Community and stakeholder engagement is a growing profession in Australia, with its own specialist skills, knowledge and responsibilities.
Yet in national workforce data, the profession remains largely invisible.
Engagement practitioners are often captured under broad occupational categories such as Liaison Officer, which do not accurately reflect the work, capability or contribution of contemporary engagement practice.
Engagement Institute is undertaking an important advocacy initiative to support formal recognition of community and stakeholder engagement as a distinct profession in Australia’s occupational classification framework.
This is one of the most important advocacy initiatives Engagement Institute has undertaken on behalf of the profession.
Every response contributes to a clearer picture of Australia’s engagement profession and workforce.
Why This Matters
What gets measured gets recognised.
When a profession is visible in national workforce data, it becomes easier to understand its size, growth, skills, career pathways and contribution.
Without clear occupational recognition, it is harder to measure:
- the size of the engagement profession
- workforce growth and demand
- skills and capability needs
- career pathways and professional development requirements
- the contribution engagement professionals make to better decisions and community outcomes
This visibility matters for practitioners, employers, educators, researchers, policymakers and the future of the profession.
The 2026 Census Opportunity
The 2026 Australian Census presents a once-every-five-years opportunity to help demonstrate the size and significance of the engagement profession.
On Census Night, Tuesday 11 August 2026, Engagement Institute will encourage practitioners across Australia to use a consistent and meaningful occupation description when completing the Census, where it accurately reflects their role and responsibilities.
This simple action can help improve the visibility of the profession in national workforce data and support our broader advocacy with the Occupation Standard Classification Australia (OSCA) to establish community and stakeholder engagement as a recognised occupation.
In the previous Census, more than 300 people identified using engagement-related occupation titles — an important milestone in strengthening recognition of the profession.
In 2026, we have an opportunity to build on that momentum.
Recommended Occupation Titles
On Census Night, Tuesday 11 August 2026, when responding to the question:
“In the main job held last week, what was the person’s occupation?”
Select the occupation title from the list below that best reflects your current role and responsibilities.
- Community Engagement Manager
- Community & Stakeholder Engagement Manager
- Communications and Engagement Manager
- Stakeholder Engagement Manager
- Community Engagement Consultant
- Engagement & Communications Coordinator
- Communications and Engagement Advisor
If none of these titles accurately reflects your role, choose the occupation title that best describes the work you do.
Downloadable Resources
Census 2026 Flyer
A shareable guide for engagement professionals completing the 2026 Census.
Social Media Image 1
Download your shareable social media image to help engagement be recognised as a profession in the 2026 Census.
Social Media Image 2
Download your shareable social media image to help engagement be recognised as a profession in the 2026 Census.
FAQs
The Make Your Profession Count campaign is part of the Engagement Institute’s advocacy work to strengthen recognition of community and stakeholder engagement as a distinct profession.
The campaign encourages engagement professionals to select the occupation title from a recommended list that best reflects their role when completing the 2026 Census. This helps improve visibility of the profession within national workforce data and supports long-term efforts to achieve formal occupational recognition.
Community and stakeholder engagement plays an increasingly important role across government, infrastructure, health, energy, planning and many other sectors. Yet the profession remains difficult to identify within Australia’s workforce data.
Better visibility helps build evidence about the size, growth and contribution of the profession. That evidence supports advocacy, workforce planning, capability development and long-term professional recognition.
OSCA stands for the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia. Managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, OSCA is the national framework used to classify occupations and workforce data in Australia. The Engagement Institute’s advocacy work includes engagement with occupation classification and Census recognition processes connected to OSCA.
Consistent occupation descriptions help improve visibility of engagement professionals within national workforce data. If engagement professionals use a wide range of unrelated titles, it becomes more difficult to accurately identify and measure the profession.
On Census Night, Tuesday 11 August 2026, engagement professionals are encouraged to use the occupation title (from our suggested list) that best reflects their role and responsibilities when answering the Census occupation question.
The campaign relates to the Census question: “In the main job held last week, what was the person’s occupation?”
Please write or type in one of the below (if applicable), using the title that best reflects your current role and responsibilities:
- Community Engagement Manager
- Community & Stakeholder Engagement Manager
- Communications and Engagement Manager
- Stakeholder Engagement Manager
- Community Engagement Consultant
- Engagement & Communications Coordinator
- Communications and Engagement Advisor
Yes. Importantly, more than 300 people identified using engagement-related occupation titles in the previous Census — an important milestone in strengthening recognition of the profession within national workforce data. The 2026 Census is an opportunity to continue building on that momentum.
Community and stakeholder engagement is a growing and established professional discipline with its own body of practice, capability, standards and expertise. The Engagement Institute continues to advocate for stronger recognition and visibility of the profession.
No. The campaign is open to all engagement professionals across Australia. We also encourage people to share this with colleagues and professional networks.
Absolutely. We encourage engagement professionals, organisations, and industry networks to share resources and help build awareness.
Campaign resources will be available via the Engagement Institute website and will include instructional cards, downloadable graphics, FAQs, shareable social assets and suggested occupation titles.
The Census is one of the largest national data collection activities in Australia. Occupation responses contribute to workforce statistics and professional visibility that can support long-term advocacy and recognition efforts.
No. This campaign is focused on professional recognition and workforce visibility for engagement practitioners across Australia.
Following the New Zealand election later this year, the Engagement Institute plans to begin advocacy conversations supporting future recognition opportunities ahead of the next New Zealand Census in 2030.
For more information about the campaign, please contact the Engagement Institute via info@engagementinstitute.org,au.
Many engagement roles are currently grouped within broader occupation categories, including Liaison Officer classifications. While these categories may capture some aspects of engagement work, they do not fully reflect the specialist skills, knowledge and responsibilities required of contemporary engagement practice.
The Engagement Institute is advocating for stronger recognition of community and stakeholder engagement as a distinct profession.
It is best to choose the title that is closest to your role.
Occupation classification changes take time and involve formal statistical and classification processes. However, consistent Census responses help strengthen the evidence base and visibility of the profession over time.