The 7 Trends that Recruiters in Australia Should Pay Attention to

Every year LinkedIn surveys over 4,000 talent acquisition leaders across 31 countries for our Global Recruiting Trends report. This year we reached out to 274 recruiters in Australia and picked their brains about what are the trends shaping the industry in the region. Australian recruiters admit that 2015 will be a year of booming and highly competitive hiring, and compensation will be a key differentiator. Interestingly, while the number of passive candidates is increasing in Australia, many organisationsnbsp;are still quite new to the concept of passive candidate recruiting. Below are more details about the 7 key trends you should pay attention to. If you want to find out more about how these trends will affect your company, join our Australiannbsp;Recruitingnbsp;Trends webinar on 2 December. 1. Having to do more with less…again Australia is currently seeing a surge in hiring volumes, which are returning to near 2011 levels. Although hiring budgets are also on the rise, it appears there is still a significant gap between the number of positions recruiting leaders are hiring for and the money they have to do so. With a continued requirement to do more with less, recruiters will be challenged to find faster and more cost-effective ways to source high-quality talent in 2015. 2. Compensation and competition are the biggest obstacles to hiring When it comes to landing talent, compensation and competition remain the biggest challenges for recruiting leaders across the world and in Australia. Australian businesses are also nervous about retention and poaching of valuable staff. Looks like 2015 will be the year of figuring out how to keep your current employee pool while not breaking the bank on attracting new hires. 3. Diversity recruiting remains a low priority Small and large organisationsnbsp;alike prioritised recruiting highly skilled talent in 2014. Large organisations, however, are far more likely to focus on diversity recruiting, with 24% making it a priority compared to just 9% for SMBs. Australian companies would do well to consider broadening their reach though a diversity recruitment program to help them source top candidates from a wider pool of talent. 4. There’s a growing pool of “passive talent” out there but Australia is under-utilising it Almost four out of five Australian professionals consider themselves “passive” candidates, which is higher than the global average. Despite this, Australia is lagging behind when it comes to recruiting passive talent -- with only 49% of organisationsnbsp;doing it. This compares with 61% globally and 72% in the US. Passive talent is clearly still a huge unrealised opportunity. Developing strategies to access this untapped source during 2015 will put Australian companies ahead of local competitors in the race to fill roles. 5. Employer brand is becoming more critical Over three-quarters of Australian recruiters say talent brand has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent. It’s seen as even more important by SMBs, who are more likely to have employer brand as a top priority compared to larger companies. In Australia, online professional networks are one of the fastest-growing channels for promoting talent brand, but companies still need to look at how they can further take advantage of these networks to attract and source new candidates. 6. Technology is enabling smarter recruiting but data needs more attention From digital marketing and adaptive algorithms to big-data analytics, technology is making it easier to segment and target talent online. Unfortunately, most Australian recruiters don’t utilise data in their roles, with only 13% of those surveyed claiming to use it effectively to understand talent acquisition success and opportunities.This leaves Australia significantly behind the global average and should be a priority for companies if they are to stay competitive globally in 2015 and improve recruitment ROI. 7. Mobile-optimisation is becoming a sore need A growing number of job candidates are researching opportunities and employers in a mobile-optimised format. This should be no surprise, given it’s far more discreet for them to hunt for jobs on their personal smartphone than a work computer. Despite this, only just over a third of organisationsnbsp;globally have mobile-optimised job postings or a mobile-optimised career site. Mobile optimisation should be a priority for companies to effectively reach and target candidates in the appropriate channels. Future trends Most Australian and global companies believe sourcing passive candidates will be the norm in five to ten years, but what else is in store? Download the Australia Recruiting Trends 2015 report tonbsp;find out more about how these trends will affect your company. * Image bynbsp;Louis Vest nbsp;