The survey of more than 3,500 employers nationally found that net hiring intentions fell by 2 percentage points (pp) since last quarter to 15.1%. The dip was driven largely by weakness in resources and mining, which fell to a net figure of -20.5%, 9.4 percentage points lower than last quarter. However, sentiment is strong in professional services, where net hiring intentions have climbed to 32.6% as well as industries such as IT (28.5%) and financial services (19.9%).

“The Hudson Report continues to point to changing dynamics in the hiring intentions of employers, with positive conditions in financial professional services counterbalancing weaker conditions across sectors such as resources and mining,” said Dean Davidson, Executive General Manager, Hudson Australia.

The Hudson Report found that 1 in 4 employers are planning to increase hiring in the quarter ahead and only 1 in 10 plan to reduce permanent staff numbers. Despite the slight softening, the net effect of 15.1% for Q3 2015 is almost 6 percentage points higher than the same time last year.

[1] Hudson surveyed 3,511 Australian employers about their hiring intentions for July to September 2015.

Queensland and NSW on top

According to The Hudson Report, all states continue to report positive hiring intentions into the new financial year. Employers in Queensland are leading hiring intentions, with a net 19.5% of hiring managers looking to increase permanent headcount in Q3, up 7.3pp compared to the previous quarter. Hiring intentions in New South Wales, the nation’s traditional professional services hub, remain strong at net 18.3%.

“New South Wales’ job market is benefitting from strength in the professional services sector. Permanent recruitment is strong right across professional services and improving within financial institutions. The technology sector is also very buoyant, with employer demand for ICT skills remaining strong,” said Mr Davidson.

“In Queensland, professional services are also underpinning the jobs market. Human Resources professionals are in particularly strong demand as businesses look for professionals to support strategic growth and future capabilities.”

A focus on new skillsets

Mr Davidson said the results reflected the ongoing transformation of the jobs market particularly within financial and professional services, while those professions more exposed to mining, resources and trade continue to face challenges.

According to Hudson, employers are focused on developing roles that will support future business growth.

“The ongoing transition in our labour markets is intensifying and organisations are evolving and recalibrating in order to remain competitive. Part of this transition includes investing in new skillsets, to ensure businesses are equipped for future growth. Smart employers should be investing in opportunities for key employees to develop a broad range of skills,” Mr Davidson said.

The Hudson Report also found that the rebound in the contractor market which began late last year will continue into the next quarter, with a net 11.7% of employers looking to hire contractors in Q3. According to Hudson, this is a result of both supply and demand factors.

“On one hand, many organisations are undergoing restructures and transformations, so they need specific skills for project-based work. On the other hand, highly-skilled workers are aware that they are in demand and are looking for challenging roles that also provide flexibility. This is contributing to a healthy market for contractors, while permanent hiring is also robust,” Mr Davidson said.

Dean Davidson

The Q2 2015 Hudson Report: Employment Trends[1] has revealed a broadly positive outlook for the jobs market, with net intentions to hire remaining strong into the second quarter of the year.

Despite a slight dip from Q1 2015, the Hudson Report shows net hiring intentions remain at their highest level since 2012.  According to Hudson, a net 17.1% of employers are looking to increase permanent staffing levels between April and June this year, compared to 18.7% in Q1and well up from just 11.2% one year ago.  Moreover, while there has been a fall in sentiment in some locations, the report shows that net hiring intentions are still positive across all states.

“While the official unemployment rate has crept up recently and economic conditions remain challenging, our research reveals a transition in the labour markets, with weaker employment conditions in mining and resourcing offset by more positive conditions in industries such as professional services, IT and financial services,” said Dean Davidson, Executive General Manager, Hudson Australia.

A net 31.5% of employers and hiring managers in professional services are looking to hire in Q2 2015, 27.0% in IT, 25.2% in financial services/insurance.

“Employers in sectors such as these are hungry for the right talent to support structural transformation projects and underpin future business growth,” Mr Davidson said.

Victoria and NSW lead the charge

Employers in Victoria are leading the positive hiring intentions for permanent staff, with a net 21.9% looking to increase headcount in Q2 2015, up 2.2pp from Q1 and a significant 12.2pp from the same time last year.

“Confidence is clearly retuning to the Victorian market, likely aided by the settling of the state government and its clear policy setting and delivery mode. While we’re yet to see this confidence translate into real jobs activity, we are cautiously optimistic that the outlook has improved,” Mr Davidson said.

Meanwhile, NSW remains strong, largely as a result of growth in property and construction as well as ongoing change and transformation projects in financial services and legal, which continue to perform strongly. In NSW, a net 19.7% of employers intend to increase staffing levels in Q2 2015.

