PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE Enter the hypercompetitive talent war Mark Fisher, Eighty4 Recruitment
P
inch yourself, could you have
In my 16 years in recruitment both
imagined 12 months ago that
in New Zealand and working after
after an apocalyptic-type world
the GFC in the UK, I have never seen
be only the beginning of a fascinating boom. Here’s the thing – there are multiple
event such as Covid-19 ravaging the
such a buoyant and active jobs market
reasons this is happening and I’ll do
world, the economy would have re-
– we’re literally getting three to four
my best to highlight some of these
bounded this quickly? My analogy of
new clients calling our business every
risks as we enter an unknown world
recent months seems to be a common
day, asking for our help.
full of challenges and opportunity. First, supply and demand – border
one across many circles and industries
It’s compounded so badly however
– that it feels like a bowling ball went
by having shut borders, cheap money
closures are biting companies hard
off a cliff in April 2020 and by January
and locals spending up large, drasti-
with the lack of talent available,
2021 it had hit a trampoline and now
cally increasing the requirement for
without new fresh talent coming into
was skyrocketing ahead with compa-
productivity. Never have I seen such
the market from offshore (and we’re
nies experiencing record sales month
desperation to hire and the future is
certainly not seeing huge amounts of
after month in almost all sectors.
somewhat scary, as this could likely
Kiwis returning as expected), we’re
SURVEYING+SPATIAL
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