Candidates still have the upper hand in a tight jobs market
Job candidates are continuing to push for big pay rises and more freedom to work from home as employers across the economy struggle to fill vacancies.
Recruiters say it is easier to hire professionals now than it was at the height of the white-collar worker squeeze last year.
However, in the same week that Rich Lister property developer Tim Gurner triggered a global backlash by claiming workers had become “arrogant” during the pandemic, some employers are still complaining of fresh recruits accepting job offers at other companies just weeks after taking their new job.
Alice Hanna, head of people and culture at Kapitol Group, said strong candidates were often weighing up four or five job offers at once. Eamon Gallagher
Alice Hanna, head of people and culture at Melbourne-based construction company Kapitol Group, said hiring good people was harder than it was a few years ago because fewer people were out looking for jobs.
She told AFR Weekend this meant Kapitol Group was increasingly having to poach employees from other firms. But strong candidates were often already weighing up multiple offers when the company came knocking.
“In the old days, [you’d] offer a contract and people would say, ‘great, thank you very much’, and be really excited about it,” Ms Hanna said, noting that candidates wanted competitive pay and flexible working hours.
“Now they’re saying, ‘great, thank you. I’ve got five other offers, I need time to think about it’.”
In these instances, Ms Hanna said the hiring manager would figure out what mattered most to the candidate and explain how the company could meet their needs, without necessarily throwing more money at them. These conversations typically touched on flexible working, career development opportunities and, given the recent surge in construction insolvencies, the company’s financial position.
‘Never had this happen before’
Other employers have given jobs to candidates only to see them accept offers elsewhere weeks after joining.
Michelle Savona, founding director of advertising agency Savi, told AFR Weekend this had happened to her twice this year.
“Both of them were very good at their positions, and they lasted here for a matter of one to three weeks until [they] got a better offer with a huge pay increase,” Ms Savona said of two recent account managers who also wanted to work from home regularly.
“In 22 years of business, we’ve never had this happen before.”
Stories like Ms Savona’s were heard frequently last year but have since become less common, according to Andrew Brushfield, director at recruitment agency Robert Half.
Mr Brushfield said the white-collar hiring market remained strong, but companies were no longer paying hand over fist to get candidates through the door.
“It was completely abnormal last year and for the second half of 2021. [But now] it’s normalised,” he said.
He said the bigger challenge for many recruiters now was convincing them to jump ship amid a worsening economic outlook.
“There are lots more conversations taking place to get people out of jobs, and into new jobs, because of the fear of ‘last in, first out’,” Mr Brushfield said.
Thursday’s job figures revealed the official unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 per cent in August, as the number of employed people increased by 64,900 over the month.
Economists said on Thursday that a recent influx of foreign students and working holidaymakers had helped fill record numbers of job vacancies. But they warned that high levels of immigration could push up the unemployment rate over the next year as a softening economy led to the supply of labour running ahead of demand.
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