A period of transition

According to Hudson, resource states continue to face ongoing challenges.

“Various locations across Australia are still managing slowdowns in sectors such as mining and resources, and manufacturing,” said Mr Davidson.

“This reflects what we now know as the ‘new normal’ and part of the ongoing transition in Australia’s labour markets, with growth shifting away from mining to professional services, ICT, finance and legal across all states. This is obviously more challenging for some locations than others.”

Indeed, the challenge for traditionally resource driven states is clear, with Queensland and South Australia showing the weakest hiring intentions. A net 12.2% of employers are looking to hire in Q2 2015 in Queensland and 10.3% in South Australia, quarterly declines of 8.2 percentage points (pp) and 9.1pp respectively.

In South Australia, where the official unemployment rate is the highest in the nation at 6.9%, a number of high profile redundancy announcements in Q1have taken their toll on business confidence. Queensland has been hit by record low crude oil prices, driving some wide-spread redundancies. However, the timing of the survey coincided with changes to the Queensland state government, which likely caused some uncertainty and an additional softening of sentiment.

Legal professionals in hot demand

The legal profession remains a dominant force, with almost one in three employers (a net 30.9%) looking to increase their legal headcount in Q2 2015.  Professionals in sales, marketing and communications are also in strong demand, with a net 26.6% of employers looking to increase permanent staffing numbers in these areas.

Meanwhile, the ICT profession continued to lead contracting hiring intentions, with a net 22.1% of businesses looking to hire in Q2 2015.

“ICT remains the leading source of contracting employment in Australia and an increasingly important component of business growth,” Mr Davidson said.

Despite the doom and gloom, employers remain quietly confident

While contradictory economic indicators continue to dominate headlines, Mr Davidson said he didn’t expect economic challenges to have a major impact on future hiring intentions.

“Regardless of the economic situation, organisations need to continue their transformation in order to be able to compete in the future. Many have already invested significant resources into these projects and aren’t in a position to halt this investment, and as such, we expect demand for specialised skillsets and roles that support future growth will continue to rise.”

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[1] Hudson surveyed 3,280 Australian employers about their hiring intentions for April to June 2015.

Work life balance a high priority for Australians

Work life balance is the top priority for Australian job seekers in 2015, trumping salary, career progression and job title, in a list of the top nine attributes professionals look for in a new role, according to new research from leading recruitment specialist Hudson.

Hudson’s 2015 The Hiring Report: The State of Hiring in Australia 2015, which surveyed more than 3,000 professionals and hiring managers across Australia, found work life balance, including flexible arrangements, has taken precedence as the top priority for Australian workers (70% of respondents named it their number one priority). The findings signal a dramatic shift in Australian work culture – and a growing pressure on employers to seriously consider their work life balance offering.

“No longer just a buzz term or the domain of the working mum, work life balance is now fundamental to all Australian professionals and will be firmly on the agenda as we move throughout 2015,” said Hudson Executive General Manager Dean Davidson.

While higher salary came in as the second highest priority for Australian job seekers (67%), it was followed closely by cultural fit (64%).

“The fact that cultural fit – that feeling of belonging – is so far up the value chain, and is actually the most important factor for senior executives, demonstrates that fitting in and feeling valued are also important priorities for Australian job seekers in 2015,” said Mr Davidson.

Sourcing and attracting talent a complex game

According to Hudson, the rise of digital and the evolution of networks have created an increasingly complex job market.

“Our report shows three in four employees are open to being approached about a new job opportunity, while eight in 10 have an up-to-date CV and six in 10 have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile,” said Mr Davidson.

Yet while employees may be open to being approached about new opportunities, finding and attracting the right talent is becoming increasingly complex, requiring both a competitive employee offering and a multifaceted sourcing strategy. The scarcity of talent is recognised by hiring managers, with 90% acknowledging they need to look beyond active job seekers to find the right candidate.

According to Hudson, online job boards remain the single most important conduit for sourcing new talent, nominated by hiring managers as their most effective sourcing channel. However times are changing with close to a third (28%) saying online job boards are less effective than two years ago. Australian employers are increasingly adopting a multi-pronged strategy to secure talent, encompassing not only recruitment specialists (34%) but also leveraging personal networks (31%), internal referral schemes (27%) and headhunting (20%).

“This report confirms what we are seeing, in that while digital may have altered the job market forever, best practice hiring is far from a digital-only approach. Social media channels are growing rapidly however their effectiveness as a sourcing channel is still to be proven. External solutions and people networks remain imperative to the process of tapping into high quality candidates,” said Mr Davidson.

