The Solution

Harrier designed a comprehensive, strategically sophisticated diversity hiring solution that addressed the mining organisation's leadership-level gender diversity challenge through systematic transferable skills identification and recruitment. The solution recognised that traditional approaches, internal promotion from predominantly male technical pipelines and industry hiring from similarly male-dominated competitors would perpetuate existing imbalances. Meaningful change required fundamentally different approach: recruiting talented women from industries with stronger female leadership representation whose skills could transfer effectively to mining sector leadership roles.

The solution was deliberately designed as an easily repeatable program that could be internally implemented and built upon, rather than creating dependency on external consultants. This sustainability-focused approach aligned with the organisation's objective to build internal capability for ongoing diversity hiring rather than achieving short-term gains through one-off interventions. The repeatable framework would enable the organisation to scale successful approaches across departments, regions, and role types as confidence and evidence of effectiveness grew.

The cornerstone of the solution was a comprehensive program toolkit designed to inform and enable hiring managers to successfully recruit for transferable skills. The toolkit addressed the reality that most hiring managers in mining, particularly those in technical and operational roles had limited experience evaluating candidates without direct industry background and needed structured guidance to do so effectively and confidently.

The toolkit enabled hiring managers to systematically review roles within their departments and determine suitability for transferable skills hiring. This assessment capability was critical, as not all roles are equally suitable for new-to-industry hires. Roles requiring deep technical mining expertise, extensive regulatory knowledge, or immediate operational decision-making might require industry experience, while leadership, commercial, operational support, or people management roles often have strong transferability from other sectors.

The toolkit provided practical guidance on how to easily assess factors that could impact the success of the transferable skills approach for specific roles. These factors included the availability of technical training and onboarding support, the complexity of mining-specific knowledge required, the time available for new hire learning curve, the composition of the team (presence of experienced members who could mentor), and the nature of stakeholder interactions (internal versus external, technical versus commercial).

Critically, the toolkit guided hiring managers through the process of reviewing role requirements to incorporate the competencies and attributes that a new-to-industry hire would need to be successful rather than focusing exclusively on the experience and technical knowledge that industry-experienced candidates would possess. This competency-focused approach required hiring managers to think differently about capability—distinguishing between what must be possessed from day one versus what could be learned, and identifying the core skills, behaviors, and attributes that enable success regardless of industry context.

The toolkit provided frameworks for documenting competency-based profiles to recruit against, ensuring that position descriptions, selection criteria, and interview guides aligned to the transferable skills approach. This documentation was essential for sourcing candidates from alternative industries, as traditional mining-centric job descriptions would not resonate with or attract talented women from other sectors. The competency-based profiles enabled recruitment marketing that spoke to broader capabilities while clearly articulating what would be learned and supported in the transition to mining.

The solution included a structured pilot program to trial the transferable skills approach in controlled fashion, generate evidence of effectiveness, refine methodology based on learnings, and build advocacy through demonstrated success. The pilot approach recognised that large-scale organisational change requires proof points and champions, managers and employees who can speak authentically about what works based on direct experience.

Harrier worked in genuine partnership with key HR stakeholders and hiring managers to identify potential roles for inclusion in the pilot program. This collaborative identification process ensured that pilot roles were genuinely suitable for transferable skills hiring, had hiring managers genuinely committed to the approach, and represented diverse role types to demonstrate broad applicability. The partnership approach also built HR and hiring manager capability through participation in role assessment and program design.

The pilot program implementation involved multiple work streams executed concurrently. Harrier developed program briefing documentation that articulated the business case for transferable skills hiring, explained the methodology and expected outcomes, and provided implementation guidance for pilot participants. A detailed project plan established timelines, milestones, responsibilities, and governance structures. Communications materials were created for various stakeholders including hiring managers, HR business partners, executive sponsors, and broader organisational awareness.

Harrier partnered closely with pilot hiring managers to assess their specific roles against the suitability criteria and design new hiring profiles using the competency-based framework. This hands-on partnership served dual purposes: ensuring pilot roles had well-designed profiles that would attract suitable candidates, and building hiring manager capability in the transferable skills assessment methodology through experiential learning. Managers who participated in pilot design became advocates for broader implementation.

A critical component of the pilot involved reviewing alternative industries to identify which sectors offered suitable pools of female leadership talent with skills transferable to mining roles. This industry analysis considered factors including the presence of comparable leadership competencies (managing large teams, operational complexity, safety-critical environments, commercial acumen), availability of female talent at leadership levels, and alignment of industry dynamics (capital intensity, regulatory complexity, stakeholder management, operational planning horizons).

