How does your role rate in today's current hiring trends? A new report reveals the hot HR specialties for today's Australian firms
HR is one of the most in-demand professions today with 39% of Australian employers planning on increasing headcounts in this area.
The latest Hudson Report – which surveyed the hiring intentions of over 2,000 Australian employers – revealed that this demand was strongest for both L&D and change management specialists.
HC spoke to Simon Moylan, head of talent management at Hudson, about the factors driving these hiring trends.
“For L&D, I think organisations are again starting to recognise that if they’re going to retain their staff they need to start investing in them,” he said.
With organisations skimping on investment over the last few years, he noted that the increased hiring figures are probably firms replacing roles they had previously let go.
“The change has been due for a little while now,” he said.
As for change management, while this could be seen as part of the HR generalist’s role, the demand for specialists was increasing as organisations tried to accelerate the rate of change within.
“They’re not seeing it as part of your normal HR business partner’s everyday role,” Moylan told HC. “They’re saying we want to do things faster and invest more time in this, so we’re going to get a specialist to come in and work on this.”
Overall, firms were increasing focus on finding people with a transformational mindset in addition to those with this specialised skills set, he added; “So people who love and are comfortable with change, who can lead that change, and who are collaborative and solutions-focused.”
The increased competition, while good for those looking for work in these fields, will make it more difficult for Australian HR departments to find these sorts of people.
However, this skills gap is about to close, he said.
“Over the last seven or eight years, a lot of the investment in these specialised roles has decreased. Basically firms asked less people to do more over a broader range of business areas. Now though, we’re starting to see that specialisation come back.”
