Every regional technology employer I meet mentions the same challenge: finding and keeping talent. The problem is real, but solutions exist for those willing to adapt.

Here’s what works based on conversations with successful regional tech employers across Victoria.

Understand What You’re Competing Against

Regional employers compete with:

Melbourne employers offering remote work. Your local candidate can work for Melbourne companies without moving. You’re competing against Melbourne salaries and Melbourne career opportunities.

Other regional employers. The talent pool is limited. Multiple employers chase the same people.

Lifestyle and location. Some people don’t want regional life. You can’t change that.

Career perceptions. Some candidates see regional roles as career-limiting. Fair or not, this perception exists.

Understanding competition informs strategy.

The Remote Work Paradox

Remote work helps regional talent access, but it also competes with regional employers.

If your local developer can work remotely for a Sydney company at Sydney wages, they might. Regional employers must offer something compelling beyond salary—which they often can’t match anyway.

Strategies that work:

Hybrid arrangements: Offering flexibility while building local community and in-person collaboration.

Purpose and meaning: Work that matters beyond a paycheck. Mission-driven organisations have advantages here.

Career development: Clear growth paths that don’t require relocation.

Work environment: Office quality, team dynamics, and culture that remote work can’t replicate.

Salary Realities

Regional salaries are typically lower than Melbourne. Pretending otherwise doesn’t help.

Be transparent about compensation. Candidates know the market. Evasion about salary wastes everyone’s time.

But frame compensation correctly:

Total compensation matters: Super, benefits, flexibility, professional development—these have value.

Cost of living context: A $100k regional salary often provides better life quality than $130k in Melbourne.

Non-monetary value: Work-life balance, commute absence, community connection—these attract some candidates more than salary premium.

Some candidates will never accept regional salaries. Focus on those who will.

Where to Find Candidates

Local Pools

University graduates: Federation, La Trobe, Deakin all produce regional graduates wanting local work. Build relationships before graduation. Regional Development Victoria can connect employers with regional workforce programs.

Career changers: People in the region wanting to enter tech. May require training investment.

Returners: People who grew up regional, left, and want to return. Often the highest-quality candidates.

Remote Candidates

Melbourne escapees: People actively looking to leave Melbourne. Lifestyle-motivated, often excellent.

Regional relocators: People seeking regional life anywhere. Market your location, not just the job.

International relocators: Skilled migration to regional areas has specific visa pathways. More complex but viable.

Digital Channels

LinkedIn: Increasingly essential. Build company presence before you need to hire.

Seek and Indeed: Standard but crowded. Differentiation is difficult.

Tech-specific platforms: Stack Overflow Jobs, GitHub Jobs for developers. Smaller but higher-quality pools.

Community channels: Local meetup announcements, university job boards, industry Slack groups.

The Hiring Process

Regional hiring differs from metro:

Speed matters. Good candidates have options. Slow processes lose people.

Personalization helps. Regional communities are smaller. Candidates often know your company or people who work there. Leverage this.

Location flexibility wins. Can they work remotely some days? Can they start before relocating? Flexibility increases candidate pool.

Realistic previews matter. Be honest about the role, the company, and regional life. Surprising people after they move doesn’t end well.

Retention

Hiring is only half the challenge. Keeping people matters more.

What Causes Turnover

• Salary significantly below market
• Lack of career growth
• Poor management
• Isolation from professional community
• Partner can’t find work locally
• Family or lifestyle considerations

What Improves Retention

Career paths: Show how people can grow within your organisation. If advancement requires Melbourne, they’ll leave.

Professional development: Training budgets, conference attendance, learning time. Investment shows commitment.

Community building: Connect your team to regional tech community. Isolated employees leave; connected ones stay.

Flexibility: When personal circumstances require it, accommodate. Rigidity drives departures.

Compensation reviews: Regular market adjustments, not waiting until someone threatens to leave.

Recognition: Acknowledge contributions. Regional roles can feel invisible compared to high-profile metro work.

Working with Remote Teams

Many regional employers use hybrid models—local staff plus remote workers.

What works:

• Clear communication practices
• Tools that enable asynchronous collaboration
• Deliberate inclusion of remote workers in team activities
• Occasional in-person gatherings
• Trust and autonomy

What doesn’t:

• Treating remote as second-class
• Assuming constant synchronous availability
• Neglecting remote workers’ career development
• Failing to build relationships across locations

Building Your Employer Brand

Your reputation as an employer matters in small markets.

What helps:

• Current employees speaking positively (word-of-mouth is powerful regionally)
• Visible community involvement
• Treating departing employees well (they talk)
• Transparent, honest communication
• Quality product/service that people want to be associated with

What hurts:

• High turnover (everyone notices)
• Poor treatment of people (stories travel fast)
• Overselling roles then disappointing
• Competitive hostility with other employers (the pool is too small for enemies)

When You Can’t Find Local Talent

Sometimes the role requires skills that don’t exist locally.

Options:

• Hire remote and accept distributed team challenges
• Train someone local into the role (slower but builds sustainable capability)
• Contractor/consultant arrangement for specialised needs
• Partner with organisations that have the expertise

For businesses needing specialised technology capabilities, Melbourne AI consultants can supplement internal teams for specific projects or expertise areas.

The Long Game

Regional tech talent development is generational work.

Support education: Partner with schools and universities. The students you influence today are your candidates in five years.

Mentor newcomers: Help junior people succeed. They become the experienced talent pool.

Welcome competitors: More tech employers in your region grows the overall talent pool. Competition also creates churn—people move between local employers, but at least they stay regional.

Contribute to community: Tech meetups, events, and initiatives build the ecosystem everyone draws from.

Individual employer interests and regional ecosystem interests mostly align. Acting accordingly benefits everyone.

Hiring in regional Victoria is genuinely challenging. But employers who adapt their approaches—rather than simply complaining—find the talent they need.

The talent is there. You just have to compete for it effectively.

Business Victoria offers resources on workforce development and employer best practices, and SmartCompany regularly covers hiring trends for Australian businesses.