The hiring reluctance of the past few years is about to catch up with organisations, as a resounding number of young Australians prepare to look overseas for work.
Young workers in Australia continue to find it hard to land positions, with 56% of Australians feeling those under 25 have a hard time finding work, and 68% stating those new to the workforce need to take jobs under their education levels, the latest report from Randstad has revealed.
Youth unemployment in Australia is sitting more than two times higher than the national average.
The paradox of Australians (71%) factoring experience as more important than education for job-seeking Gen Yers is forcing the highly educated younger generation to look abroad. Fifty two per cent of young Australians surveyed stated they would be willing to look overseas for a job if there wasn’t a suitable one in Australia.
This number sits much higher than that of the US, Germany, Holland and Switzerland.
It isn’t just young workers getting the short end of the stick in Australia, with 90% of Australians saying it is difficult for mature age workers to find jobs as well.
“Talent is talent, and young, fresh, ambitious employees, combined with more experienced and knowledgeable talent is a winning balance for any business,” Steve Shepherd, group director at Randstad, said.
Shepherd believes that age diversification will help increase productivity and generate a better workforce overall. Organisations that wish to remain relevant and increase productivity will need to negotiate with their younger and more mature workers.
“Offering strong training and development programs, along with implementing cadetships and other similar programs, can help an organisation target and retain leading young talent,” Shepherd suggested.
Despite the high unemployment rates and struggles of both young and mature job-seekers, many organisations claim they are across the situation. Randstad found 77% of Australians can see benefits from actively hiring over-50s, and 78% seeing the benefits in hiring younger employees.
Are these organisations in denial? Where is the disconnect, and what can organisations do to remedy it before the new breed abandon Australia?
