Innovation a key in recruitment
Are fussy employers with too many expectations the reason behind the skills shortage, asks candidate supply,” says Walker.
“Any reduced candidate supply in skill-short areas will make it more challenging for employers.”
Some regions are affected more than others. For example, Aucklandspecific shortages include those in architecture, construction and engineering, as well as sales, IT, facilities management and the legal profession.
“Auckland is facing massive growth within the multi-unit residential sector, so demand will therefore continue for experienced architects, and as the market continues to grow for commercial, residential and civil construction, candidates will need to be recruited for these projects,” says Walker.
In Auckland, the engineering market remains active thanks to the large amount of development underway within both the civil and structural sectors. It also remains a strong market for candidates with local market experience, especially in corporate and building services.
So, facilities managers, coordinators and administrators are in high demand, particularly for New Zealanders coming home from the UK and Australia.
Industries experiencing the greatest skills shortages include professional private practice accountants, digital marketing and tradespeople, as well as those mentioned — IT and architects.
“Across the board, at every level, accounting firms have multiple roles open,” says Walker. “However, commercial roles offer higher salaries and work that candidates consider more interesting, which contributes to professional practice’s skills shortage.”
The buoyant job market is welcome, but is continuing to fuel the shortage of highly-skilled professionals, leading to employers being desperate to find the right skilled workers.
“Employers are a lot more open to looking overseas if the right person cannot be found at home,” says Walker.
However, he believes there are opportunities for upskilling people on-the-job, rather than being too focused on someone having all the required skills at the start.
“While it always depends on the job, recruiting for cultural fit and then upskilling in technical areas is a good strategy when skills are in demand,” says Walker.
“It ensures you recruit someone who is the right fit for your organisation and the way it operates, and they gain any missing technical skills quickly once they commence.”
He believes apprenticeships also deserve more attention to fill the skills shortage and says people shouldn’t be put off this form of training because of a stigma about not attending university.
“Ironically, gaining technical knowledge and experience in an area of candidate demand is important for a secure long-term career — and this can be achieved through an apprenticeship just as it can through a degree or post-graduate qualification,” says Walker.
To assist employers and job seekers with the skills shortages, Hays is innovative in its approach to connect candidates and clients. They are one of only a few recruitment companies who have an integration with LinkedIn, which means they can search LinkedIn, as well as their database, for candidates in real time.
They also have a partnership with SEEK, so they search SEEK’s talent pool, giving Hays’ consultants instant access to almost 90 per cent of their target market.
Adaptability in the job market is also key in an ever-changing world where disruptive technologies and services, virtual technology, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and self-drive vehicles may be common place and changing how we all do things.
This means the skills you have now may not be needed in the future, so employers should start now to look outside the strict set of requirements to fill roles — the skills shortage could be the wake-up call they need to reassess how they view a candidate’s potential.
Flexibility, particularly in skill-short areas, can help an employer identify people with transferable skills. Ian Walker