Recruitment and jobs blog

When it comes to safeguarding classified information and critical resources, the Australian government employs a rigorous screening process known as Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1). NV1 is a security clearance level within the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency's (AGSVA) framework, designed to assess the honesty, trustworthiness, maturity, tolerance, resilience, and loyalty of individuals seeking government positions with access to top secret information and resources. In this article, we will explore the significance of NV1 and its role in ensuring a suitable security clearance for government job applicants. Understanding Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1) Negative Vetting Level 1 is a security clearance level essential for government job positions that involve handling classified information and accessing resources up to and including classified and secret. Sponsored by the Australian government, NV1 is administered by the AGSVA, the country's official government security vetting agency. The clearance process involves a comprehensive evaluation of an applicant's background, character references, employment history, financial and criminal records, and their overall suitability to hold a security clearance. The Role of NV1 in Safeguarding National Security Protection of Classified Information: Negative Vetting Level 1 plays a crucial role in safeguarding classified information from unauthorized access or disclosure. By subjecting security clearance holders to stringent background checks, the government ensures that only individuals with the highest level of integrity and trustworthiness are entrusted with classified and secret information. Continuous Review Process: To maintain the integrity of the security clearance, NV1 undergoes regular reviews and assessments. Security officers from the AGSVA review clearances at regular intervals to ensure that individuals still meet the required standards of honesty, trustworthiness, maturity, tolerance, resilience, and loyalty. Australian Citizenship Requirement: NV1 clearance is available only to Australian citizens, emphasizing the government's commitment to entrusting sensitive roles solely to individuals with a strong allegiance to the country. Significance of Negative Vetting Level 1 for Government Job Seekers Enhanced Employment Opportunities: Possessing an NV1 clearance expands employment opportunities within government departments that require individuals to handle classified and secret information. It demonstrates the candidate's eligibility for positions demanding a security clearance level and highlights their commitment to upholding national security. Trust and Public Confidence: By adhering to a comprehensive vetting process, the Australian government strengthens public trust in its recruitment procedures. The inclusion of NV1 ensures that individuals in sensitive government roles have undergone stringent background checks, fostering public confidence in the protection of classified and secret information. Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1) is a crucial aspect of the Australian government's commitment to safeguarding classified and secret information, critical resources, and national security. The vetting process administered by the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) ensures that candidates seeking government positions with access to classified and secret information possess the necessary qualities of honesty, trustworthiness, maturity, tolerance, resilience, and loyalty. By implementing NV1, the government emphasizes its dedication to maintaining a secure environment while providing enhanced employment opportunities for Australian citizens. Aspiring government job seekers should be familiar with the requirements and implications of NV1 to strengthen their chances of securing positions requiring a security clearance.

When it comes to government jobs in Australia, baseline security clearance is a vital requirement for certain positions. The baseline security clearance ensures that individuals entrusted with sensitive information possess the necessary integrity, trustworthiness, maturity, tolerance, resilience, and loyalty. In this article, we will delve into the world of baseline security clearance, exploring its significance, eligibility criteria, and the process involved in obtaining it. Understanding Baseline Security Clearance: Baseline security clearance is the initial level of security screening required for individuals seeking employment in government agencies or departments dealing with classified information. It serves as a foundation for higher levels of security clearances and is essential for protecting Australian government resources and maintaining the integrity and security of sensitive information. Eligibility Criteria for Baseline Security Clearance: To be eligible for baseline security clearance, applicants must meet certain requirements set by the Australian government. While the specific criteria may vary depending on the agency or department, the following general guidelines apply: Citizenship: Applicants must be Australian citizens or possess permanent residency status, ensuring loyalty to the nation and its government. Background Check: A comprehensive background check, including a police check, is conducted to verify personal and employment history. This screening ensures the applicant's honesty, trustworthiness, and resilience. Character Assessment: Applicants are evaluated based on their character traits, such as maturity, tolerance, and loyalty. Personal conduct, reputation, and adherence to laws and regulations are considered during this assessment. Legal Obligations: Individuals must demonstrate a willingness to comply with legal obligations, including confidentiality agreements, security protocols, and the protection of classified information. This highlights their commitment to the Australian government's protective security policy framework (PSPF). Process of Obtaining Baseline Security Clearance: Obtaining baseline security clearance involves several stages, typically including the following steps: Security Clearance Application: Candidates interested in government positions requiring baseline security clearance must complete the appropriate security clearance application form and submit it along with supporting documents. Employment Screening: The employing agency or department conducts a thorough employment screening process, which may involve interviews, reference checks, and assessments of the applicant's access to information. Levels of Security Clearances: Based on the access requirements and sensitivity of the position, individuals may be subject to different levels of security clearances. Baseline security clearance is the initial level, followed by negative vetting 2 (NV2) and positive vetting (PV). Australian Government Security Vetting: The security vetting agency, known as the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA), evaluates the candidate's eligibility for baseline security clearance. This assessment considers the applicant's background, character, and potential vulnerabilities. Decision and Notification: Once the assessment is complete, a decision is made regarding the individual's eligibility for baseline security clearance. The candidate is then notified of the outcome, either granting or denying the clearance. Baseline security clearance is a crucial prerequisite for government jobs in Australia that involve handling classified information. It ensures that individuals entrusted with sensitive data possess the necessary honesty, trustworthiness, maturity, tolerance, resilience, and loyalty to protect Australian government resources. By understanding the eligibility criteria and the process involved, aspiring candidates can navigate the requirements effectively and increase their chances of obtaining baseline security clearance, opening doors to a rewarding career in the Australian government's protective security domain.

