Case Study: Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation (ACCO)

Background

The ACCO is a not-for-profit organisation that provides culturally sensitive foster care and family support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Their mission focuses on creating stable homes that nurture cultural identity and belonging. The ACCO offers family preservation programs and foster care placements, ensuring that carers are equipped with an understanding of culturally specific ways of knowing and doing so they can provide a safe and connected environment in which Aboriginal children can thrive. The organisation also provides ongoing training and support for carers to ensure high-quality care.

The Challenge

The ACCO faced unique recruitment challenges, with increasing demand for Aboriginal-identified professionals creating a competitive environment. To fill these roles, a recruiter with deep cultural understanding was essential—someone who could effectively represent the ACCO and communicate the organisation’s mission and the roles’ significant impact. However, due to the priority placed on fieldwork commitments, the availability of interviewers was limited, resulting in some qualified candidates choosing to pursue other opportunities with local organisations.

The abrs Advantage

Through a tailored, culturally informed recruitment approach, abrs represented the ACCO in a way that genuinely aligned with their values and mission.

Drawing from a strong track record of recruiting for Aboriginal-led organisations in the social care sector, abrs demonstrated cultural awareness and understanding, ensuring their identity and brand were authentically represented in the market.

abrs was able to streamline the recruitment process, incorporating culturally relevant screening questions and taking on tasks such as police checks for shortlisted candidates.

This partnership led the ACCO to sign an exclusive preferred supplier agreement with abrs in 2023, offering significant advantages, including:

• Authentic Brand Representation: With abrs deep-rooted understanding of the importance of cultural representation, the ACCO’s brand and mission were conveyed meaningfully and accurately to prospective candidates.
• Reduced Overheads and Administrative Burden: Working exclusively with abrs reduced recruitment-related workload for their internal team, allowing them to focus on their core mission while abrs managed the recruitment complexities.

The Results

To date, abrs has successfully filled 13 roles for the ACCO reducing the time to recruit from six-months to 30 days.

All net revenue generated from this recruitment project was directed to programs that support children, youth, and families across NSW and the ACT