We're excited to share our year in review with you. We entered it with some trepidation but as it turned out, 2021 was one of our most rewarding years yet! We recruited more people than ever before and continued to grow across industry sectors. The pace was rapid and by the end of the year the struggle was real! The holiday season could not begin soon enough for most of us, and we all needed a break.
2021 kicked off full steam ahead with our clients continuing to drive improved outcomes in their organisations. No matter the industry there was structural, systems and cultural change on the agenda and all had ambitious timelines to reap results. The need for commercial savvy HR and Safety practitioners was high as was OD and Talent specialists. Key skills in project and change management with the ability to influence were in high demand. There was an expectation early on that the market would shift to temporary and contract recruitment hires. We did see an increase in this area however the requirement for permanent hires tipped the scales for us. Organisations quickly realised that to buy talent they needed to be competitive in their offering not only from a salary perspective but also wellbeing and ultimately, they needed to commit.
Candidates were looking for stability during ongoing lockdowns in our sister states and to a lesser degree in Queensland. These disruptions to work drove the need for innovation, and hybrid work environments became the norm wherever possible for most industries. It’s fair to say that this has become an expectation in a candidates search for the majority of roles that we recruit.
Gone are the days where a candidate would leave solely because they were bored, wanted a change and / or interesting work. Now we can presume that there is enough going on in your perspective organisations that would keep anyone busy for at least the next 6-12 months. High on the wish list for candidates, was increased salary, work life balance, flexibility and hybrid work environments, and culture. It was a given that they would be working on some exciting projects alongside ‘business as usual.’
On the flip side due to the level of activity in the market, candidates found themselves navigating multiple roles at any given time. This was not always a bad thing however in some cases, we encountered what could be called flakiness, there was reneging of contracts and counteroffer acceptances. At some levels, there seemed to be a lack of awareness of their own personal brand and the lasting perspective their interactions may have with potential employers (I’m sure there’s another blog in there somewhere). The need for us as an agency to be connected with top talent and harness our talent pools was and continues to be a priority for us at Move Recruitment Solutions and has definitely contributed to our success.
Although we had hires at varying levels, at Move Recruitment Solutions, the bulk of our permanent hire roles covering HR, Capability and Safety were sitting between the $80k to $130K and our permanent senior level sat between the $165k to $220k. We had a few executive level movements with salaries sitting within the $260k to $300k range. Our fixed term contract roles were at the higher end mostly sitting around the $100K to $160K salary range. Our temporary recruitment range was across the board from graduate through to Senior HR Business Partner level. We also note that in some cases salaries were pushed on certain hires ranging from $5k and up to $20k in order to secure the right talent. We also saw an increase in opportunities that included bonuses, fully maintained vehicles, parking and other incentives.
We were thrown into the deep end in 2020 with the focus being on ensuring our workforces could transition to work from home safely. This affected us from every aspect and put safety and engagement high on the agenda and gave a much-needed platform for mental health and wellbeing. 2021 brought lots of innovation, refinement and imbedding innovative technology, systems and processes. You all started to look at your EVP and branding, and competition was and continues to be rife. It made us look at how we will continue to deliver commercial outcomes through innovative solutions.
We have all heard of the ‘great resignation’ and how it will affect us in 2022. There are a few schools of thought, it’s hard to say what will actually happen considering the recent outbreak and government push back of the school year start. What we can say is that COVID is here to stay for the foreseeable future at least. We will all inevitably get it some point and we are all learning to live and work with it. COVID aside, based on our previous experience, at the end of every year around the holiday period people shut off and decide to pick up their search in the new year. We usually see activity rise after Australia day and the commencement of the school year. Once people are back in their roles, they may have an epiphany and decide to make a MOVE, this is usually right around February / March.
So, could we expect a rise in people wanting to move on? Quite possibly. What does that mean for you as a client? Some would say ‘were going to have more candidate options, the market is going to turn.’ There will certainly be more candidate options, but we don’t necessarily think it will be enough for the market to turn dramatically. People are still not going to MOVE on for just anything. We recommend that you are decisive, try not to drag out your recruitment process as we expect the market to continue to move at pace. We recommend that you ensure you have movement in your budget wherever possible and that you are able to share your organisation, team and role strengths. Market knowledge and understanding your benefits over your competitors will also be valuable. Move Recruitment Solutions has the ability to assist you in all these aspects. We will help you understand a candidate’s intrinsic requirements and reasons for moving on, we can provide you access to our talent pools to ensure you can move at pace and help you understand the market and competitor offerings.
We have some exciting new developments that will unfold over the coming months, and we will share with you via social media and our website so please ensure you are following our LinkedIn and Instagram pages.
We will also distribute a quarterly newsletter with market updates, ‘movers and shakers’ and interviews with key talent. We’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing and inspirational HR and Safety leaders (we do have quite a few boss crushes out there) who have impacted their organisations significantly, and through some incredibly challenging times. We plan to share some of their journeys with you over the next year, so watch this space.
