The recruitment trends landscape has been in a constant state of disruption for over 2 years now but it hasn’t all been bad. Anomalies as results of Covid-19, such as lockdowns “The Great Resignation” and “The Great Exhaustion” have all brought challenges but for many industries, they have also brought opportunities. Some Recruitment trends and challenges will continue into the mid 2020’s, such as the ongoing skills shortage and managing the demand for flexible work but recruiters and HR departments have been kept busy with talent within Australia’s borders.

The past 3 years have required organisations to adapt more than ever to find and attract top talent. With travel restrictions a thing of the past and the governments latest announcement, we can’t expect an influx of overseas talent in the next 2 years, but that doesn’t mean all will be quiet.

With the power still sitting with employees and candidates, people are moving around and looking for opportunities at an increased rate. Now is the perfect time for Australian businesses to streamline their recruitment funnel and ensure they are attracting the right talent with the right skills and behavioural preferences of their businesses.

In the first part of our recruitment trends series, we have looked at the top 5 challenges and recruitment trends facing organisations in the coming months.

Neurodivergent Candidates Recruitment trends

Organisations are doing more and more to ensure their processes are fair and inclusive for neurodivergent people. New assessments and technology are empowering businesses to move away from obsolete practices that push neurodivergent candidates out of the funnel.

Neurodivergent candidates have a range of skillsets they can bring to organisations and excel in a number of areas beyond those that are not neurodivergent.
There are 3 million neurodivergent people in Australia and this largely untapped talent pool can help ease Australia’s skills gap. Just some of the unique skills neurodivergent candidates can possess are:

• Sustained concentration
• Faster problem solving
• Superior memory
• Strong attention to detail
• High integrity

Watch our webinar with our partner Xceptional on developing a neurodiversity-friendly business environment by equipping your hiring managers and teams with the knowledge and tools to source, recruit and work with neurodiverse colleagues.

Flexible Working is Here to Stay

Many organisations now include a flexible working arrangement as part of their offer and several organisations have negotiated with their staff to work from home on certain days to maintain employee engagement.

A survey by Hays in December 2021 asked 4,007 respondents what flexible working means to them. 59% defined a flexible model as working from home regularly at any time. Most people feel flexible working should not include a fixed schedule and instead use a model that is based on shifting business and individual priorities. 35% stated that flexible working looks like a hybrid working on a set schedule, proving that some professionals are agreeable to a prescribed on-premises and remote roster.

This year businesses need to move towards a hybrid model and be cognisant of what competitors are offering talent and be prepared to lose candidates if your flexible model isn’t competitive. As Australian businesses advance forward with their chosen models it is now imperative to understand how elements such as culture, collaboration and community can be instilled and nurtured using a flexible model.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) alignment has become a crucial component for candidates. ESG includes an organisation’s environmental impact, social impact, mental health and wellbeing support and equity, diversity and inclusion policies.

Our recent webinar on Employee Engagement touched how candidates want to work in organisations that align with their values and if the Great Resignation has taught us anything, it’s that people want to work for organisations that care about their wellbeing.

Diversity and Inclusion continues to grow in importance, as people want to work in diverse environments and for organisations that offer opportunities to diverse people.

Digital transformation & optimisation and extracting organisational value from it

Digital transformation is the number one issue facing Australian business leaders in 2020, has remained a core concern in 2022, but with a twist. Two years ago, digital transformation risk was primarily about implementation; enabling IT to deliver much-awaited productivity gains and engender workplace flexibility. Today, the risk associated with digital transformation has moved into a different phase as many organisations have been forced to embrace new technologies and ways of working to navigate COVID‑19. The risk today is more about optimising outcomes and extracting organisational value from change that has already occurred.

Our recent A.I webinar touches on this by looking at the contrast between the technology organisations have been sold vs what has actually been delivered and what organisations are getting out of their technology.

Skills Shortage Continues

This month’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook update shows net overseas migration is set to dramatically turnaround in coming years. From minus 72,000 in 2020-21 and minus 41,000 in 2021-22, it will lift to 180,000 in 2022-23.

In May, the federal government was predicting net migration would be about half this in 2022-23. This month, the federal Treasurer said the increase “includes about 200,000 places for students, tourists and skilled workers to address skills shortages”.

However, with concerns around Covid-19 still looming the opening of borders is not set to be an immediate solution to the labour market skills shortage. Given record vacancy activity, internal and external migration will balance out the exodus of young workers who embark on their postponed overseas work experience, diminishing hopes that immigration will ease existing skills shortages in some industries.

Organisations must improve their processes to identify and hire (and retain) the right people, source talent from overseas and increase graduate recruitment to tackle the ongoing skills shortage. Watch our graduate recruitment trends webinar here to learn about graduate recruitment trends and challenges.