HR position vacant: Enquire within

It’s good news for HR professionals looking to change jobs in 2005, and bad news for organisations that are looking for HR talent but won’t make a competitive offer.

The market

Late 2004 was a very strong market for HR recruitment and 2005 is going to be at least as buoyant, if not better. “Since October 2004, there has been a visible shortage of good generalists. The $65,000 to $130,000 range is excruciatingly candidate short and in high demand,” says Owens.

According to Le Coïc, the current shortage of candidates at this level is due to a lack of hiring in HR two to three years ago. “In some cases it is proving more difficult to find candidates at the $80,000 to $90,000 level than at the $150,000 level,” he says.

Mason agrees. “The generalist middle market is sizzling because no-one was hiring the junior level HR person five years ago. There was a cutback in the number of HR graduate development programs at that time, resulting in today’s shortage. It’s a bit of a hobbyhorse of mine. If you don’t have good graduate programs in place, you won’t develop HR leaders of the future,” he says.

Richardson at Chandler Macleod Group says she has seen a strong demand for talent management specialists as well as those whose jobs relate to staff retention, such as L&D, OD and remuneration specialists. “The stronger market has also resulted in more flexibility among hirers. Companies have more flexible working policies for return to work mothers as well as for more mature workers who are seeking work/life balance roles. Job sharing and executive contracting are both growing as a result,” she says.

HR director roles

The market is nowhere near as hot for HR director’s roles, and all five recruiters have only recently seen some movement in this market. “At the moment, there is a bit of a merry-go-round of talent, but new roles will be created in this improving economy with corporate expansions and acquisitions,” Le Coïc predicts.

It’s more difficult to change companies from a specialist role into a director’s position, he adds. “An HR director’s role is 25 per cent technical capability and 75 per cent behaviour driven. Therefore, if you’ve demonstrated the right attitude and approach in your organisation, you are more likely to get a promotion internally than if you changed companies. At any senior level, organisations pursue risk-averse options,”Le Coïc says. He advises anyone with HR director aspirations to spend some time in a specialist HR role, get experience in a business partnering position, work for a small company and get some sales experience.

Richardson says that if a candidate has a strong generalist background and is now working in a specialist role, the best chance to get an HR director role (besides being promoted internally) is with a smaller company in the same industry.

“At least read the Financial Review every day, for a start!” Mason advises all HR director aspirants. This will help build a commercial awareness level over the years.” At the executive level, he says everyone is expected to contribute across the business and not just in their own area. “You have to have personal confidence, executive communication skills, honesty, integrity and epitomise the values of an organisation. The HR director role is transparent through the business and should embody the future culture and direction of that organisation,” he says. The best way to progress to a senior level is to align your career with strong brands in the market place, he adds.

Owens observes that the bar is constantly being raised in terms of what is required in HR. “The more business savvy people end up in senior roles. HR is being subdivided in many organisational structures, resulting in more GM or ‘head of’ roles,”he says.

International opportunities

Brewer, from specialist recruiter Frazer Jones UK, says that an Australian HR specialist with a few years experience would now get a job easily in the UK, providing their working visa was in order. “When economies come out of a downturn, organisations look at ways of retaining people and need good quality training and development. L&D, OD and recruitment specialists now have greater global mobility,” Brewer says.

“The HR talent pool is very strong in Australia. It punches well above its weight in terms of global business,” according to The Next Step’s Mason. The best way to get overseas experience, he says, is to work for a company which offers international career opportunities. “I can cite many examples of Australian HR teams that drive the agenda for the Asia Pacific region and have a lot of their initiatives exported to the global business.”

“HR is relatively underdeveloped in Asia. The local talent tends to be technically skilled, rather than strong on business partnering, so there are great opportunities in Asia where Australians can be extremely well thought of,” says HR Partners’ Owens. He describes Australians as having a relatively broad cultural bandwidth when compared to that of the British or American expat. “Go and work internationally when you have as few encumbrances as possible,” he advises.

Education

It’s generally regarded that HR professionals need some type of tertiary qualification – but that’s just the start. “It’s very hard to place someone who has done a Masters in Coaching if they haven’t any work experience – even if they’re prepared to work for free. An MBA helps in getting a broad understanding of business, but the most important thing to demonstrate on your CV is commercial nous,” Le Coïc asserts.

Owens sees the Australian HR market as “incredibly credentialised”. An MBA isn’t a “must have” yet but, he says, a broad education is important. “Look at what your competition has. The more MBAs there are around, the more they will expect that the people they rub shoulders with will have similar credentials.”

Contracting

Both HR Partners and Chandler Macleod Group specialise in HR contracting. Contracting is popular because it brings in skills for a particular project, covers staff during absences and provides extra help during peak periods or for major implementations, Owens says. Typical contracting skills required include implementing HR systems, policies and procedures, job descriptions, training executive staff and covering for maternity leave and annual leave.

According to Chandler Macleod Group’s Richardson, there’s been more executive contracting work lately as companies outsource HR projects. “Contracting is very attractive to some organisations because the HR contractors aren’t culturally bound to them, are less of a financial risk (than a permanent employee), aren’t in the permanent headcount and have transferable skill-sets, ”she says. Anyone with more than five years experience with tertiary or HR specialist qualifications is well regarded, she believes. “It’s a great way to expand your career and get experience in different industries and organisations.” Contractors get the same or more than a permanent salary in hourly or daily rates, depending on their skill-set and job description, she adds.

Salary package

All recruiters agree that salaries are going up in this candidate-driven market. Last year, HR salaries went up 3–4 per cent, but participation in incentive programs has risen from 25–75 per cent over the last two to three years, according to surveys by HR Partners. “In 2005, with the economy looking healthier and the talent pool reducing, salary expectations are increasing,” HR Matters’ Le Coïc states.

“Brace yourself for the counteroffer,” Owens advises. Candidates have received massive counteroffers when they went to resign, according to a number of the recruiters. “Organisations are taking talent management and retention issues really seriously these days. They either weren’t doing it before or they have recently become more successful at it,”Owens says. Naturally, anyone who receives a big counteroffer should question why they were worth $90,000 to their company on Monday and $120,000 to them on Tuesday, the recruiters advise. Owens says there is some evidence that people who are successfully counteroffered are back on the job market in six months.