Kate Ross: Recruitment market update

Since the beginning of the year, and if you are a job seeker, you would have noticed a surge in positions that have been advertised on various online job boards (currently online there are approximately 14,000 roles advertised currently, up from 12,500 in December).

It has been stipulated that 4 out of 5 people are looking for a change. What is uncertain is the degree of commitment the candidate has in making a move. First hand it seems like an exceptionally high figure and from experience, candidates commitment in taking new positions is varied, with a large percentage only moving if all the boxes are ticked.

Salaries have moved up across the board but with unemployment still at 6.7 per cent, why has this taken place? Primarily because there is battle emerging for top talent and employers have to match demands of the market or they will miss out. Some employers remain demanding on the type of candidate they want, despite them having to pay more money to secure that talent.

We have also noticed a number of internal counter offers happening, where employers all of a sudden realise all that knowledge and experience is about to walk out the door.

Add the cost of retraining someone new and they are offering more money to keep that employee. Often for counter offered candidates the likelihood of remaining at their current company is low as often salary is not the only reason why they want to move. A typical result is often the company paying the extra money but nothing else changes. Organisations now realise they need to show the 'love' to staff to keep talent and therefore there is a resurgence of Organisational Development programmes appearing in company budgets.

In the early part of the year the biggest growth area of advertised positions online were support roles. Historically it is IT; however for the first time in a number of years, administration and support roles sky rocketed. One of the reasons for this would be that when businesses started cutting back over 2008/2009 this area was the first to go.

The duties which normally would have fallen on the administration/support team were reallocated to the remaining staff. Towards the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, businesses started to grow and gain traction and so the quickest and, to a certain extent, most cost effective way to relieve pressure internally was to start building back "the glue" that can keep so many companies ticking over - support staff.

This sector of the market is still busy, as there has been a big pick up in the last couple of months for the need of long term contractors and temping staff (online statistics show this). The roles of these resources vary, but a good percentage of roles being filled are in Finance, Marketing and Project work. Rates for contracting and temping staff seem relatively stable and consistent.

We have noticed a significant uptake in Recruitment of staff within Professional Services (Legal, Accounting/Finance, Engineering and Insurance) as well as Infrastructure (Transportation and Roading). This is due to a mix of a major focus from within Government and its spending in these areas as well as the tragedy of the Christchurch earthquake.

Anything related to the Rugby World Cup is starting to create good opportunities for part-time, contract or permanent staff. Roles have ranged from Customer Service, Marketing, Event Management, Promotional work and Finance. This will only increase as the event draws nearer.

Leading on into the winter months we will find the candidate market becoming tighter, as an industry we foresee this and numerous Bank Economists are confirming this trend.

Candidates should view this as their opportunity to look at what is on offer and make the most of the range of roles and opportunities in the market to progress their careers. For employers seeking staff, it's about securing that person who fits the role quickly as well as keeping the process moving. This is critical to ensure the desired outcome is achieved.


Kate Ross

Kate Ross is director of Kinetic Recruitment