Increased demand and an adaptive workforce

By Stephen Veness, Davidson, Director, APSCo Australia

Unfortunately, I was one of the small number of APSCo Directors who was not able to attend the Conference in Sydney in May, however huge congratulations to the whole team for bringing together such a fantastic event.

The feedback from across industry seems to have been very positive and it is great to have the opportunity to bring people together to discuss challenges and opportunities in the sector, especially in person!

In small part, it was an exceptionally busy schedule in May which impacted my ability to travel.

At the moment, a busy diary is far from unique as we all experience the increased demand from our markets as unemployment numbers continue to go down.

The combination of economic stimulus into major infrastructure projects, increased market confidence, and the amazing way in which the workforce has adapted to remote working and the odd snap lock-down has pushed many markets into a situation where the talent needed is in significantly short demand.

This trend looks set to continue in most of the professional sectors, not aided by the lack of international migration.

As we exit a quite extraordinary financial year (if you report July-June), I think most recruitment leaders will be happy and possibly a little relieved when thinking back to July 2020 when the market looked quite different.

The 12 months ahead will be challenging on a whole range of fronts… not least in talent acquisition and retention.

As such, our industry looks set to play a vital role in supporting the economic growth and recovery.

In the major projects world that I spend a lot of time in, there are skillsets that are in such short supply that there is a genuine risk to the project outcomes.

Creative thinking, innovation around the development of transferable skills, and resource sharing are all areas in which our industry must be playing an increasing role.