Other key highlights of the report include:

• Almost 1 in 2 hiring managers look to social media when evaluating a candidate. This should not bother most: 82% of professionals are comfortable with their online footprint
• Psychometric testing is on the rise as the risks of a mis-hire become more serious. 54% of senior executives value it as part of the recruitment process
• The nature of writing job ads has changed forever. 78% of hiring managers are now using keywords to ensure their ads have the best possible chance of being found

“In 2015 and beyond, hiring managers can no longer afford to take a vanilla approach to hiring. Instead they must take a strategic, tailored approach that runs wide and deep and makes use of the plethora of channels now available to really connect with talent,” said Mr Davidson.

“Hiring managers who engage a mix of strategy, people knowledge and networks will be the ones who win the war for talent and connect with the cream of the talent crop.”

The Top 9: What Australian jobseekers are looking for in 2015

1. Work life balance (including flexible arrangements) 70%
2. Higher salary 67%
3. Cultural fit within organisation and/or team 64%
4. Career progression/training opportunities 58%
5. Better benefits 46%
6. A company whose values are closer to mine 36%
7. Strong manager 30%
8. Better brand 14%
9. Better job title 13%

This quarter’s Hudson Report: Employment Trends[1] points to a strong outlook for the jobs market for 2015, with employer intentions to hire reaching their highest level since Q2 2012. The surge of confidence is reflective of the structural transformation underway in the Australian workforce, and the subsequent skillset changes that are necessary to compete in a post-GFC world.

According to Hudson, net hiring intentions for Q1 2015 recorded their largest quarterly rise since Q1 2010, with a net 18.7% of employers looking to increase permanent staffing levels in the first three months of the year, up 5.6 percentage points (pp) on last quarter.

“Despite lukewarm economic conditions and recently released weak GDP figures, Australian employers are optimistic about the year ahead. While the outlook is buoyant, the thirst for talent is centered on specific sectors and role families that support business transformation. These often newly created roles are critical to future success and profitability and as such may be less impacted by broader economic trends in the months ahead,” said Dean Davidson, Executive General Manager, Hudson Australia.

Transformation in QLD and NSW drive national momentum

The strong Queensland result is heavily influenced by the public sector. With a government in pre-election mode, there is a considered push to deliver upon the current transformation programs of work and front-line projects.  A net 20.4% of employers in Queensland are looking to increase headcount, an uplift of 1.9pp.

“The public sector continues to drive permanent and contracting growth as government look to bring in talent with the relevant skills and experience from the commercial sector,” said Mr Davidson.

NSW has also seen a wave of confidence with a net 19.4% of employers planning to hire early next year, an increase 9.4pp, largely driven by change and transformation in the financial services sector. According to the report, a net 36.9% of hiring managers plan to increase their financial services headcount in Q1 2015, surging 16.8pp for the quarter.

“Financial services teams have recognised that the landscape has permanently changed and are driving significant transformation projects. Those professionals with exposure to agile environments are highly sought after as are compliance and risk professionals who can help organisations navigate the plethora of regulatory change on the horizon.”

The legal profession has been a dominant force in NSW as well as nationally with a net of 36.9% of hiring managers looking to increase headcount in Q1 2015. There is strong demand for mid-level lawyers in private practice with organisations backfilling roles that were deliberately left unfilled from past years.

ACT shrugs off budget uncertainty

Employers in the ACT have a renewed sense of confidence with net permanent hiring intentions surging 19.2pp to 14.5%.

“The uncertainty created by the mid-year federal budget fuelled weak hiring intentions in the nation’s capital earlier this year. However the delay in implementation has seen employers shrug off the negativity, with growth coming through, not just in government, but also the ACT’s commercial market,” said Mr Davidson.

ICT drives contract growth

A net 14% of employers are intending to increase their contracting/temporary workforce in Q1 2015, up 3.2pp on Q4 2014 and 9.4pp compared to one year ago. The ICT profession is leading contracting hiring intentions significantly, with a net 23.7% of businesses looking to hire in Q1 2015.

“ICT is fast becoming the dominant force behind the contracting market in Australia. We have seen demand for strong project managers increase over the past 18 months as large transformation projects have reached implementation stage, and we don’t see this changing in the New Year,” Mr Davidson said.

“Businesses are investing in personnel who can really support them to deliver key projects and ICT is becoming an increasingly important component of business growth.”

Employers seeking real contributions to business growth

According to Mr Davidson, one key theme emerging across Australia is an increasing demand for employees who will have a real impact on businesses’ bottom lines.

