News

Mid to Senior market update 

My colleague Angela Horkings recently wrote a great article on the state of the executive HR market. I have had so many people ask me the same question of the mid to senior market that I thought it was worthwhile sharing my view.

Certainly a lot has changed in the last 6 months. When COVID hit things certainly appeared bleak and we were strapping ourselves in for a tough 12 months. However, once organisations navigated their way through the initial crisis management phase, activity levels quickly started to pick up again, with roles in the workplace relations, safety and payroll space to the fore. Demand has remained strong in each of those areas of the function whilst demand for commercially savvy Business Partners and HR Generalists has also increased in recent weeks. From an industry perspective, the COVID pandemic has clearly impacted some sectors more than others, those organisations with a strong online/digital presence faring well and being at the forefront of current HR demand. As for the future, well of course it’s difficult to predict with any great certainty without the aid of a crystal ball but logic dictates there are number of areas in which we would expect to see heightened demand. As organisations adjust to ÇOVID-normal market conditions, there are a number of key questions which will need to be answered by all businesses, large and small; how do we engage with our customers? What does our workforce need to look like? What’s the ideal operating model to suit market conditions? What are the skills and capabilities required to operate effectively in the post COVID landscape? It’s more than reasonable to expect this will lead to a rise in demand for skills in strategic workforce planning, organisation design and talent & capability. Meanwhile, in the generalist HR business partnering space, we have talked for many years about business acumen and commercial curiosity being essential skills. Expectations on this front will only increase as we move towards a post pandemic world.

So what does this mean for the HR job seeker? Interestingly, when the market started to improve post GFC a decade ago, we saw a noticeable shift from organisations recruiting on capability and potential to recruiting based on experience and tenure. Time will tell if history repeats in this regard but certainly, I would expect many organisations to be more risk averse in their hiring practices than has been the case in recent times. This could potentially lead to more rigorous and longer recruitment process, the greater use of psychometrics and a heightened focus on recruiting from within the industry in which the organisation operates. Ultimately I’m a big believer that good people will always get good jobs regardless of market conditions but certainly in this market job seekers need to be more proactive than ever. As Angela said in her article, job adverts are not an accurate gauge of market conditions as an ever increasing number of organisations ditch traditional sourcing channels in favour of targeted sourcing strategies based around research and market mapping. This has always been the norm for executive level roles but is becoming increasingly prevalent in the mid to senior market too. More than ever, job seekers need to leverage their own networks whilst partnering with trusted recruitment professionals who can proactively market their brand with the right organisations.

2020 has been a year like no other but as the saying goes, ‘from crisis comes opportunity’. COVID has undoubtedly represented a great opportunity for HR to step up, demonstrate leadership and add genuine value. It’s not unreasonable to say that Human Resources has become one of, if not the most important functions for any organisation in these unprecedented times.