SKILLS SHORTAGE pressures and the need for HR departments to facilitate corporate growth are two major factors influencing demand in the current HR job market.
SKILLS SHORTAGE pressures and the need for HR departments to facilitate corporate growth are two major factors influencing demand in the current HR job market.
“Attracting suitable staff, developing and retaining them, and enhancing their productivity are the highest priorities,” said Nicole Isaacs, regional director of Hays Human Resources.
“There is a constant pressure to retain and develop existing staff in order to avoid the costs incurred by losing staff.”
HR roles in demand include recruiters (both contract and permanent), learning and development (with a focus on emerging talent, coaching and leadership development), commercial OHS professionals and specialists in remuneration and benefits, according to Isaacs.
Another major area of demand is the HR generalist area, with professionals who are commercially aware and able to operate at a higher strategic level because of a number of recent restructures in the market.
Isaacs said businesses are seeking HR executives who are commercially numerate. For this reason, experience in remuneration and benefits is extremely well regarded as it equips practitioners with an ability to communicate in the business language of dollars and cents.
“As employers aim to engage employees for the long-term, we anticipate a continued move from transactional HR to ‘learning and development focussed HR’. This has resulted in a real need for those with organisational development, talent management, and leadership development expertise,”Isaacs said.
She also predicted the role of ‘credible coaches’ would grow enormously as the benefits from one-on-one intervention is recognised.
She also anticipated a growing need for IR specialists in the short term (both permanent and contract), as employers work their way through merging new possibilities as a result of WorkChoices.
Traditionally, February is a busy month due to the backlog of roles that build up over the summer holiday period coming back on the market, combined with the continued general increase across the market as a whole.
As a result, Isaacs said, the next quarter would be a particularly strong one for HR professionals.
“Today’s candidates are very aware that the skills shortage exists and high calibre candidates expect improved salary and benefits in a new job as a result.”
This is especially the case for HR consultant, advisor and officer roles, where candidates in Sydney often expect to receive a minimum base salary of $90,000, rather than $70,000-$85,000, for example.
Salaries are creeping up across all roles. For example, Isaacs said a HR director placed in 2003 on a salary of around $150,000 is now being paid $220,000 by the same employer.
Due to the hiring freeze that most HR departments experienced in 2000-2003, she said there is also a lack of HR generalists whose depth of experience would now see them in the $70,000-$85,000 bracket.
