There is no doubt that COVID has completely transformed the landscape of recruitment in Australia. There have been significant and unexpected changes to the market this year, especially when it comes to negotiating salary with candidates whether they are actively on the market or passive and approached for particular vacancies.
There are a number of mitigating factors in the salary discussion in the current market, especially in skilled commercial sales roles.
- Limited or no Access to Overseas candidates and ex-pats due to border closures internationally.
- Candidate reluctance in considering new job opportunities.
- Larger number of job opportunities being presented to candidates.
The lack of available and willing talent on the market to explore new job prospects has significantly impacted their negotiating power in the market.
As a guideline candidates are considering salaries that are at least $10-20K above their current circumstance. Why? The simplest explanation is that they can easily obtain that.
If you are recruiting and trying (as every other company is right now) to attract the best talent and offering a salary mark that is the same or even below the candidate’s current salary package, prepare to be declined as it is becoming increasingly obvious to candidates what their bargaining power is in the market.
One of the big challenges right now is securing new and quality talent in the market whilst not causing your current staff members to become disgruntled or disillusioned.
We are seeing a number of companies become more creative in their approach to salary and benefits. A fresh and genuine approach to revisiting your employee benefits can not only allow you to attract new talent without necessarily breaking the salary bandwidths whilst also retaining your quality people. This is another element that is receiving more volume in the current market. It is clear the top performers in your business are being approached with more job opportunities than ever before.
The most effective companies we are seeing in attracting and retaining talent in the current market are the companies that have a fast and effective recruitment process and also are putting in place benefits for their new and current employees.
If you would like to discuss how you can more effectively source the best talent and then ensure they are long term within your team please feel free to get in touch with us at Salexo.
