Marcus Sellen

Are you setting up offices in those states?

We will more than likely, actually I’ll say yes we will be setting up offices interstate.

New South Wales and Queensland?

Yes, New South Wales and Queensland, and South Australia and Western Australia as well.

We’ll have coverage in ACT but not necessarily have offices there, and we’ll do the same with Tasmania as well. Everywhere except Northern Territory at this stage we are looking to expand into.

That’s an aggressive rollout.

Times are tough in the industry and I know a lot of education providers that were in the international student space are struggling; there have been some changes in regulations around there.

So a lot of providers that were in the international space are trying to break into the domestic space.

And I suppose the dollar wouldn’t help either.

The dollar is not helping but the good-quality providers, they are doing well. I think it is now going to separate the boys from the men, and really show those who are the quality providers, delivering a great product to their students and an organisation for their staff. They are going to be the winners at the end of the day.

And how’s the appetite for corporate training?

That is one of our stronger areas. Corporate organisations are looking at getting their workforce qualified and induction programs aligned to qualifications to have a good program for new staff.

I’m guessing you were delighted by the Government’s focus on skills in this year’s budget.

That is our industry so I think it is very positive for us. I can’t say no really! It’s great for our economy, it’s good to have skilled people in the workforce and that we are competitive in the international arena against our international counterparts.

Do you think there is a skills shortage?

I have seen a lot of the shortage. I know some of the industries that we work in are struggling to get long-term staff in their industry.

Why is that? Is it population size or something else?

Population size yes, I suppose, but there is a lack of interest from our brothers and sisters locally to want to do the jobs that there are skill shortages in.

Well, the money is good.

Yes, the money is good but maybe not what our new generation of employees are looking for.

What are they looking for?

I think there is a new generation of people coming through and they want less for more. Employees want more for less. They want to give less but be paid more, better conditions, better terms.

That’s probably always been the case.

Well, I think it is now a new group of people that are on their Facebook and their iPhones, and they are tagging places that they have been and eaten and I think that can become very infectious and good for businesses that do very well and not so good for businesses that don’t have a good reputation.

It only takes one negative tweet about an employee not doing the right thing to their staff and it can go viral.

It is most important to look after your staff and do the right thing, make sure they have got good working conditions, make sure they make contributions to the business and feel valued.

That’s interesting. The older generation, you’re suggesting, are more likely to suffer in silence.

Well, the older generation are trying to work out how to deal with the younger generation. I sit in the middle, I have got some older generation who are saying, ‘why are you doing this for?’ and I can see the younger generation coming to work, placing a tag on their iPhones as to where they are for the day.

So you know they are kind of signing in to work via their iPhones, so it is quite amazing in a way, it is also a bit nerve-racking because if I do the wrong thing, that is my name that can be tarnished all over the internet for not seen to be doing the right thing.

But you are a young man, aren’t you?

Reasonably young yes, but I don’t have an iPhone.

Early 30s?

Yes, early 30s.

You sound very Gen X at the moment. What are your goals for the year ahead?

This year it is to solidify our expansion plans interstate. Where are we going to go first, what markets are we able to capitalise on, where we are good, focus on becoming much better, making sure our offer to our clients and our students is the best in the market. I think we still have a long way to go, we have a lot more to offer. Although I think we are good at what we do and the results suggest that we are good at what we do.