New Skills Assessment Criteria for Management Occupations

[George Lombard]

The AIM has just announced that effective immediately it is changing its criteria for management occupations to the following:

 

 

Criteria for a Manager for the Purpose of Migration

 

The Australian Institute of Management is contracted as an assessing authority by the Australian Government to assess senior management skills for applicants for the purpose of skilled migration to Australia.

 

Managers are assessed against these criteria and not the functions of the general managerial occupations, as set out in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).

 

Guidelines are based on the level of work experience, training and qualifications achieved. To satisfy these requirements applicants must hold a senior management position and for your information the criteria used are as follows:

 

Corporate General Manager [111211]

A proven record of top management achievement over a continuous period of at least three (3) years in a position such as Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, President, General Manager or equivalent position.

 

These position titles infer that the applicant:

· Holds or has held the most senior management position within the organisation

· Is the owner of the business; or directly reports to the owner/s of the business, usually

through a Board of Directors; or reports directly to the responsible political

Minister/Secretary if the applicant works in the public sector; or is a senior management

consultant providing advice to client organisations at Board or equivalent level;

· Is wholly responsible for achieving the organisation’s financial and strategic outcomes;

· Would normally have had a proven and successful experience in a functional area of

management prior to being appointed to the top job;

· Has the final decision making authority over a wide range of responsibilities through

delegation to several subordinates who would be eligible for assessment as senior

functional managers under the criteria outlined below;

 

Sales and Marketing Manager [131112],

Human Resource Manager [132311],

Engineering Manager [133211], and

Supply and Distribution Manager [133611]

 

A proven record in a senior functional management position over a continuous period of at least three (3) years, requiring the delegation of authority to several other managers/supervisors who themselves hold positions requiring the delegation of work to several other subordinates in supervisory, technical or skilled positions.

These position titles infer that the applicant:

 

· Holds the most senior management position within the applicant’s functional area of

responsibility within the organisation;

· Reports directly to the owner/s of the business; or reports directly to the CEO/senior

decision maker within the organisation; or reports directly to the Department Head if the

applicant works within the public sector; or is a senior management consultant providing

advice to client organisations at CEO or equivalent level;

· Has the final decision making authority over his/her functional responsibilities plus

additional authority through subordinate managers in a range of broader responsibilities

such as strategy and long range planning, finance, administration and public relations;

· Is wholly responsible for achieving his/her functional outcomes within the organisation;

· Would normally have had a proven and successful experience in broad range of

responsibilities in management prior to being appointed to the top functional job;

 

For all of the above occupations including the Corporate General Manager, the years of experience may be reduced if the applicant has qualifications in management studies or business administration assessed as comparable to an Australian Bachelor, Post Graduate or Master degree, or in a discipline relevant to the field in which the manager is working. This applies where the qualification concerned has been completed immediately prior to, or within the relevant time frame of years of management experience being assessed. The Country Education Profiles prepared by the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition are the basis for an educational assessment.

The complexity and size of the organisation will influence the assessment. The larger the organisation, the greater would be the responsibilities of the senior managers. Applicants will normally require senior management experience across a diverse range of functional areas including managerial authority over subordinates who are also at a management level. A manager at a senior level would also have a high level of discretionary decision making authority.

 

Senior managers tend to manage departments servicing the overall operations of the organisation and where delegation to several subordinate managers involved in specific but related functions is required. The critical components in applying these criteria are the breadth and depth of the applicant’s own managerial responsibilities and those of the subordinate managers reporting directly to the applicant. The issue is that the organisational chart shows that the applicant supervises a number of direct reporting managers.

 

The criteria for recognition as having skills equivalent to that of a senior manager make it clear that the person must be responsible for a range of organisational functions and to have such responsibilities at a level which is concerned with strategy and policy across the whole organisation, and not just operations.

 

Our assessment is based upon a review of an entire career history, but with an emphasis on the immediate past three (3) years, and satisfactory evidence is sought of managerial progression through increased authority and responsibility of each position thereby demonstrating a period of sustained success.

 

 

Good luck to all who sail in her.

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard