Top talent trends for 2016

Top talent trends for 2016 – what should be on your radar?

Finding enough of the right talent to take New Zealand forward will be a key theme of 2016 particularly in the strong construction, civil and property sectors, according to recruiting experts Hays.

In the white collar space, those able to help organisations adopt and master emerging technologies will be in hot demand while in Christchurch as more companies resume operations we expect to see many more opportunities for IT, sales and marketing, accounting and administrative candidates.

During 2015 New Zealand weathered unstable milk prices, the devaluing of the Kiwi dollar and the impact of a weaker Chinese economy but also saw record migration numbers and a stronger housing market around the country. By November business confidence had hit a six-month high signalling a positive 2016.

“Skill shortages persist across both the white collar and blue collar sectors and we expect this to continue into next year,” said Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

“Business confidence remains strong driving solid demand for candidates in disparate areas from construction and trades to legal to IT. Overall, we expect a good year for candidates able to demonstrate how they can help an employer capitalise on conditions to grow their business.”

According to Hays, the top 12 recruitment trends for 2016 are:

1. New Zealand still very much in building mode: Civil and construction will continue to dominate recruitment in 2016. Civil recruitment is being driven by new land developments around the country as well as existing building and infrastructure projects. For example, in construction, official figures reveal a shortfall of at least 21,000 trades people and labourers to work on infrastructure rebuild projects. Even when these projects are completed, the many infrastructure and building projects around the country will keep candidate demand high. It’s estimated some 30,000 tradespeople and labourers will be needed in Auckland alone but we expect workers moving off Christchurch projects will meet some of this demand.

1. Apprentices super hot in 2016: More initiatives are needed to encourage school students and young people to choose apprenticeships. For example, from next year Māori and Pasifika Trades Training (MPTT) will accept 16 and 17-year-olds instead of only those 18 or older and a MPTT “alumni” has been created to mentor young trainees. New Zealand’s aging population and the increasing number of civil, construction, and infrastructure projects is creating an acute shortage of apprentices. It’s estimated the country needs 3,500 people entering apprenticeships each year – an increase of 50 per cent on present figures. In manufacturing, more than 64 per cent of workers are aged over 40 with more apprentices needed across plastics processing, wood manufacturing, printing and forestry.

3. Talent shortage as tourism booms: New Zealand’s tourism sector employs more than 12 per cent of the workforce and is expanding rapidly with visitor numbers from China alone growing by nearly 30 per cent in the last year. However, employers are struggling to find candidates with the right level of professionalism. Shortages already exist in Auckland and Queenstown and industry figures estimate nearly 50,000 extra candidates will be needed across the sector in the next decade.

4. Accounting support: Strengthening business activity will drive up demand for accounting support candidates in 2016. However, employers prefer candidates with experience that matches their industry whether that is construction, manufacturing or a service business. We expect many employers will continue to look for flexibility in 2016 to help them take advantage of improving economic conditions. The “try before you buy” approach of hiring a candidate on a temporary basis with a view of making them a permanent hire down the track is here to stay. In the government sector, many organisations are moving to share service arrangements and therefore prefer candidates with experience working under this model.

5. Migration changes to help shape nation: Changes to New Zealand’s skilled migration laws introduced in 2015 will be tested in 2016. Under the new laws, those moving to regional areas outside of Auckland will be awarded greater points towards securing residency. Government figures show New Zealand had a net gain of 58,300 migrants in the 2014/2015 year with half of all migrants settling in Auckland. China was the largest source of migrants followed by India and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, it has been alleged that a third of work visas used by Filipinos in NZ are fake with the fall out expected to impact the Christchurch rebuild as well as the agricultural sector. Of the 59,600-work visas New Zealand approved from 1993 to 2015 most went to workers from the Philippines.

6. Legal eagles flying high: Commercial property and construction are generating greater demand for legal services in both Christchurch and Auckland. Insurance claims related to the Christchurch quake are expected to drive up demand for legal talent in 2016 as well. Larger law firms will be on the lookout for specialist skills when hiring legal talent in 2016 including front-end construction experience, mergers & acquisitions, contracts and or banking & finance experience. Despite this solid recruitment demand, employers still prefer candidates to have strong local experience making it hard for overseas candidates to break into New Zealand’s legal profession.

7. Procurement ; Procurement is developing beyond being simply a cost cutting function to one able to secure the business with greater value when negotiating volume deals. Globally, procurement is also increasingly required to forge business partnerships with suppliers rather than be just the gatekeepers on spending. In addition, New Zealand government guidelines released in 2015 on procurement processes for large construction projects are placing new demands on the procurement function. The guidelines are designed to achieve greater health and safety outcomes for the construction sector.

8. Marketing digital futurists: In line with global trends, New Zealand organisations are increasingly using digital tools such as big data and analytics to understand customers and drive deeper customer engagement. Increasingly, marketing is expected to champion the adoption and use of new technologies and demonstrate the returns on investment of IT spend. While not new, social media is still underutilised by many New Zealand companies and we expect this to be a key area for organisations looking to expand in 2016 particularly those exporting a product or service. Video as a marketing channel is also tipped to be an area of growth.

9. Big data experts and Digital Analysts: In addition to its value to marketing, big data is crucial to surfacing important trends, risks and opportunities and to define the actions an organisation must take to succeed. Collecting and analysing big data is taking place across a wide range of professions, industries and business sectors. Virtualisation, cloud technologies, the use of open source data tools and applications that combine data sets to create value are some of the trends taking place.

10. Digital security a priority: Securing ever-increasing volumes of data in New Zealand will continue to be a priority in 2016. However, due to the growing sophistication of cyber hackers, organisations accept that an attack at some stage is a high probability. For this reason, many see investing in talent and systems able to help them recover quickly in the event of an attack as well as identify and close security gaps as a prudent course of action. As more organisations use big data tools and wireless and cloud-based solutions, keeping data and systems safe and secure will be a constant challenge.

11. Christchurch moves from blue to white: While demand for talent in Christchurch continues across construction, property and infrastructure we expect more white collar job opportunities to come online as businesses re-establish themselves including IT jobs, sales and marketing roles and finance and administrative roles.

12. Diversity: New Zealand’s employers are being told to focus more attention on the full range of diversity issues in the coming year. A new “Champions of Change” group comprising top New Zealand business leaders is just one forum calling for a broader view of diversity. The group will meet for the first time in March to discuss ways to promote greater diversity in leadership roles across gender, disability, cultural background and sexual orientation. Cultural diversity is a big topic with New Zealand’s population comprising more than 200 ethnicities speaking 160 languages. Almost 50 per cent of the population of Auckland is Maori, Asian or from a Pacific country. Age diversity at work is also a changing dynamic with the proportion of workers aged 55 years predicted to grow to around one in four by 2020.

Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.

- Ends -

© Scoop Media