Top Talent Demands In Australia For 2014

13 Jan 2014

According to Hays, a recruitment specialist company, the 2014 recruitment in Australia will be carved by a few core talent trends including the need for candidates with hybrid skills, a focus on retention, and skill shortages.

Nick Deligiannis, Australian Managing Director of Hays stated that business confidence started rising towards the end of 2013, and there is an anticipation that this rise in the confidence will flow into the labor market in the first few months of 2014.

He said that the economy of Australia is continuing the momentum, and the strong consumer confidence is growing into 2014. Consumer sentiment is being boosted by relatively stable unemployment, low interest rates and increasing share and house prices. There is an expectation that the Australian economy will grow by 2.8 per cent in 2014, which will be a slightly faster rate than in 2013.

This will lead to rising staff turnover as workers become more confident to examine their options. Deligiannis also said that many employers tell them that they are looking to hire workers who can start early in the new calendar year.

According to Hays, crossover roles will be a huge area of growth for 2014.

Deligiannis explained that as the finance, technology and marketing worlds merge, the key is to find people with multilevel knowledge who can move across all sectors.

According to Hays, 2014 will see increased demand for Business Analysts and IT Project Managers who are involved in projects of data manipulation.

The demand for strong JavaScript Developers, particularly workers with CSS3 and HTML5 skills for web development, is rising thanks to the boom of tablet-based applications.

As technology merges with marketing and finance functions, a need for people with multilevel knowledge who can move across sectors is prominent. Therefore, Hays predicts that technology departments will merge with both finance and marketing in 2014, and as a result, finance and marketing professionals will have to enhance their technology skills to stay competitive in the jobs market.

Deligiannis stated that the banking jobs market is showing signs of positive growth with jobs registered at the highest levels in over 24 months.

The mining industry will stabilize, and productivity will rise, and while the big mining companies will keep cutting costs, there will be opportunities for engineers and skilled tradespeople in 2014, according to Hays.

With the increasing confidence of the jobs market, the candidate is again ‘king’. However, according to Hays, when it comes to recruiting, most organizations are yet to grasp social media effectively.

According to Hays companies must expect a shortage of high-level skilled professionals, particularly in technical areas such as engineering, IT and construction.