Now is prime recruitment season |

The Best Time to Recruit

Ben Watts, CEO - wattsnext
(for direct article click here)

If you want to grow in 2023 and start the new year with new talent, the time to attract the right people is now! Recruitment campaigns are averaging 4-6 weeks with heavy LinkedIn and social media headhunting required, but we are finally seeing talent moving in the market again. 

At wattsnext, we provide HR consulting and recruitment services to small to medium businesses across all, industries and both hemispheres giving us a unique view of the available talent pool. During September I have been working from the wattsnext group’s New York office where the unemployment rate rose to 4.7% in August 2022 and has been trending up and the signs in Australia are similar where we moved to 3.5%!

‘The flow on effect of the past few years on Australia’s talent market is real’

Any business who has tried to recruit in Australia 2022 will know how difficult it has been to find talent. It has been usual to see Job ads that would normally attract 100’s of local applicants, receiving a handful of hopeful internationals that can’t legally work in the country. Traditional recruitment channels have dried up and unless you have a large social media footprint and can mine LinkedIn for passive job seekers you are $hit out of luck! 

It has been a candidate led market, the worldwide Covid-19 driven fear led to many visa sponsored immigrants, students and working travellers fleeing to their families and country of origin. Local employees in Australia were left clinging to their jobs through the pandemic and economic uncertainty. International and state immigration was bought to a standstill for 18 months all resulting in a skills shortage we have not experienced for decades. We experienced the great resignation and many people decided to re-prioritise what was important to them. 

‘In simple terms, everyone who wanted a full-time job had one’ 

The Australian unemployment percentage bottomed out below 3% in some capital cities earlier this year. Inflation pressure, a 5.2% increase in the minimum wage, coupled with talent supply and demand has driven salary expectations to unsustainable levels! In the past 18 months recruitment has been as tough as I have seen in my 25-year career, but there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. 

‘Over the past six weeks we have seen applications increasing and talent being more curious about new opportunities’

This final quarter of the calendar year is prime talent attraction time. We are still in a candidate led market, but immigration is now flowing, Covid-19 fear is dissipating and you should capitalise on the pre-Xmas recruitment season. Be proactive and take your opportunity to set your team up for growth and success in 2023.   

Should you require further information and assistance with your attraction and recruitment strategies, feel free to contact Ben:  bwatts@wattsnext.com.au | 1300 092 887 | www.wattsnextgroup.com