Banner Default Image

If you have a significant portfolio of technology programs and projects to be delivered and are concerned about the strain of training and upskilling new staff, then you should explore our Capacity Uplift Solution Program (CUSP).

Addressing prevalent talent challenges in the IT sector, the Capacity Uplift Solutions Program offers tailored solutions in talent development, cost-effectiveness, and fostering a diverse workforce, providing a structured pathway for participants' professional growth in tech skills over a 12-month program.

What is Capacity Uplift Solution Program?

Leaders IT’s Capacity Uplift Solution Program (CUSP) stands as an award winning program that flips the traditional approach to hiring on its head. This innovative program provides solutions to prevelant talent issues faced by companies seeking the perfect IT expertise, including:

  • Development and retention: Growing talent that sticks

  • Cost-effectiveness: Hiring for potential over-skills

  • Diverse talent pool: Improving the diversity of your workforce

CUSP is a development program specially designed to assist organsations in fast-tracking the development of talent.

The program involves 12 months of full-time employment with Leaders IT, during this time the employees are placed within a host organisation to fulfill roles within IT and digital projects. Underpinned by 26 mentoring sessions with our in-house mentors, participants in the program are carefully assessed to allow our mentors to establish tailored development plans to grow the participants' technical skills and professional skills. Our mentors are seasoned professionals who have years of experience in the IT industry and guide participants through an array of challenges confronted by newcomers, returnees, and career changers entering the IT realm. Their insights contribute significantly to participants' holistic development, both professionally and personally.

Simultaneously, our program integrates professional upskilling facilitated by in-house psychologists. They curate and deliver a series of 10 purpose-built workshops aimed at the cohort, enhancing not only their professional skill sets but also nurturing personal growth and development. Upon completion of the 12-month program, participants are adept in technical, professional, and interpersonal skills, and well-prepared to assume permanent positions with the host client, at no extra recruitment expense. Alternatively, the client can choose to continue to engage the participant on a day-to-day basis.

This valuable program's takes a proactive approach to addressing the pressing labour shortage within the IT industry, a concern underscored in the Tech Council of Australia's 2021 report. The report outlined the escalating demand for technology professionals, projecting a need for 1.2 million new IT experts by 2030. Consequently, it emphasized the imperative of accommodating an additional 653,000 tech workers in Australia. This uplift would require:

  • 42,000 extra entry-level students

  • 101,000 extra Australians transitioning into the tech sector from other roles

  • 43,000 extra skilled migrants coming into Australia.

Source: TCA Roadmap to Deliver One Million Tech Jobs, October 2021, Accenture analysis.

What problems are we solving through Capacity Uplift Solutions Program?

1. Development and Retention: Growing talent that stick
Capacity Uplift Solutions Program (CUSP) serves as an all-encompassing solution, alleviating the client's burden of talent growth and associated risks. By nurturing talent within the client host organisation, CUSP ensures that individuals are developed in alignment with the client's unique culture, thereby increasing the likelihood of long-term retention. This approach fosters a seamless integration of new talent, reducing the client's need for extensive efforts and resource allocation towards employee development and retention. Ultimately, CUSP facilitates a more efficient and sustainable talent development process while enhancing client satisfaction and productivity.

2. Diverse Talent Pool: Improve diversity of your workforce
Organisations today are looking to strengthen their workforce by employing people with diverse backgrounds. Capacity Uplift Solutions Program (CUSP) plays a pivotal role in assisting clients to diversify their talent pool, which in turn fosters a more inclusive and diverse workforce. By offering opportunities to a broad spectrum of individuals, including women, neurodivergent individuals, and those from diverse cultural backgrounds, including First Nations people, CUSP enriches our client's talent base. CUSP's commitment to tapping into underutilised talent sources aligns seamlessly with its mission to promote diversity and inclusion, resulting in a more dynamic and robust client workforce that reflects the broader community. ​

3. Cost-effectiveness: Hiring for potential over skills
For clients grappling with the rising costs of tech talent, largely driven by the scarcity of skilled professionals, the Capacity Uplift Solutions Program (CUSP) offers a cost-effective solution. We hire people based on their potential and attitude, offering a structured pathway for their professional growth in tech skills through a 12-month program. CUSP also alleviates the burden of navigating an increasingly competitive job market for these individuals. Clients can access this talent pool at a lower cost compared to hiring ‘ready-made’ tech professionals with already inflated salaries. CUSP effectively mitigates the financial strain associated with escalating tech talent salaries, ensuring clients have access to the skilled workforce they need to drive their technology initiatives forward, all while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

​​

Professional Development Modules

Through Leaders IT, our CUSP participants are provided with two face-to-face mentoring sessions per month. These sessions cover various topics that sit under our four core modules:

Building
Foundation Skills

Increasing
Insight & Awareness

​Increasing
Capability

Managing Environments
& Enterprise Skills

Sponsored & Diverse Candidate Pools

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB)

At Leaders IT, we take pride in maintaining a balanced 50/50 gender representation within our Capacity Uplift Solutions Program. This achievement stems from our inclusive approach to advertising and recruitment, as well as effective client communication highlighting the numerous benefits of an inclusive hiring strategy. We have also successfully run a neurodiverse recruitment strategy through CUSP that saw us recruit, place, onboard and support neurodivergent IT professionals into employment in collaboration with our clients, Telstra and the Western Australian Government.

We are proudly part of RGF Staffing, whose mission it is to become the most sustainable staffing company by 2030. To fulfill this mission, we are involved in the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives that our parent company established. From this, we have access to a variety of resources and contribute to DEIB activities spanned across the network of RGF Staffing APEJ companies. From the endorsement of the Reconciliation Action Plan to our participation in the RGF Connect program (that supports and places women who face obstacles to entering or re-entering the labour market into employment), we are invested in these endeavours to make a more inclusive and diverse workforce and community.

International Engagement

Leaders IT holds accredited sponsor status, enabling us to provide onshore and offshore foreign national professionals to our clients through Leaders IT-sponsored visas. This facilitates the acquisition of elusive, high-demand IT talent, with the option to tap into the expertise of highly skilled overseas professionals. Furthermore, our comprehensive support system expedites their integration into Australian workplaces, subsequently boosting their efficiency and productivity within the organisation.

Results to Date

60%

Return to work/Career transitions.

79%

Participants converted to permanent employment.

51%

Female participants across our programs nationally.

Get in Touch​

Did something you pique your curiosity? If our Capacity Uplift Solutions Program sparked your interest complete the form below and we'll be in touch.