Entry Level Pathways (Personas)

Overview 

The Future Skills Organisation (FSO) is creating Entry-Level Personas to clarify the skills needed for digital and cybersecurity entry-level jobs. This initiative aims to align education with workforce demands, aiding individuals from varied backgrounds in joining the industry.

Through industry collaboration, the project will:

• Identify key skills clusters needed for specialist digital roles.

• Develop personas that outline job expectations, career pathways, and required training.

• Trial personas with industry partners to ensure real-world relevance.

• Provide resources for employers and educators to adopt skills-based hiring and training approaches.

By focusing on practical skills over formal qualifications, this project supports skills-first recruitment, career development, and training innovation, ensuring a more inclusive and job-ready workforce for Australia’s digital economy.

Background Information

Australia is experiencing a digital talent shortage, with demand surpassing job-ready candidates.  Employers often prioritize degrees over practical skills and industry experience, ignoring valuable talent pools like career changers and vocational graduates. Training providers struggle to update curricula to keep pace with industry needs. The lack of common workforce language results in misaligned efforts among businesses, recruiters, and educators, leading to inefficient workforce planning.

The main points:

A skills-based approach with Personas

The Entry-Level Pathways (Personas) Project will create a set of detailed, industry-validated personas that define:

• The skills needed for entry-level digital roles.

• The career pathways individuals can take to progress in the industry.

• How employers can recruit based on competencies rather than qualifications.

• How training providers can align their programs with workforce needs.

Each persona will provide a clear roadmap for learners, recruiters, and training organisations, ensuring a seamless connection between education and employment.

Industry collaboration and pilots

The project is built on strong industry engagement. FSO is partnering with leading employers, HR professionals, and training providers to co-design, test, and refine personas. Key activities include:

• Identifying skills clusters that reflect real job tasks and responsibilities.

• Developing industry-aligned personas that guide recruitment and training.

• Trialling personas with industry partners to ensure usability and impact.

• Creating resources for businesses and educators to integrate personas into their processes.

• Evaluating the effectiveness of personas through independent assessment.

These efforts will equip employers with practical tools to recruit from a broader, more diverse talent pool, while ensuring training providers deliver job-relevant skills.

The Long-Term Vision: A More Inclusive, Future-Ready Workforce

By shifting towards skills-first hiring and education, this project will help create a workforce that is:

• More inclusive – Welcoming diverse career backgrounds and learning pathways.

• More adaptable – Responding to industry needs in real-time.

• More job-ready – Ensuring graduates have the practical skills needed to succeed.

Recommendation for Jobs and Skills Council:

• Provide overall skills forecasting and planning for digital and tech roles with JSA support. 

Map target jobs and associated skills across training packages and practices to support the design and delivery of the model in collaboration with industry peaks and employers.

Deliverables

• Co-Design entry level personas with industry stakeholders, educators, and recruiters.

• Trial and validation

• Develop resources and promote the use of personas

• Confirm approach for future stewardship of persona and how they will be managed

Consultation and Feedback 

The Entry-Level Pathways (Personas) Project is driven by extensive consultation and feedback from key stakeholders across industry, education, and workforce development. This ensures that the personas are relevant, practical, and aligned with employer and training provider needs.