - Global digital Capabilities & Analytics Manager, Ego Pharmaceuticals

We partnered with the Digital Jobs Program because we saw a real strong need to help realise the digital growth within the company and build upon our technology and our capabilities within the department. And, so we saw this program as a really great benefit to tap into a new pool and a new talent of digital specialists.

Andrew Groth - Executive Vice President, Infosys and Region Head

We're bringing in people with a diversity of experience. They come from different industry sectors. Over 80% of the people that came into the program with us are now working for us in full-time roles.

Isabella Jorgensen - Lead Designer, Strong Room AI

We are a very fast growing company. We've grown from six people to about 40 in the last 18 months. So we've really had quite a big skills gap, particularly within marketing. It was an area where we had no idea what we needed so bringing someone in was a great opportunity to learn from them and they could learn from us and help us grow.

Anthea Corridon - General Manager of People Partnering, Carsales.com Ltd

They've really been able to contribute in ways that we probably wouldn't have expected, or when we compared to a graduate, have been really different and been really beneficial for our organisation.

Text: Digital Jobs. Building Victoria’s Digital Workforce. Vic.gov.au/digitaljobs. Victoria State Government.

[Victoria State Government. Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions. Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne]

What else do businesses say about Digital Jobs

I think it’s a no brainer to get into the program, it’s been brilliant. They’re older people who are changing careers so they’re really passionate about it. They’re not straight out of uni and they bring life experience with them. Sally Williams, Tech Performance Lead, ANZ

Competition for talent is increasing as every business in Victoria races to build digital capability. More than two thirds of CEOs rank talent acquisition, retention and upskilling to meet a more digitised future as their greatest business challenge in 2022. Through Digital Jobs, we are backing Victorian businesses to build their digital capability.

Join today

Join the wide range of small, medium and large organisations including ANZ, Microsoft, MYOB and Salesforce already hosting Digital Jobs participants.

Contact us to start the conversation

Apply to become a host employer

Program partners

Digital Jobs program partners are ANZ, AWS, Carsales, Cenitex, Cognizant, Computershare,  DXC Technology, Infosys, Microsoft, MYOB, NCS, Salesforce, Siemens, Swisse, Sypaq, Zendesk.

Frequently asked questions

We’re looking for eligible businesses to host one (or more) mid-career participants for a minimum of 12 weeks. Participants come with extensive work and life experience from prior careers and are newly trained and ready for an entry level digital role. Throughout the selection process you’ll have the opportunity to be matched with someone who is right for your work culture and the specific role you have available.

Participants complete 12 weeks of training in one of the following high-demand digital skill areas

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning
  • Cloud computing
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Cyber security
  • Data analytics
  • Digital marketing
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • IT operations and support
  • Product management
  • Programming / software development
  • Project management (agile)
  • User experience / user interface (UX/UI)
  • Web development

Access – to a new talent pool of 5000 mid-career people with digital skills.

Current skills – employ people recently trained through high-quality digital courses.

Better business results – the experience and maturity of Digital Jobs participants enables them to make an immediate and significant contribution to the work of your team.

Greater diversity – increase the diversity of your workforce through our talent pool which includes 58% women, 13% who are based in regional Victoria, and 58% who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Participants come from varied backgrounds and bring experience from working across a wide range of sectors – and they’re ready to help your business thrive.

Low risk and low cost – it’s easy and free to register. The 12-week work placement provides an opportunity to decide if your participant is the right fit for your business, with no obligations beyond the 12-week period. As a Digital Jobs business host, you’ll have access to this unique talent pool and receive a $5,000 wage subsidy for each 12-week work placement or entry level job you offer to a program participant.

Employers must:

  1. Be one of the following entity types:
    1. a company incorporated in Australia
    2. an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
    3. an incorporated association
    4. a partnership
    5. a joint (consortia) application with a lead organisation
    6. a [registered charity or] not for profit organisation
    7. a publicly funded research organisation
    8. an Australian local government body
    9. an Australian state or territory government body.
  2. Operate in Victoria (meaning the work placement opportunity/ies to which your application relate, must be located in Victoria)
  3. Hold an Australian Business Number (ABN)
  4. Have current WorkCover Insurance (or equivalent) for an unlimited amount that shall include liability under statute or common law
  5. Be registered with Worksafe
  6. Have met all industrial relations obligations as an employer in accordance with the National Employment Standards
  7. Have not had any working conditions breaches in the last five years
  8. Comply with the Fair Work Act, 2009

Your business will be provided with a $5,000 wage subsidy for each participant you host for a minimum of 12-weeks. You will also have support from our program delivery partner, InternMatch, who can assist throughout the placement journey.

When you apply to become a host employer, your details will be forwarded to our program partner, InternMatch. InternMatch are responsible for matching our participants to our host employers through their proprietary online platform.

InternMatch will contact you to organise a 30-minute discovery call to discuss your needs and introduce you to their platform. InternMatch will promote your role, provide a shortlist of the most suitable Digital Jobs participants, and support you to book interviews as required.

This simplified recruitment process saves you valuable time and effort.

Work placements, for the purposes of this program, are paid entry level digital positions. They are intended to provide the participant with an introduction to the business and/or industry and allow them to apply and extend digital skills in the context of the host business’s operations and current projects.

Most participants will be suited to entry-level digital roles as their technical knowledge will primarily be foundational. However, their prior work and life experience will ensure they have valuable transferable and soft skills, enabling a faster trajectory in your business.

The work arrangements for placements may be in-person, online, or a combination of both. This will depend on the arrangement you mutually agree on with the participant and regulations outlined by WorkSafe.

After setting up your profile and providing a position description for your role/s, InternMatch will organise a participant showcase meeting. This is your chance to review the participants shortlisted for your role/s and select who to interview. You can organise interviews directly through InternMatch. They will facilitate the scheduling process, ensuring a seamless experience as you connect with potential hires and delve deeper into their skills and experiences.

To inform your decision on appropriate remuneration for your participant, you should refer to the relevant award for your business’ sector or industry. You can also use the salary range for similar jobs advertised on Seek as a guide. An indicative salary guide can be provided by the Digital Jobs team on request.

There is no obligation to retain participants beyond the 12-week tenure. You’ll have the opportunity to offer the participant a job or act as a referee for them. You are also more than welcome to take on new participants in future rounds.

We have multiple recruitment rounds running throughout 2023 and into 2024, with the program closing on 30 June 2024. Courses will commence in January, May and September 2023, with our final round commencing in January 2024.

A talent pool of digitally upskilled participants is always available, without restrictions on how many participants you take or how regularly you host them.   You could choose to host one or multiple participants at first and return for more at a later period or choose to regularly host participants for the duration of the program. You are welcome to contact the Digital Jobs team to discuss how access to this talent pool might best benefit your business.

Page last updated: 1 March 2024