Australian Taxation Office will hire an additional 200 graduates mid-year

The number of graduates employed by the agency has ballooned in recent years, reaching 530 in the 2023 program, a record-breaking figure across government.

In 2022, 348 graduates were onboarded, while 440 were hired at the beginning of 2021.

Taxation office commissioner Chris Jordan announced the largest ever cohort would begin early in February in an email to staff, filling roles across design, HR, IT, marketing and communications, taxation, law and data.

He also broke the news the agency would welcome a mid-year intake of 200 graduates in August.

Most public sector graduate programs begin in February and run for 12 months.

The extra hiring round was a sign of the "massive year" ahead, and signaled the amount of work that needed to be undertaken in 2023, Mr Jordan told public servants.

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"The modernising business registers program, our response to fraud, and the APS reforms are among the big, complex programs of work we need hands on deck to deliver," he wrote.

"The graduates will beef up our capacity, while also injecting some new thinking into the organisation."

A spokesperson for the agency said graduates had been "a key element of our broader recruitment approach for many years".

"This year we are engaging a higher number of graduates to deliver on a range of government and organisational priorities, and to ensure we are well positioned to secure the workforce we require in a tight labour market," the ATO spokesperson said.

"This includes a mid-year intake that will enable us to tap into graduates who complete their degree in the middle of the year.

"To operate an organisation of this size, we need graduates from many different fields of study in order to help deliver on community expectations and maintain our vibrant, diverse and client-focused workplace," they said.

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