Commercial IT spend is on the rise as new technologies emerge, data consumption rises, infrastructure evolves, and core business offerings migrate online. In turn, this is affecting how businesses utilise and manage their IT resources, to ensure they deliver a valuable return on investment (ROI) for their business. Over the last decade, we’ve seen the proliferation of Managed Services Providers (MSP’s), enterprises that deliver their unique products and services to support and optimise the fundamental departments that underpin all businesses. This rise in popularity has changed the way companies approach their capital expenditure, looking to streamline costs and boost performance. For IT departments, this has resulted in more companies looking to replace or augment their existing in-house teams to better leverage the power of technology. Some may call this digital transformation, but we call it the rush to stay competitive in a forever changing world. In this blog, we discuss four key reasons why this is the CASE. Cost Efficiency Simply put, managing IT resources internally is expensive and takes up precious time. Not only do you have the rising expenses of buying and maintaining hardware and software, but you also have the hefty price tag of acquiring and retaining the right talent to manage them. All these activities take time, and add risk to a business’ bottom line. As organisations become increasingly reliant on technology, it becomes increasingly unrealistic to possess an in-house IT team capable of managing everything from infrastructure upgrades to software updates, and everything in between. By outsourcing to an MSP, you can remove a significant amount of these cost burdens by managing these processes remotely and only paying for the products and services that your business actually needs. Access to talent pools Ask any technology recruiter in Australia, and they will tell you the difficulty of sourcing top technology talent, let alone retaining them. Companies across all industries are competing for an increasingly finite resource, meaning finding the right talent to execute your IT strategies is a challenging proposition. One way to combat this shortage is to leverage the talent pool of an MSP. MSPs are experts in their specialist field (or fields), typically underpinned by high quality talent who can deliver their products and services on demand. This means by outsourcing your IT resources, you immediately gain access to hard-to-find personnel you may struggle to find on your own. Scalability Are you about to commence a new IT transformation project? Or about to go through a period of high seasonal demand? Your IT needs are constantly fluctuating, meaning you need to be equally as agile in how you address them. Internal IT teams will always have their strengths and weaknesses, unable to adapt to changing capacity requirements to accommodate your evolving needs. Conversely, MSPs provide you with access to the personnel, products and services you need when you need them, granting you extra flexibility if you need to scale up or down. Expertise Ultimately, you want what’s best for your business. You want access to the best products and services that can be delivered professionally to streamline your operations and boost your business. Outsourcing your IT resources is one way to achieve this because it enables you a superior breadth of expertise. MSPs can cover your skill gaps or add to your internal capabilities. From cyber-security to cloud migration, data analytics to network management, MSPs provide businesses with the technical capabilities you need to get the most out of your IT function. Technology is constantly evolving, as is the way companies manage and leverage its power to enhance their business. MSP’s are one available avenue for companies to save costs, access talent pools, increase scalability and add expertise to their IT function. Whether you choose this avenue or not, or adopt a blended approach, is up to you. At Ignite, our IT managed Services division On Demand can provide all your IT outsourcing needs and more to support your business and drive your strategic technology objectives.

