Recruiter confidence improving but skills crisis ready to rebound
19/8/2009
Source: WorkplaceInfo
Business confidence in the recruitment and on-hire sector has returned, but so has the spectre of skills shortages and a tight labour market, according to a recent survey.
The RCSA Quarterly Member Research surveyed recruitment agency owners and managers, and found that business confidence and expectations of growth have risen rapidly from their historic lows of six months ago, with business confidence in particular back to 2008 levels. However, the number of businesses engaging talent management companies to assist with recruiting and maintaining workforces has decreased by nearly one-quarter.
The survey conducted of 184 talent management leaders was undertaken in July 2009.
The RCSA is an industry body for talent management and workforce solutions in Australia and New Zealand.
'The jobs market hasn’t exactly recovered but it has stabilised,' said Julie Mills, CEO of the RCSA.
'It’s still going to be tough for job seekers wanting to find work but it’s also getting tougher again for employers wanting to find talented staff.'
War for talent
The number of respondents who agree that it’s easy to find appropriate staff dropped by 9 per cent (to 32 per cent) while the number who agree that candidates have the right mix and level of skills has dropped by 6 per cent (to 43 per cent).
'The war for talent was never over — it was just having a ceasefire. As confidence returns, there will be pockets of the labour market where skilled people continue to be in short supply, and these areas have grown in just the last quarter. Employers need to be focused on attracting and retaining talent while it’s relatively easier to do so,' Ms Mills said.
After almost doubling in the preceding quarter, the number of on-hired and contractor placements fell back again slightly (by 11 percent). However, this type of recruitment remains an increasingly important part of the employment market.
Networking
While recruiters were most likely to find candidates through mainstream avenues such as major online job boards, a surprise finding was that networking events are a well-used way for recruiters to find candidates, with 78 per cent of respondents seeking people this way.
'It shows the importance of job seekers putting themselves out there and keeping in touch,' Ms Mills said.
Other popular methods included in-house job boards (77 per cent) and niche job boards (69 per cent), as well as refer-a-friend incentives (62 per cent).
There were a range of online options being used, but less widely: business networking sites such as LinkedIn were used by 53 per cent; Twitter by 20 per cent and Facebook/MySpace by 33 per cent.
Skills shortages
Skills shortages remain strong in the health and technical fields with the top-ten list being:
- Health professionals
- Nurses
- Non-building professional engineers
- Medical technicians
- Non-building engineering associates and technicians
- Non-building electrical/electronic trades
- IT and telecommunications professionals
- Electrical trades (building)
- Metal trades
-
Carpenters and joiners
The survey conducted of 184 talent management leaders was undertaken in July 2009. The survey presentation is available on the RCSA website. More articles | 
