Reach stack drivers, storemen/women and forklift drivers are just three of the roles employers are looking to fill as candidate movement and the preference for people with solid experience in previous roles impacts hiring decisions, says recruiting experts Hays Logistics.
According to the recruiter’s latest Hays Quarterly Hotspots list of skills in demand, staff movement is creating vacancies as people decide to change employers.
“The movement of candidates onto the jobs market to explore their options and change employers is fuelling an active jobs market,” says Tim James, senior regional director of Hays Logistics.
“The majority of vacancy activity is the result of replacing departing staff rather than the creation of new roles. Employers will act fast if an employee leaves a business critical role.
“This movement of candidates between jobs is a trend not reflected in the unemployment rate, but it is a good sign of candidates’ confidence that they can improve their prospects by looking for a new job.
“As a result overall vacancy activity is expected to increase this quarter. Many employers also tell us they are keen to secure candidates who can start early in the new calendar year.
“But employers prefer candidates with a solid history of tenure with their previous employers. Candidates who have changed employers often aren’t viewed as favourably as those who have been loyal for several years.
“We’ve also seen the recruitment process lengthen as employers become more thorough when assessing candidates. They often want to make sure their candidate of choice has a broad skill set so that they gain the most value from new hires.”
According to Hays Logistics, another trend impacting the recruitment sector t is companies recruiting on a temporary-to-permanent basis in order to trial a candidate in the role.
“Many employers prefer temporary assignments to not just cover workload peaks, but to trial a candidate to ensure they are a good fit, both in terms of skills and with the business’ culture, before offering them a permanent job,” James said.
“Fixed-term contracts meanwhile are also popular as they help control costs. Those candidates prepared to commit to contracts running through until Easter are highly desirable.”
According to the Hays Quarterly Hotspots list, demand exists for the following skilled professionals in Australia’s logistics market:
- Reach Stack Drivers – There are not a lot of people who hold the required licenses, so supply is failing to meet demand.
- Storemen/women – Candidates with mining experience are sought for stores roles in remote locations. Hays also noted the need for candidates with prior Government stores experience given the specific and specialised stock and systems in this sector.
- Forklift Drivers – Reliable candidates are sought at entry level because employers consider them good value.
- Supply Chain Coordinators – The need for temporary supply chain coordinators to manage logistic vendors such as freight forwarders, 3PL's and domestic transport is continuing. In addition, summer is a peak time for manufacturing. From September through to January an ongoing need for supply chain professionals to help with the ordering, planning and movement of stock will be required.
- Inventory professionals – There is also demand for inventory professionals, especially inventory managers. There is also seeing a shortage of quality distribution centre (DC) managers and warehouse managers for the storage of stock.