Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of New Zealand employers believe that the skills shortage has the potential to impact the effective operation of their business or department, according to findings in the recently released 2015 Hays Salary Guide.
As revealed in the Guide, 46 per cent of more than 451 New Zealand employers, representing 374,007 employees, intend to increase their permanent staff levels in the year ahead.
As the available candidate pool is absorbed into new or replacement roles, Hays says it is natural that skills shortages emerge.
According to the Guide, 18 per cent report difficulty recruiting accountancy & finance, IT and technical professionals at the entry to mid management level.
Also in short supply at this level are operations (14 per cent), engineering (11 per cent) and sales & marketing (10 per cent) professionals.
At the senior management level operations (11 per cent), technical (also 11 per cent), engineering (9 per cent) and IT (9 per cent) professionals are difficult to find.
In response, 70 per cent of employers will consider employing or sponsoring a qualified overseas or expatriate candidate in skill short areas.
In addition, 39 per cent will ‘sometimes’ counter-offer staff when they resign, but of these 38 per cent find that staff leave anyway, 21 per cent said they only stay for three to 12 months and 1 per cent said they stay less than 3 months.
“New Zealand’s employers face a tight labour market for highly-skilled professionals in certain industries,” says Jason Walker, Managing Director, Hays New Zealand.
“This highlights the need for employers to continue innovating to attract candidates. This is especially important since nearly half (46 per cent) of employers told us they expect their permanent staff levels to increase in the year ahead.
“But where many employers fail is in aligning their employer brand with the reality of working at their organisation.
“In our survey we found that 40 per cent of employers said an individual’s ‘fit’ with the company’s vision, culture and values had a major impact on their employer brand, but only 18 per cent said their organisation is perceived to recruit candidates with the right ‘fit’ to an excellent standard.”
According to Walker, career paths and training and development were also considered to have a major impact on an employer brand, but only 9 per cent of employers said their organisation is perceived as offering ‘excellent’ career paths or training and development.
“These results suggest that many employers still need to work on creating an employment brand that reflects the culture of the organisation if they are to attract and retain the top talent in the year ahead,” he observes.
“After all, it’s your culture and your unique way of operating that will attract and retain your top performers.”
Meanwhile job seekers with in-demand skills can be confident of securing their next career move, Walker claims.
“We suggest you look above salary to the long-term career advancement that a role could potentially offer you,” he adds.
“There are a lot of exciting projects in New Zealand at the moment, so consider how involvement in one of these projects could aid your career advancement in future years.”
The Hays Salary Guide includes salary and recruiting trends for over 1,000 roles in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.