Change management and transformation projects keep driving up demand for experienced HR business partners, generalists and in-house recruiters across the country, yet salaries have only marginally increased, specialists say in our HR employment snapshot.

Sydney

HR change leads and project leads are in hot demand in Sydney, says Hays HR senior manager Natalie Clark.

This demand is matching the growing drive for organisations to add flexible workforces, adds regional director Alex Jones, particularly across financial services, banking and state government – "anywhere that's having some reform and restructure".

Temp workers are highly sought after in this space, he says. "They're getting people in to 'ramp up' when there's a change, and then scale them back when they don't need them."

Tech-savvy internal recruiters are also in high demand in the contracting space, and they are in short supply, Clark says. On the perm side, most demand is for generalist and strategic business partner roles, and senior roles.

A shortage of instructional designers has pushed up day rates, which she says has made it hard for many smaller organisations to compete and find the right talent.

This year, employers are looking for candidates who think strategically, are adaptable to change, and have more of an analytic and commercial mindset, Clark says.

"A lot of the basic functions of HR have been outsourced or automated... and business partners are expected to be able to interpret the data and provide meaningful insights to their leaders," she says.

Melbourne

Demand for talent acquisition professionals has remained incredibly high in Melbourne, according to The Next Step's Lisa Hammond, especially at the sub-$110k level.

Business partners with good workplace relations knowledge and experience are also in high demand at the $140–160k-mark, and this year has seen an increase in demand for professionals with organisational development and change management expertise, she says.

Employers are on the hunt for candidates with strong business and commercial acumen, as well as communication, engagement, influencing and stakeholder engagement skills.

"If that's not demonstrated at interview stage, candidates are not getting to the next level," Hammond says.

Employers are also seeking candidates with softer, "behavioural" attributes, she adds. "As the market gets tighter, some of the technical skills can be taught."

Workplace flexibility has become more important to candidates, and it's not only senior leaders dictating terms, but also early-to-mid-level employees as well. "Candidates are looking for different ways of working, and [if] businesses aren't meeting those expectations, candidates are backing out."

Hammond has seen only marginal increases in both salaries and contract rates, in line with increased demand, which she attributes to the low unemployment rate.

"I think we're going to continue to see a challenge in sourcing great talent throughout 2019."

Brisbane

"We have seen a lot of growth in Brisbane in the HR operational space," Talentpath director Jody Fazldeen says.

And while it's not hard to source really strong, operational HR practitioners, she says it is more difficult to find specialists within that space, particularly candidates with employee/industrial relations experience.

Sourcing internal recruiters and talent acquisition professionals has also been a "pain point", she adds, with employers keen to find candidates with technology and data experience.

"Organisations want to be able to map, track, forecast and create their initiatives around data. That workforce planning space has also seen growth over the last two years, as organisations try to stay one step ahead."

As a result, Fazldeen is seeing organisations pay more for talent acquisition and recruitment roles than they have traditionally, and she notes that employers have a little more flexibility in these salaries.

Hiring across the sector is expected to remain strong for the rest of the year, particularly for candidates "bringing something unique" to an organisation, she says.

"We're seeing some organisations where marketing is really driving employee branding, but then we're seeing HR practitioners get involved in that process.

"Where there's an opportunity for HR employees to be involved in those projects where there is delivery and outcome... it adds a great depth to their experience and prospective employers."

Perth

With businesses in Perth currently "running a bit lean", most demand is for HR generalists who are skilled across all areas, says Hudson's HR practice managing consultant Erin Cleaver.

"So somebody with the full suite of HR capabilities across L&D and organisational development, as well as some employee relations [skills], and everything recruitment – usually an advisor or business partner."

Employers are finding it hard to find good candidates with the experience they want, at the level they are looking for. "They are not super senior roles that everyone is after," Cleaver says.

"In that generalist skillset, if they've worked on change management projects, that's a real bonus, because there's a lot of change and transformation projects going on at the moment."

Most demand has been for full-time and fixed-term contracts over the past few months, which allows employers more control over their costs during these projects, adds GM Andrew Tomich.

He is also seeing a trend in the number of organisations making counter-offers to hold on to good people. "We definitely did not see that this time last year."

The Perth market is pretty confident, Tomich says, with HR roles "at a peak". It's a good predictor for the next 12 months, he adds. "That means organisations are investing, which is a good thing because if they're hiring more people, they bring on more HR."

Adelaide

Adelaide organisations are currently seeking internal recruiters, with an even split of perm and contract placements, according to Hudson managing consultant Belinda Mertin.

"Anywhere from end-to-end recruitment officers through to senior recruitment advisors are quite in demand at the moment," she says, noting the spike has been somewhat unusual.

"When we normally see a spike in demand in those roles, it may be for a very short period of time... but this is carrying out over a few months, coming up to the three-month mark."

Rather than a specific skills gap, Mertin says the biggest gap is in industry experience – in the defence space, for example. "That industry experience is certainly sought after at this time, and there's only a certain amount of people who have that experience."

Employers are becoming more and more open to tweaking their experience requirements based on candidates available, she notes.

Demand for HR roles in the defence space is also driving up salaries more than in the past, though Mertin says they are just recovering to the rates of five-to-six years ago. "There might be a little more [growth] left for us to see, but we're getting very close."

Early signs for the start of the year are positive, she says. "Everything is in growth mode; we're not only seeing roles being replaced but we're seeing new roles created, and that's holding steady for a little while now. We are anticipating the next 12 months are going to be quite busy for us."

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