Skilled Candidate Shortage Real Threat to Business Growth

Skilled Candidate Shortage Real Threat to
Business Growth

New Zealand businesses will struggle to grow to their full potential if highly skilled candidates are not actively recruited back into the New Zealand market says Robert Walters New Zealand country manager Shay Peters.

Peters, who heads up leading recruitment company Robert Walters in New Zealand, explained that the findings of the business’s annual Salary Survey coupled with the possible tightening of immigration laws in New Zealand has the potential to have a significant impact on growth in industries especially those in the IT sector.

“Our survey shows that employees are still very much in the driver's seat with more than 80% feeling confident of plentiful job opportunities this year driven by a thriving economy and large Government project roll-outs. The feedback from employers however, not only from the survey but also from our day-to-day engagement with them, is that there is an increasing lack of highly skilled candidates.

“This coupled with the Government indicating a tightening of the immigration policy poses a real concern for businesses.”

Peters continued; “Kiwi companies are going to have to really tailor their pitch to entice expats back here. They’ll have to upsell the lifestyle balance that New Zealand offers and be prepared to offer salaries in line with those in the UK, US and Asia.

“The fallout from Brexit, combined with the perceived political instability in the United States, is making New Zealand an increasingly attractive option for many Kiwi expats. This trend will assist in meeting the high demand for skilled professionals in New Zealand.,” said Peters.

Peters says that due to the persisting pressure of a shortage of candidates, salaries will increase for many professionals, leaving some in a powerful position to negotiate with the employers.

“In most professions, salaries went up in 2017, and we expect to see increases again in 2018. Those professionals with skills in particularly high demand will receive substantial increases,” he says

In 2017, salaries rose for nearly 60% of professionals, according to the survey, and 74% of professionals expect their salaries to rise in 2018.

As a result, Peters says retaining staff will be challenging. “Extra benefits such as flexible working conditions, and health and wellbeing programmes need to be considered to retain the best employees” says Peters.

“Just over 30% of professionals we surveyed want to move out of their current roles for career progression, so employers need to make sure they are making career development of current staff a priority,” added Peters.

The Salary Survey, which covers a range of professions and is based on real placements made by Robert Walters consultants, found that the job market is exceptionally busy, and infrastructure, technology, and large-scale retail will be the big drivers of growth in the main centres.

The Government has committed to a broad-ranging programme of infrastructure projects in housing and education, and major road projects in Wellington and Auckland.

“These projects will see the creation of many jobs and salaries will rise for civil engineers, construction workers, procurement, legal and finance professionals who work on these developments,” says Peters.

“Telecommunication companies, banks, and utilities will invest in differentiating themselves through their customer experience and digital transformations," says Peters. “Large business transformation projects in the public sector will require IT professionals with skills in specialist areas such as big data, analytics, UX and UI.

“There will be intense competition between organisationS for IT professionals and remuneration will likely rise for permanent and contract technology roles,” added Peters.

Nearly 80% of professionals surveyed are expecting to look for a new role in the next one to two years, and over 30% are already looking for a new job.

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About Robert Walters
Robert Walters is one of the world’s leading global recruitment consultancies, specialising in the placement of permanent, contract and temporary positions across all levels of seniority. Our teams of professional consultants are renowned for their professionalism, integrity and exceptional recruitment consultancy.

Robert Walters has two offices in New Zealand, one in Auckland and the second in Wellington.
Named as the Best International Recruitment Firm at the Recruitment International Awards 2013.

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