Recruitment

How to stand out from the crowd in a competitive job market The ability to sell yourself, develop new skills and provide relevant work experience are just some of the ways you can stand out in today's competitive jobs market. You should also make sure that you prepare adequately for interviews, dress appropriately and listen to the questions asked to...

With the outlook uncertain for permanent positions in the public sector, the use of temporary assignments is increasing as employers move towards hiring contractors to fill immediate needs. However, a flexible workforce is about a lot more than just fulfilling short-term project requirements. It's certainly true that a significant advantage of hiring contractors is that they can be engaged and...

Gender diversity is a huge topic and there are many experts worldwide. The team here at Hays decided to take a look at the role of unconscious bias to see how deep seated attitudes play a role in determining the gender of hires - there were some fascinating findings… When presented with two equally qualified candidates, one male and one...

It's an easy mistake to make to think the main part of hiring new talent is the initial candidate attraction phase, followed by the job acceptance process. To many people, that's it. Job done, wait for the new recruit to show up and expect that they will magically be up to speed, fit in and be productive on Day 1....

Not many of us have a clear vision of what we want from our career at a very young age. However, somewhere along the way, we have to realise that unless we decide on our career goals and take action to achieve them, where we end up will be a matter of luck. Begin your career planning today with this...

As recruiters we are often asked how the job market is performing. Various surveys show that employers are now more confident to hire, and the general consensus at our annual Hays Salary Guide launch, which was attended by over 125 employers last month, was that the ACT will experience a slowdown but it will remain in good fiscal shape. This...

The approach of financial year-end brings with it salary reviews in many organisations and the launch of our annual Hays Salary Guide on 4 June 2014. The Hays Salary Guide remains the definitive snapshot of salaries and employment market trends across Australia and New Zealand. It's your chance to find out exactly what is happening in each sector as well...

If you want to join the C-suite (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO), you are not alone since a recent Hays survey concluded that more than half of all employees working in Australia aspire to be high-level executives. In a survey of 1,364 professionals, 55% said they aspire to a position as a top executive and a further 295 said they have...

The use of temporary workers in Australia is no longer a quick fix but a long-term staffing solution for employers, according to the Hays survey of temporary workers and their employers. Our survey found 31.2 per cent of organisations consider temporary workers to be a key component of a long-term staffing strategy. This ranks above their use to overcome permanent...

There's little doubt the last six months have been a fascinating and challenging time in the Canberra recruitment market. Whilst conditions in the market have been better, there are still plenty of opportunities if you know how to find them. The hidden job market is very active in Australia and there are many vacant positions that are never advertised. These...

Towards the end of 2013 we saw business confidence start to rise, which should feed through into the labour market in the first few months of 2014. Australia's economy is maintaining momentum and consumer confidence is strong heading into 2014. Consumer sentiment is being buoyed by low interest rates, rising house and share prices, and relatively stable unemployment. Whilst there...

Australia's economy is maintaining momentum and consumer confidence is strong heading into the busy end of calendar year period, fuelling an active jobs market. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose 1.9 per cent to 110.3 in November, close to the previous 2013 peaks in March and September. Consumer sentiment is being buoyed by low interest rates, rising house and...

In its most basic form communication is the ability to convey a message to an audience. Communication is also the process by which information is exchanged between individuals. Recently at PCA we participated in an in-house training activity designed to challenge and highlight the different ways people communicate. The activity involved two teams with "lookers" who saw a finished lego...

The private sector recruitment process is very different to that of the public sector. Key differences are that the cycle is shorter in the private sector and often only takes days to complete as compared with months in the public sector. Some private sector recruitment processes are also less formal. Private sector hiring managers frequently look for candidates with commercial...

Registering with the right IT recruitment agency is critical to finding the right opportunity for you. Does your agency work with IT clients that you want to work for? How strong is their relationship with their clients? Do they receive exclusive roles? Do they regularly survey their clients to understand what is valued and to identify any areas for improvements?...

A candidate rich market can complicate the recruitment process and quantity does not align with quality! Be it internal or external, it's both time-consuming and costly to recruit. To manage this in a candidate rich market increases the difficulty - not only to secure that perfect candidate, but managing the process to get there! What to bear in mind in...