“We are seeing less demand for reporting and transactional roles and a shift towards roles that underpin future growth opportunities. The business environment remains challenging for most sectors and so businesses are focused on creating positions – and seeking out employees – that are really going to add tangible value.”

Simon Moylan

Hudson, a leading provider of specialised recruitment, talent management and RPO solutions in Asia Pacific, today released The Great Generational Shift, a landmark report looking at the changing nature of workplaces and offering ways to address multi-generational challenges, based on an assessment of over 28,000 professionals across the globe.

The release of The Great Generational Shift report coincides with a window in which changing work dynamics is on the agenda for all generations. With Generation Z now starting to enter the workforce and Baby Boomers beginning to retire, the old placeholders no longer fit.

Simon Moylan, Hudson Executive General Manager of Talent Management – Asia-Pacific said: “Generation Y is no longer the baby, Generation X no longer the middle child and Boomers no longer the parent. Everyone is moving up a step. The leadership implications will need to be reckoned with.”

Hudson’s research provides data on the personality traits that drive Generation Y, Generation X and the Baby Boomers. By understanding the traits, managers will gain a clearer idea of how the nature of leadership is changing and be better placed to comprehend, predict and manage the behaviour of people from the three groups. Most importantly, the research provides organisations and individuals insight into who their future leaders and stakeholders will be.

“Members of Generation Y are arriving at positions of seniority, and are bringing a new management style,” Mr. Moylan said. “Generation Y are masters of abstract and conceptual thinking. They are highly ambitious, socially confident and relational. However, The Great Generational Shift research also shows that they score much lower on traditional leadership traits.”

Conversely, Hudson’s research finds that Baby Boomers –especially males – have plenty of traditional leadership strengths, being ‘decisive’, ‘motivating’, ‘persuasive’ and ‘strategic’. Baby Boomers are also open-minded and innovative.

Generation X, which is sandwiched between the other two generations, appears socially progressive and an ambitious driver of change. They are stronger on traditional leadership traits than Generation Y, yet are more people-oriented and socially confident than the Baby Boomers.

By comparing the personality traits of the three generations, The Great Generational Shift identifies the implications for thriving – and surviving – in a multi-generational workplace.

Baby Boomers, for instance, will need to embrace change, avoid judgments and adjust their expectations. Generation X members will need to become natural diplomats as they move into (or occupy) senior management positions. Generation Y members, often misunderstood by others, should seek workplaces where they can experience motivation and persuasion in action.

“More than ever before, it is imperative that organisations understand the profound psychological differences in how the various generations think, act and lead,” said Mr. Moylan. “Organisations need to understand what it is that motivates their employees and connect the dots between the motivational drivers of those in different ages and stages. Out-of-the-box thinking, innovation and a focus on strategic risks require a new kind of leader. Organisations should decide whether their leaders of today are the right leaders for tomorrow.”

]]> The Great Generational Shift – a landmark global report by Hudson – explains why the differences between generations will reshape the workplace

Simon Moylan

Hudson, a leading provider of specialised recruitment, talent management and RPO solutions in Asia Pacific, today released The Great Generational Shift, a landmark report looking at the changing nature of workplaces and offering ways to address multi-generational challenges, based on an assessment of over 28,000 professionals across the globe.

The release of The Great Generational Shift report coincides with a window in which changing work dynamics is on the agenda for all generations. With Generation Z now starting to enter the workforce and Baby Boomers beginning to retire, the old placeholders no longer fit.

Simon Moylan, Hudson Executive General Manager of Talent Management – Asia-Pacific said: “Generation Y is no longer the baby, Generation X no longer the middle child and Boomers no longer the parent. Everyone is moving up a step. The leadership implications will need to be reckoned with.”

Hudson’s research provides data on the personality traits that drive Generation Y, Generation X and the Baby Boomers. By understanding the traits, managers will gain a clearer idea of how the nature of leadership is changing and be better placed to comprehend, predict and manage the behaviour of people from the three groups. Most importantly, the research provides organisations and individuals insight into who their future leaders and stakeholders will be.

“Members of Generation Y are arriving at positions of seniority, and are bringing a new management style,” Mr. Moylan said. “Generation Y are masters of abstract and conceptual thinking. They are highly ambitious, socially confident and relational. However, The Great Generational Shift research also shows that they score much lower on traditional leadership traits.”

Conversely, Hudson’s research finds that Baby Boomers –especially males – have plenty of traditional leadership strengths, being ‘decisive’, ‘motivating’, ‘persuasive’ and ‘strategic’. Baby Boomers are also open-minded and innovative.

