If you\u2019re one of the 66% of businesses struggling to fill vacancies within one month, you\u2019d probably agree that lack of candidates is the number one contributing factor. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For the duration of the pandemic, employers were most concerned about COVID and its effects as a factor in influencing recruitment difficulty. Today, and since the beginning of the job boom, recruitment and retention difficulty are at the forefront of many employer\u2019s minds. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Pre-pandemic, recruitment difficulty floated between 30-50%. From 2020, the difficulty rate had increased by 20% and all industries in Australia have been affected. Specifically, in the last two years alone, recruitment difficulty increased by around 17%, and all industries were affected. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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All industries have seen significantly high rates of recruitment difficulty <\/h2>\n
Over 70% of manufacturing and construction employers reported recruitment difficulty, which is more than other industries. Infrastructure businesses we\u2019ve spoken to have repeatedly experienced significant counteroffers because of the difficulty to hire. Counteroffers proposing $30k-$40k salary increases are common in the current market. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This is not to dismiss other industries where recruitment difficulty also significantly increased over the last two years. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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The top reported reasons for recruitment difficulty <\/h2>\n
Above all else, lack of applicants and lack of suitable applicants was top reason for employers finding recruitment to be difficult. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Let’s first discuss the lack of suitable applicants. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Recruitment difficulty varies between role types <\/h2>\n
When broken down into role types, it is evident that highly skilled roles are significantly harder to fill.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Recruitment for roles with required skill levels 1-3 are approximately 10% harder to fill than lower skilled roles. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Employers also reported that higher skilled roles have taken more time to fill, with a large percentage of employers still having unfilled roles vacant for over one month. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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The correlation between \u2018time to fill\u2019 and \u2018recruitment difficulty\u2019 should be noted by employers expecting to recruit in the near future. The Recruitment Insights Report suggested recruitment difficulty may also be a sign of labour market mismatch where skills and attributes of candidates did not align with employer requirements. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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It can\u2019t be helped where skills are in shortage. However, it is common for employers to misjudge the skills and attributes required to successfully perform in a role.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Assess the criteria for candidates before your search <\/h3>\n
Our recommendation is that employers consider what skills are essential and what are \u2018nice to have\u2019. Employers need to list fewer requirements in job ads, only stating the essentials, in order to increase the number of applications they receive. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This is a particularly crucial element in diverse and inclusive hiring processes. Studies have shown that over 40% of women will not apply for a position where they do not meet all requirements listed in a job ad. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hiring diversly could also be a solution in the construction industry where recruitment difficulty is particularly high and typically represents a male-dominant workforce. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Consider recruiting from within <\/h3>\n
Another opportunity to combat the difficulty of hiring skilled employees is to consider upskilling and promoting the internal workforce. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Upskilling the current workforce is an effective strategy that prepares a business\u2019s workforce for the future. Upskilling employees to fit with the business\u2019s growth strategy is a way of showing that employers are invested in their employee\u2019s development. Recent surveys have shown that employees are willing to leave their current role for new roles where training and development is offered.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In saying that, training and development is also an effective retention strategy which is a possible solution to the other concern employers have in relation to recruitment difficulty over the following months. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
These solutions may help to increase the number of applicants overall; the other concern raised by employers which we will discuss below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Candidates are applying to less job ads <\/h2>\n
More and more businesses are realising that simply posting a job ad will not suffice in today\u2019s market. This is reflected in SEEK\u2019s recent employment market trends which reported a decline in both job ads posted and candidate applications. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
One possible cause for the drop in candidate applications is the fact that employee priorities had shifted since the pandemic. Australian workers have become more selective in the roles they apply for, being sure to apply for roles that support their self-care goals. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For example, its been seen that candidates have been more likely to apply for roles where working from home is an option. This could be particularly helpful for parents, or those who travel long distances for work. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A quick look at the \u2018Reasons for Recruitment Difficulty\u2019 graph above shows that undesirable working conditions\/hours was the third most reported reason for recruitment difficulty. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Candidates are now harder to persuade and it\u2019s going to take extra effort for employers to successfully fill vacancies as compared to pre-pandemic. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A proactive approach will bear greater outcomes <\/h3>\n
Employers hoping to fill vacancies while unemployment rates remain significantly low need to rely on the passive candidate market. A market that is generally untapped due to the demands required to do so successfully.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Over the last few years as the candidate market grew tighter, our teams at Fuse Recruitment have adopted automation and AI technology to communicate with our combined networks to successfully identify well-matched candidates for our clients. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Our industry specialised consultants keep their finger on the pulse of employment trends to ensure they optimise their recruitment strategies for our clients. If you\u2019d like to speak to someone who specialises in your industry, fill in the form on this page and our consultants will get in touch. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If you’re looking for hiring advice in 2023, take a look at our hiring guide <\/a> below. <\/p>\n
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