Indigenous owned, personnel supply and recruitment company, Yalagan Group is on a mission to provide long-term employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander job seekers. We caught up with them and had a yarn about their upcoming projects and goals.

Tell us what you do at Yalagan Group? 

Yalagan Group is proudly an accredited, Indigenous-owned company.

We specialise in Indigenous personnel supply and recruitment. Established in 2017, Yalagan has grown and expanded nationally.

Our founder, Nathan Martin, has an inspiring story of overcoming adversity and is the example by which our organisation is led.

Our mission is to provide long term employment opportunities that are supported by Indigenous led mentoring and training programs.

Our name Ya-la-gan means to work hard or be “hard working”- and we aim to live up to this every day.

Why is it important that Indigenous employment providers, like yourselves, exist? 

It is our ultimate goal through Yalagan Group to increase the representation of Indigenous Australians in the workforce and foster an increased awareness of Indigenous culture within the workplace. We do that by being able to ‘walk the talk’ – we know and understand the Indigenous experience, because we’ve lived it.

Indigenous employment providers are also crucial because we are the bridge between organisations and Indigenous candidates. Often organisations have great goals or targets to reach in regards to Indigenous participation but struggle in the implementation. That’s where we come in. We have the cultural understanding, the personal experience that means we can deliver the best outcomes for both parties. We never ‘set and forget’ our candidates. We partner with the organisation long term to ensure the success of our people.

What are Yalagan group’s goals? 

At Yalagan Group we believe that by working together and partnering with clients that are serious about Indigenous engagement, we can create real opportunities for our people, and their community.

Our goals include:

• Foster a strong local and cultural connections
• Create long term, sustainable career opportunities
• Give opportunity to those that might not find it elsewhere – such as those leaving incarceration or who have experienced long term and periodic unemployment
• Increasing Indigenous representation across the workforce
• Providing training opportunities that upskill and uplift
• Delivering strong Indigenous lead mentoring programs

What are some opportunities that are coming up with Yalagan group that people can look out for? 

Yalagan Group has recently partnered with Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation (WNAC) an organisation that represents the traditional landowners of the Hunter Valley and together we are working on a range of initiatives that will create opportunity for local Aboriginal people.

We have also started some exciting work on updating our mentoring programs, specifically in how we deliver them, using new technology to reach more people and make it easier for our candidates to stay connected and successful at their placements.

Is there anything else you’d like to add? 

Yalagan group wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and their Elders past and present. We would like to respectfully acknowledge their continuing culture, of which inspires Yalagan Group today and the continued contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

If you’d like to get in touch with Yalagan Group, head to their website https://yalagangroup.com