Recruiters say Wellington job seekers are in for another tough year. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Recruiters say Wellington job seekers are in for another tough year. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Recruiters have painted a grim outlook for Wellington’s job market this year, saying job seekers should consider relocating.
There are more candidates than roles, with many applying for jobs outside their skill set.
However, there is confidence that 2024 was the worst of the job market and things will slowly improve.
Recruiters have warned of another tough year for Wellington’s job market and that increasingly desperate job seekers should be prepared to move elsewhere in New Zealand or overseas.
“There’s likely a need for further cost reduction, and that’s all going to have an impact on recruitment and the ability to hire. So we’re in for another tough year.”
With heavily reduced headcounts and headcount caps, there could be some opportunities in the contingent labour market or contractor roles, Clarke said.
Nationally, unemployment rose in the last quarter of 2024 to 5.1%, up from 4.8% in the September quarter. Photo / Mark Mitchell
There were still more candidates than roles, she said.
“Unfortunately, some candidates are getting desperate. They have kids to feed, mortgages to pay so, they try and apply for everything.”
The Robert Walters 2025 salary survey showed New Zealand was losing more talent to Australia, with 42% of people planning to relocate opting to go across the ditch. For Australians, only 2% would consider moving here.
The scary thing for Wellington is the prospect of losing mid to senior managers, Clarke said.
“They’re going to go to Australia, they’re going to take their families and they’re not going to come back.”
There was a risk that Wellington could eventually become short on talent which could lead to over-inflated contractor rates.
Asked for her advice to job seekers this year, Clarke said employees should be open to relocating elsewhere in New Zealand or further afield.
They should speak to at least a couple of different recruitment consultancies so they don’t miss out on opportunities and have a strong cover letter with an up-to-date CV that matches the role they are applying for, she said.
Forte Recruitment director Anita Murdoch said candidates were also applying for jobs they didn’t have the skills for because they could not find work in their chosen field.
“We are also seeing higher numbers of applicants that have been out of work since June and July last year.
“These people are now getting desperate and applying for jobs well outside of their skill set – engineers applying for project coordinator roles, comms professionals applying for administration roles – the list goes on.”
Hard-to-fill roles and specialised skills will continue to be challenging to recruit for, and some candidates with these in-demand skills will still receive multiple offers. Photo / Mark Mitchell
One of the saddest parts of the current job market was the graduate market, Murdoch said.
“Graduates have struggled to find work and are applying for jobs abroad or considering taking an OE when they would rather stay in NZ and get work experience.
“Most don’t want to leave NZ but feel they will have no choice.”
Murdoch said many graduates were ending up in work completely unrelated to what they had studied, just to secure a job.
“We had a law grad take an accounts role recently, a public health and nutrition grad took a reception role – there are so many stories like this.”
Forte Recruitment works in the private and public sectors, including corporate services, technology and digital fields.
Murdoch said there are reduced offerings for remote working and much stricter guidelines for working from home.
Working one or two days a week from home has become the maximum offering and there had been no complete remote working listings since November, she said.
Murdoch expected government spending to be limited until Budget 2025, making for a “quietish” market for the first half of this year.
Many organisations were making do and using existing staff to cover any gaps rather than advertising for contractors or temporary roles.
Despite recent challenges in the market, Murdoch said there was a general feeling of positivity and renewed energy with the start of a new year.
“We feel confident that 2024 was the worst of the job market. It can seriously only get better from here, but it will be a slow build.”
Inside Recruitment managing partner Troy Turner felt the theme for the Wellington job market this year was “realistic” because the reality of “survive to 2025” was confronting.
Turner said the capital would “truly see people unemployed” this year now that many change proposals have been completed.
“The effect in 2025 is it will be a lot more real this year.”
If people found it hard last year, it will be harder for the first half of this year as well, he said.
“Going forward, I think we’ll have roughly the same number of opportunities but we’re going to have a significantly greater number of applications.”
Inside Recruitment specialises in leadership and specialist positions across executive, government and executive contracting.
Hard-to-fill roles and specialised skills will continue to be challenging to recruit for, and some candidates with these in-demand skills will still receive multiple offers, Turner said.
“A hard-to-fill position is still hard to find the really great candidate for because great candidates are trying to be retained, trying to be secured and perhaps they know they can, through reputation, walk to the next role whereas that’s not true for all people.”
Turner’s advice for job seekers was to engage with their networks, including with those who liked, knew and trusted them.
“Building and nurturing professional relationships will be key to finding opportunities in a competitive market.”
Archway Recruitment managing director Jonathan Greening said the outlook was mixed.
His company has a Wellington team that deals with finance, generalist business support type roles as well as construction and engineering.
“There is a general sense of optimism coming into the market but I don’t think it’s based on anything factual.”
It was a “new year, new start” mentality rather than anything concrete happening in the market, although positivity could be self-fulfilling, Greening said.
The dust had settled slightly after last year’s public service cuts but many were still waiting to see if there were further job cuts, he said.
Engineering and construction were also tough because several large infrastructure projects in the city had recently been stopped, changed or put on hold, Greening said.
For example, the mega ferry project has been cancelled which included a new ferry terminal being built in Wellington.
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
