Challenge

In 2021, the Department opened the TSSP Supplier Panel, looking to reinvigorate the panel and ensure they were getting the best results. With a strong background in the sector, 9X5 Consulting provided a submission and successfully became a supplier to the TSSP program.

Solution

Every school covered by the TSSP is assigned a Service Delivery Manager (SDM) in conjunction with the school, who determines a weekly allocation of technical support hours to meet the school’s specific needs. Once a school’s requirement is understood, the TSSP website updates with the new role, and the approved suppliers can then nominate for the role. Depending on the school’s size and technology footprint, these roles can range from a few hours to several days per week.

As a TSSP Supplier, 9X5 Consulting understand that no two schools requirements are identical so we have tailored our programme around this, targeting ICT-based tertiary leavers as well network and technical support engineers with several years of ICT experience.

We actively market to tertiary colleges and universities with ICT courses as well as technical job boards, and have developed our own TSSP page which pulls active roles from the TSSP sitedisplays it as a map of Victoria. It shows applicants what current TSSP roles are available near them, how many hours each role contains and an application call to action. Our recruitment team reviews any applications that come directly through our CRM.

We then interview candidates, looking at technical and soft skills to ensure they would be a good fit for a school.

By automating our website, application, and vetting processes, we can instead spend more time working with the applicant to ensure we give them a great start to a career in ICT and that the school’s needs match those of the best applicant.

Impact

Our approach to the TSSP program is holistic, melding the school’s specific requirements with the candidate’s technical expertise and soft skills, geographic location, and career aspirations.

We have found that this approach ensures longer tenures and better working relationships with the schools. In only 12 months, we have expanded our participation in the TSSP to 14 schools, supported by 8 technical support consultants.

Feedback from the Department of Education’s SDMs has been excellent, and we look forward to continuing to support the program.