Target industries identified through this analysis might include healthcare (operational management, safety culture, people leadership), logistics and transportation (operational complexity, asset management, safety systems), manufacturing (production planning, continuous improvement, quality management), retail (large-scale operations, customer service, people management), and financial services (risk management, stakeholder engagement, commercial analysis).

Harrier directly engaged female talent from identified target industries to gauge genuine interest in mining sector opportunities, identify specific barriers to considering such moves, understand what would make opportunities attractive and credible, and gather insights on messaging, positioning, and support requirements that would enable successful transitions. This candidate market research was invaluable in ensuring the program addressed real concerns rather than assumed ones.

Common barriers identified through candidate engagement typically included perceptions of mining as unwelcoming to women, uncertainty about culture fit and belonging, concerns about remote location requirements and fly-in-fly-out rosters, lack of understanding about role diversity beyond technical mining, and questions about genuine commitment to diversity versus tokenism. The program design incorporated specific strategies to address each identified barrier through transparent communication, realistic job previews, structured onboarding support, and visible female role models.

The pilot included development of success measures that could be implemented to determine program effectiveness and identify improvement opportunities. These measures extended beyond simple hiring metrics to include quality of hire indicators (performance ratings, retention, progression), experience metrics (hiring manager satisfaction, new hire satisfaction, onboarding effectiveness), and organisational impact measures (culture feedback, diversity representation, internal advocacy).

The Results

The pilot program's success validated the transferable skills approach and generated momentum for broader organisational implementation. Due to demonstrated effectiveness, the organisation expanded the pilot program across wider operations, representing significant organisational commitment to the diversity hiring methodology and confidence in its ability to deliver results at scale.

The program achieved improved gender balance in typically male leadership roles, directly addressing the organisation's strategic objective. Women recruited through the transferable skills approach brought diverse perspectives, leadership styles, and capabilities that enriched decision-making and organisational culture. The presence of women in visible leadership positions created role models for other women in the organisation and demonstrated genuine commitment to diversity beyond entry-level programs.

Successful female employee stories became integrated into the organisation's Employee Value Proposition (EVP), providing authentic narratives that positioned the mining company as genuinely inclusive employer. These stories featuring women who successfully transitioned from other industries into mining leadership served multiple purposes: attracting other talented women considering similar moves, demonstrating to internal stakeholders that transferable skills hiring works, and differentiating the organisation's employer brand in competitive talent markets.

The integration of success stories into EVP represented sophisticated employer branding that moved beyond generic diversity statements to concrete evidence of women thriving in the organisation. Candidates from alternative industries could see themselves reflected in these narratives, reducing perceived risk of considering mining opportunities and increasing application and offer acceptance rates.

The repeatable framework enabled sustainable internal implementation without ongoing dependency on external support. Hiring managers who participated in the pilot became advocates and mentors for other managers beginning to use the approach. HR business partners gained confidence in supporting transferable skills hiring and could guide managers through role assessment and profile development. The toolkit materials provided scalable resources that could be accessed by any manager considering the approach.

The program reduced barriers to entry for talented women from alternative industries by addressing perceptions, providing clear pathways, and demonstrating genuine organisational commitment. Rather than women needing to "break in" to closed mining networks or acquire mining-specific credentials before being considered, the program opened accessible pathways based on leadership capability and transferable competencies.

The program demonstrated that achieving meaningful diversity at leadership levels requires systemic approach that challenges traditional hiring assumptions. The success validated that leadership capability is often more transferable across industries than commonly recognised, women bring valuable perspectives and capabilities from diverse industry experiences, structured onboarding and support enable successful transitions, and genuine commitment to diversity requires action beyond stated intentions.

The transferable skills methodology developed for gender diversity has broader applicability to other diversity dimensions and talent challenges. The framework could be applied to Indigenous representation, age diversity, disability inclusion, or addressing skills shortages by recruiting from adjacent industries. The competency-based assessment approach represents talent acquisition maturity evolution that focuses on potential and capability rather than narrow experience matching.

The program's expansion across the wider organisation demonstrated that pilot-based change management, testing, learning, refining, and building advocacy before scaling can achieve sustainable transformation that top-down mandates often fail to deliver. The mining organisation developed internal capability for innovative talent acquisition that positions them for ongoing competitive advantage in increasingly diverse and dynamic labor markets.