Setting Realistic RAP Employment Targets

Most Reconciliation Action Plans set Indigenous employment targets that look ambitious on paper but fail in practice. The problem is rarely commitment — it is that targets are set without understanding the actual size of the available talent pool for the roles and locations an organisation needs to fill.

Why arbitrary targets fail

A common pattern: an organisation sets a target of 3% Indigenous employment across 500 staff, then discovers there are only 12 qualified Indigenous professionals in their target occupation within a commutable radius. The target was never grounded in supply-side data.

Indigenous professionals are an even smaller subset. ABS data shows roughly one in six Indigenous people work in professional or white-collar roles — approximately 100,000 nationwide, spread across every industry and geography. Setting targets without mapping this supply leads to frustration, tokenistic hiring, and RAP reporting that looks good but delivers little.

What data-informed targets look like

• Map the available Indigenous talent pool for each target occupation and location before setting numbers
• Distinguish between roles suitable for Special Measures recruitment and general merit-based hiring
• Account for passive talent — most Indigenous professionals are not actively job seeking
• Set phased targets aligned with your RAP level (Reflect, Innovate, Stretch, Elevate)
• Include retention and career pathway targets, not just headcount

Shine People Solutions' Indigenous Talent Map maps 20,000+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals by occupation (OSCA), education (ASCED), industry (ANZSIC), and location — cross-referenced with Census data. Before you commit to a target, you can see exactly how many qualified candidates exist for your specific requirements.

Next steps

Start with a workforce readiness assessment. Shine's free Workforce Readiness Quiz gives you a maturity rating and talent hotspot data for your target roles. For deeper planning, the Talent Map provides Census benchmarking, RAP Commitment Mapper, and Scenario Modeller tools to build targets your organisation can actually achieve.