February 7, 2018
The research takes a look into recruitment in Australia and detailed below is an overview of the industry’s outlook for 2018 – from top priorities to persistent challenges and main messages.
Top priorities for the recruitment industry:
- Candidate acquisition/sourcing
- Engaging candidates/improving the candidate experience
- Employment brand development and marketing
- Improving management of client relationships
- Automating recruitment processes
Top challenges for the recruitment industry:
- Talent shortages – there seems to be no end in sight!
- Skills deficit – Government restrictions on hiring foreign talent
- Leveraging technology and automation to improve operations
- Uncertainty over the economy and future growth
With persistent talent shortages and pressure over costs, how should Australian businesses plan to achieve a productive and profitable 2018? These are the main takeaways from the Report to help you weigh up competing priorities and focus your thinking:
- Expect quality over quantity in hiring – expect strong hiring demand
- Boost technology investments – invest in enhancements to your recruitment technology profile, to boost efficiency and innovation
- Share responsibility of the candidate experience across the business – create a positive candidate experience at all touch points, with all representatives of your company
- Drive efficiencies with automation – ensure you explore all opportunities to automate manual tasks, whilst ensuring the candidate and client experience is seamless. Ensure your recruitment process flow is more automated (For instance, Employee Matters does this with a recruitment system, JobAdder which manages candidate applications and correspondence)
- Pay more attention to your placed candidates – don’t forget someone who has newly started with your business, these candidates represent a top source for referrals to grow your business, and are key to the reputation of your organisation. Employee Matters checks in with all candidates we place at the 1 week, 1 month and 3 month mark. We recommend that you also do this as part of their induction. In our Hire to Fire Toolkit you can find templates for these discussions.
- Prepare for further restrictions on foreign talent – at this stage the restrictions are unclear however some believe this will have a negative impact on their business, prepare for regulatory changes
- Text all your candidates (not just Gen Z!) – phone and email are still dominating communication lines , however texting is increasingly being utilised with all demographics.
(Source: Bullhorn)