Specialist legal recruiter Hays has predicted that  employers in the Australian legal industry will source more candidates from overseas in the coming 12 months. 

The need to embrace mobile technology, a focus on staff retention and the use of a contingent workforce are among the 2013 talent trends that will shape the recruitment landscape in Australia, according to Hays. 

Employers in 2013 are also expected to take a conservative approach to hiring following a year of redundancies and cost cutting.

Top 10 talent trends for 2013 according to Hays:

1. Social media: Is an increasingly useful means of identifying talent, connecting with it and promoting the values of a business. “Engaging with the array of social media sites that potential jobseekers use gives organisations a means to boost and enhance their reputation as an employer of choice,” said Darren Buchanan, regional director for Hays Legal. “However, employers need a clear strategy on how they address social media and present their brand. Just as it has the power to support and drive an employee value proposition, badly handled it can completely undermine those efforts.”

2. Wage pressure: The Hays Global Skills Index shows Australia has some upward wage pressures in both the overall economy and in high-skill industries. In demand candidates will be looking to be rewarded at a time when employers are trying to contain salary budgets and Hays expects this tension to continue in 2013. “We recommend using non-monetary rewards such as career development, flexible work options and extra training to make staff feel valued,” said Buchanan.

3. Skills shortage: High-skilled professionals in specific sectors remain in short supply going into 2013, such as healthcare professionals, particularly in the context of Australia’s aging population. Shortages of good quality candidates in accountancy in the professional practice space also remain, as well as in IT. 

4. Globalisation: Employers will need to capitalise on Australia’s strengths in a bid to attract quality international candidates. The Hays white paper, Tomorrow’s Workforce, shows the mobility of skilled professionals across borders will be the norm in tomorrow’s job market. Hays research also shows more than 70 percent of Australian candidates would work overseas creating a need for employers to become adept at global recruiting to fill the void.

5. Resources and mining: While many big operators have put new projects on hold until profit conditions improve they are expected to expand existing operations to extract greater value from these investments. There is still a need for mining engineers and surveyors, senior processing professionals and fixed-plant maintenance and planning candidates. Also in demand are operational and technical skill sets associated with the extractive industries and qualified staff in accountancy and finance and other professional services.

6. Staff retention: Staff turnover is estimated to cost employers up to A$1 million per annum but reducing churn by just five percent could result in a saving of A$280,000 a year for every 100 people employed. Employers are often blind to the cause of staff turnover and in 80 percent of cases an employee chooses to leave due to the job itself, pay and conditions and or work relationships – all issues employers can do something about.

7. Temporary workers redefined: Hays research in 2012 debunked the clichés about temporary workers. “Men comprised 43.4 percent of our survey group and 75.8 percent of respondents were aged 30 or over,” said Buchanan. More than 30 percent of Australian-based employers already regard temporary workers as a key component of their long-term staffing strategy. “54.1 percent of employers see temporary workers as an ideal way to bring a particular expertise on board and 31.2 percent view contingent staffing as a strategic solution for the long term,” says Buchanan. “We also expect employers will consider using temporary employees to get around hiring restrictions in the year to come.”

8. Smartphone/mobile technology: Research predicts that smartphones or mobile technology will overtake PCs as the most common way to access the web in 2013. Australians are already comfortable using smartphones to browse jobs, receive job alerts, view career information and update their social media profiles. Employers competing for talent, particularly the best young talent, need to keep smartphones and mobile technology in mind when developing recruitment campaigns and job ads.

9. Diversity: Gender and age diversity are both big issues in Australia. There are calls for quotas to be introduced in Australia to improve female participation at line management, senior executive and board level. Australia also has an aging workforce and there are plans to raise the official retirement age from 65 to 67 by 2023 with calls to further raise it to age 70. In the meantime, employers must find innovative ways to recruit and manage multiple generations. Hays research predicts employers in Australia will be managing up to five generations under one roof by 2030.

10. Talent management: The global economic downturn has created a dichotomy in many organisations – how do they cut costs while still addressing the skills shortage in different areas of the workforce? According to the latest Hays Journal, businesses need to recognise talent as an asset to be deployed within an organisation while HR needs to be more planned and strategic about how it goes about talent allocation.

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Hays reports growth in insolvency related recruitment 7 August 2012