Young Australians look for a job within the food industry might need to focus on best utilising their skill-set rather than setting their heart on one particular dream job says a new report.

According to the report, on average, when someone trains in or works in one job, they acquire skills for 13 different other jobs.

The Foundation for Young Australians have this week released their “New Work Mindset” report, which says there are seven ‘job clusters’ in Australia and that young people could consider choosing a job cluster based on their interests and strengths, rather than focusing on one particular dream role.

The seven job clusters

Graphic image credit: The Foundation for Young Australians. The New Work Mindset report can be found here.

The seven job clusters, have some relevance to advertised positions within the food industry and include the following:

• The Generators – This cluster includes jobs which involve a high level of interpersonal interaction in retail, sales, hospitality and entertainment. There are an estimated 65 different types of jobs in this cluster and these include working in food-services. Future prospects in generator jobs is considered ‘moderate’ by the Federation of Young Australians.
• The Artisans – These jobs require skills in manual tasks related to construction, production and maintenance. Food-related jobs in this cluster includes types of farm work or manufacturing. There are approximately 120 different types of jobs in the whole cluster.
• The Carers – This cluster includes jobs which help others. There are no jobs directly related to the food industry within this cluster but there are jobs which could help others with their diet and health including doctors and dietitians. There are approximately 130 different job types in this whole cluster and future prospects for finding work in this field is strong.
• The Coordinators – These type of jobs include administration jobs which are often ‘behind the scenes’. There are approximately 60 different job types in the Coordinators cluster but job prospects are weaker than in other cluster groupings.
• The Designers – Involve using skills and knowledge in science, maths and design to construct and engineer products or buildings. Food industry related jobs include food technologist and product testing services. There are approximately 70 different job types in this cluster and job prospects are said to be “moderate”.
• The Informers – The Informers cluster includes professionals providing information, services or education. Job prospects for this cluster is strong and most of the positions including school teachers, accountants and human resource jobs.
• The Technologists – The technologists have skilled understanding and manipulation of digital technology. Positions including software engineers, business analysts and designers.

The report says if employers can recognise all the different skills in any given job, they could consider a wider variety of candidates for vacant positions.

The New Work Mindset report can be read here.

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