Hays Human Resources - January 2010
Hotspots
Change management is a prime area of demand due to business transformation, restructuring and culture change in an improving market.
Also in demand are learning and development and OH&S professionals. Organisations remain focused on engagement and recognise that key talent will be of great benefit in the upturn.
Organisational Development is also an area of need as businesses respond to new initiatives by aligning people to business strategy and employee retention strategies.
Finally, Workforce Planners are needed to ensure adequate staffing numbers for the year ahead as well as for new projects.
The coming quarter
The increased use of temporary assignments during the last two months of 2009 will continue into 2010. Organisations are using temporary staff while they assess and determine their needs for the year. They have also planned for projects to restructure and realign their business processes and strategic direction.
Executive
Key permanent roles exist for senior managers with a generalist background in response to the establishment of new divisions. We are also seeing high-end organisational change management roles due to restructures and a new business direction. High-level learning and development and senior HR managers are needed for contract roles.
Employer trends
Employers are more attuned to the candidate-short nature of the market in certain areas. They recognise that quality candidates are quickly employed and so they are not deliberating long over their choices. Despite this time consideration, they remain very thorough in their process.
They are engaging highly skilled candidates who can manage multiple roles and responsibilities in order to gain maximum value from their hire.
The use of recruitment agencies is increasing as employers find their own responses are below satisfactory. Our pool of candidates, which are not necessarily active in the market, is valued.
Candidate trends
The number of available remuneration candidates has fallen, and there has been movement in the mid-level HR generalist space.
Candidates with change management, OD and L&D experience often directly consult to businesses to manage their project requirement.
