The Top 10 Recruitment Trends for 2016

Hays has released a list of the top talent trends for 2016 with input from recruitment experts who have studied how technology influences the landscape of recruitment.

The top 10 recruitment trends for 2016 are:

1. Growth of Contingent Workers: Engaging talent on long-term contracts will be a key trend in 2016 as organisations seek a flexible headcount.  Organisations will also continue to engage employees on a temporary basis with a view to making them permanent if more projects are undertaken.  Projected modest growth in the public sector will comprise primarily of temporary and contract employees.  Candidates need to be flexible and staying open to both contract and permanent is a must in 2016 if you want to access a greater range of opportunities.

2. Revolution of recruitment outsourcing: Recruitment outsourcing is one of the industry’s most exciting and fastest growing services. Recruitment outsourcing (RPO) will experience a revolution in 2016 with the next generation of outsourcing solutions being adopted by a wider range of businesses. Smaller organisations, sometimes with less than 100 hires per year, are now looking for RPO solutions, especially in the engineering, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. Another shift is employers using temporary/managed service provider (MSP) solutions for their blue-collar workforce – traditionally the focus has been on white collar roles. This demonstrates a growing acceptance of this form of staffing solution. Public sector organisations will also be more interested in MSP solutions that drive maximum efficiency and cost savings and not just a ‘neutral’ service.

3. Candidates need to be adaptable: In order to be ready for transformation expect employers in 2016 to look closely at a candidate’s ability to adapt to change. We may also start to see job interviews moving away from competency-based questions to focus more on asking candidates about how they have adapted to changing situations. As more businesses are likely to go through transformation, the skills that you have today might not be as relevant in the future. So if you are interviewing in 2016, expect to be asked about your ability to adapt to change.

4. Focus on STEM careers: Thanks to big data, expect employers in 2016 to increase the number of STEM roles (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). We’ll also see more R&D activity across government, universities and a wide range of industries.

5. Digital Influencers and Analysts: Data analytics has been a big focus in 2015, but now more organisations will also look at the trends data reveals and how they can scale those up into actions. This is about making data relevant to a business as they continue on the digital transformation journey. In addition, with Australia’s Prime Minister championing digital transformation the focus on this area will only increase.

6. Focus on security: With an increasing focus on protecting private data, security professionals will be a focus of recruitment in 2016, to help organisations keep ever increasing volumes of data safe and ensure quick action and recovery in the event of a cyber attack. Organisations of all sizes are looking to secure their systems and information particularly considering higher adoption rates of wireless and cloud-based solutions.

7. Digital & Mobile Apps: With customers looking to engage with companies in more user-friendly ways a higher number of mobile applications are being developed. This is driving up the need for developers well versed in this area as well as support staff with experience in mobile devices. User experience/user interface experts (UX/UI) will also be a recruitment focus in 2016 as organisations seek to understand how customers use websites and products/services, then provide these insights to marketing and research & development (R&D) teams.

8. HR to harness content marketing: It is expected HR content marketing to be an ongoing trend in 2016 to engage with potential new recruits. HR are using video, blogs and social media posts to promote workplace culture, showcase projects and profile existing employees to demonstrate the type of person that succeeds in their organisation. Given that candidates are hungry for content that will help them make informed decisions, Jobseekers should hunt out this information to help them create a CV that best demonstrates their suitability for the role and organisation, and to prepare for interviews.

9. Workforce diversity: Gender diversity will remain a hot topic in 2016. The financial services sector in particular is focusing on gender diversity at the leadership level. More employers ask their recruiter for a good mix of both genders for shortlists, particularly across traditionally male-dominated sectors such as banking & financial services, mining and oil & gas. IT employers also want to engage female IT staff at a younger age including through graduate recruitment and encouraging more female students to choose IT careers. We are also seeing a greater emphasis on indigenous participation in metropolitan-based employment (especially in Perth) as well as leadership pathways in regional areas. Age diversity is another area of focus, most notably in local government.

10. Consider healthcare: In 2016 and beyond we’ll continue to see a high number of vacancies across Australia’s healthcare sector. In response, employers will need to find new ways to attract and retain talented healthcare professionals, especially in regional and remote locations.  Healthcare is a very active sector and new medical and health facilities will continue to open in line with Australia’s growing population and ageing demographic. Anyone considering a career change or undertaking study in 2016 should look at the jobs available in healthcare and see if you’d be a good fit.

Adapted from the Article: Australia – Hays top talent trends for 2016 Source: Staffing Industry