Generation X, which is sandwiched between the other two generations, appears socially progressive and an ambitious driver of change. They are stronger on traditional leadership traits than Generation Y, yet are more people-oriented and socially confident than the Baby Boomers.

By comparing the personality traits of the three generations, The Great Generational Shift identifies the implications for thriving – and surviving – in a multi-generational workplace.

Baby Boomers, for instance, will need to embrace change, avoid judgments and adjust their expectations. Generation X members will need to become natural diplomats as they move into (or occupy) senior management positions. Generation Y members, often misunderstood by others, should seek workplaces where they can experience motivation and persuasion in action.

“More than ever before, it is imperative that organisations understand the profound psychological differences in how the various generations think, act and lead,” said Mr. Moylan. “Organisations need to understand what it is that motivates their employees and connect the dots between the motivational drivers of those in different ages and stages. Out-of-the-box thinking, innovation and a focus on strategic risks require a new kind of leader. Organisations should decide whether their leaders of today are the right leaders for tomorrow.”

The post The great generational shift appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Dean Davidson

New research from Hudson, a leading provider of specialised recruitment, talent management and RPO solutions in Asia Pacific, reveals an optimistic outlook for the end of year with intentions to hire across Australia reaching the highest level in 18 months.

On the back of the recent drop in the official unemployment rate, the latest Hudson Report: Employment Trends[1] found that the number of employers looking to increase headcount in the final quarter of 2014 rose to 23.9% – the highest level since Q2 2013. The 2.7 percentage points (pp) increase over the previous three months also represents the highest quarterly rise recorded in almost four years.

The positive sentiment is consistent across every state in Australia, excluding only the ACT. Positive hiring intentions for the final quarter of the year also increased in seven out of the ten professions surveyed.

“Hiring intentions are all about sentiment, and employer sentiment has improved markedly,” said Dean Davidson, Executive General Manager, Hudson Australia. “Over recent weeks, we have seen improvements in a number of indicators of employment conditions [2] and our research shows significantly more employers are looking to hire than to fire in the final three months of this year.”

Positive intentions across states and professions

• In Queensland, the picture is particularly promising, with the number of employers who are looking to boost headcount rising by 2.7pp to 27.8%. Demand for legal professionals continues to be strong while accounting and finance staff with blue-chip backgrounds are in short supply
• In Western Australia, the number of employers looking to increase headcount has surged by 7.6pp to 24.7%. This increase is also largely driven by intention to hire legal professionals,  increasing 35pp
• The percentage of employers in Victoria who are looking to hire has risen by 4.5pp to 25.3% with particularly strong demand for talented sales & marketing professionals
• While the number of employers in NSW looking to boost permanent headcount fell by 0.6pp to 21.9%, those looking to increase their office support teams jumped 13pp
• The ACT continues to lag the other states in positive hiring expectations, with one in five employers looking to reduce permanent headcount, a drop from one in three last quarter.

Across 10 skilled professions in the survey, the legal profession was a clear winner, with the number of employers looking to boost permanent headcount of legal professionals soaring over the last three months by 20.7pp to 44.8%.

“We are seeing a continued increase in the need for front-end transactional lawyers within private practice, especially those with 3-5 years experience. Firms are now playing catch-up after many years of downsizing,” said Davidson.

Hiring expectations for Sales, Marketing & Communication professionals is also strong. Boosting the digital bench-strength of marketing teams is a key focus for many employers over the coming months.

A war for talent

The latest Hudson Report also found that 60% of hiring managers believe there is a talent shortage, with nearly 90% saying that sourcing the right talent is the most challenging aspect of the recruitment process.

“During the slower growth of the past 18 months, organisations may have felt comfortable waiting to fill current – and potential – open positions. But the reality is that organisations are already struggling to identify the right talent and given positive hiring expectations for the fourth quarter this challenge is only going to increase over the coming months and into 2015,” said Davidson.

“Make no mistake, there is a war for talent, and a challenge in finding the right people for key positions. To stay ahead of the competition, organisations need to establish a clear understanding of the skills and other attributes needed for their important positions, continually manage a talent pipeline and ensure that they are delivering a compelling employee value proposition.”

Recognising the positive sentiment and opportunities this will present, Hudson itself has invested in its local talent, increasing its team in Australia by over 30% in 2014 to ensure that it can meet the needs of its partners.

“The latest Hudson report reflects the optimism we are seeing in the market, with the economic environment –record low interest rates, low inflation and no major economic shocks on the horizon – all conducive to business growth. In anticipation of this growth we’ve ramped up our team to help both employers and candidates alike win the war on talent,” concluded Davidson.

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