We are excited to announce our First Nations Project Partnership with indigenous IT professional services group Yirigaa. The First Nations project is a collaborative partnership aimed at raising awareness for indigenous culture, upskilling indigenous talent with critical IT skills, and improving their employment opportunities and outcomes in Australia’s technology sector. Yirigaa is an aboriginal-majority-owned and managed information technology and cyber professional services company. They familiarise organisations with the importance of indigenous culture and kindship, and create learning, internship, and employment pathway opportunities for indigenous, diverse and under-represented groups in Australia’s IT industry. Like Ignite, Yirigaa is an Australian Defence Industry Security Program (DISP) provider, allowing them to sponsor candidates for Australian Government security clearances in technology. They also train and certify talent with industry recognised credentials through their Cyber Security Training Academy. Ignite is a diversified talent business that specialises in IT recruitment, managed services and career training. Our commitment to diversity & inclusion, particularly for indigenous Australians, is something we are very passionate about. In 2018, we were the first non-indigenous recruitment agency to have an endorsed Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). We also developed an indigenous recruitment strategy that helped first nation talent access more roles within Australia’s Federal Government. The First Nations Project Partnership will see Ignite and Yirigaa become First Nations Reconciliation Cultural and Kindship partners.  Yirigaa will be Ignite’s First Nations digital technology, training academy, managed services and SECOPS partner. Ignite will leverage its strong public and private client relationships to raise awareness of indigenous culture and deliver improved employment opportunities and outcomes for Yirigaa’s network of indigenous technology talent. Ignite and Yirigaa are both passionate advocates for educating and employing Australia’s first People to fill the rising skills and resources gaps in Australia. Together, we will help build self-sustaining and culturally aware inclusive industry workplaces and improve employment outcomes for indigenous talent in Australia’s rapidly growing technology industry.

Over the past six weeks, Ignite’s Technology & Talent Solutions team have been working in partnership with Settlement Services International (SSI) and NSW Education to deliver a series of train the trainer career management training workshops for SSI caseworkers who support skilled migrants and refugees. Australia has a critical skill shortage, yet research by Max Solutions suggests only one in five (21%) skilled migrants have their overseas qualifications recognised locally. Furthermore, 75% of culturally and linguistically diverse workers expect to wait up to three years to secure work in their specialist field. This is compared to 72% of Australians from non-culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who find work within six months after commencing their job search. Skilled migrants are a potential solution to intensifying local skill gaps, but current barriers of entry are restricting this flow of skilled talent. Settlement Services International (SSI) is a leading community-based not-for-profit that aims to combat this by providing services that support the integration of refugees and asylum seekers into the Australian community. They are sponsored by NSW Education’s Refugee Employment Support Program (RESP), which aims to boost employment outcomes for refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. Our Technology & Talent Solutions team are passionate about diversity and inclusivity in the Australian workforce. We have partnered with both organisations to deliver six workshops to upskill more than 20 SSI caseworkers to enhance their support capabilities for skilled migrant talent looking for local jobs. Ignite’s workshops included training in the following areas: Industry Insights - IT, construction, childcare, logistics and healthcare Job Insights Training pathways – micro credentials, TAFE and traineeship opportunities Career pathways – Career coaching and development Client success strategies Resume and cover letter development Interview preparation skills In addition to this training, we also organised guest speakers from industry leading organisations. These included Sara Hussain from Amazon, Joanne Nolan from CPB Contractors, Val Legend from Australian Unity, Steve Elbourn from ITIC and Katherine Tutill from Mcarthur. We are so proud to be involved in this project and contribute to the great work that SSI and NSW Education do for refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. We hope that we have equipped SSI’s caseworkers with the skills needed to enhance their service that help skilled migrants and refugees access employment opportunities in Australia. Our Technology and Talent Solutions team is a national innovative business providing diversified as-a-service technology, HR and recruitment solutions to drive the talent management strategies of organisations. For more information, visit our website or contact Gareth Shaw at [email protected]  

We are delighted to welcome Michael Megally as Director of IT Consulting at Ignite. Michael will lead the IT consulting arm of our Technology and Talent Solutions team, which uses cost efficient and vetted technology squads to drive technological solutions for business problems as-a-service. Michael has worked in the technology industry for over 20 years and is a highly experienced delivery and transformation executive. He has assisted a wide range of multinational enterprise organisations on their IT transformation journeys. Michael has strong capabilities in program management, IT operations, service delivery, customer onboarding, product management, negotiating complex outsourcing deals and business transformation. All of which will be essential to our technology-as-a-service offerings. Michael is also an entrepreneur who has setup and run multiple businesses. He knows how to develop companies from inception to profitability with strong governance, innovation, and digitisation principles. He is also involved in several not-for-profit organisations and is passionate about helping neurodiverse people have meaningful careers and creating opportunities for indigenous Australians in technology. Michael said “my role at Ignite is to lead the IT consulting arm of the business, powered by team Ignite to provide innovative solutions to business problems. Project by project, Ignite has curated the best talent, skills, expertise, and availability to deliver direct access to world-class vetted technology squads to deliver solutions for clients on-time and on-budget”. We are delighted to have Michael on-board who brings advanced knowledge and technology expertise that will help our Technology and Talent Solutions team thrive.