It’s the time of year again to pause, reflect, and predict. One year comes to an end, and another is about to begin, well actually we are already in March , how time flies…
Wow.
If you’ve felt that 2018 was like a rollercoaster, get ready to do it all again.
Looking ahead, we think we have much to be optimistic about.
Jobs still in demand
From what we see, experienced digital and tech candidates in revenue focused roles are still in hot demand. Anyone working in digital sales, as account managers, digital performance managers as well as business development managers, have nothing to fear. These positions, along with campaign analytics and technology positions are definitely still in a growth area.
Across the board we continue to see a high demand for these skills in brand side roles, agencies and enterprise to start-up companies.
But what does this mean?
It means challenge and competition. An increase in demand is driving up the salaries and good digital people are moving through the interview process to offer very quickly. Gone are the times where prospective employees had to wait months to hear back. Now the process is generally from 7 to 14 days, which means you as an employer will need to be as fast, if not faster, if you want to hire your perfect digital candidate.
But, not only has the time frame shortened considerably, most candidates have more than one offer to consider.
At Big Wave Digital we can’t see this slowing down in 2019, at least not in the first six months of the year.
Overall, salary ranges have gone up, albeit slightly. Most candidates expect at least a 10% to 15% increase in salary to move into different roles. There are people out there getting even more. But be careful to get into a bidding war for top talent, as it’s more than likely if the candidate is motivated just by the $ then they’ll ‘get a better offer’ soon after anyway and leave !
A demand for top skills and vast experience means an increase in counter offers. Companies are keen to retain their top people, understanding how valuable a good employee is for business, which means employees and or candidates are able to negotiate a deal to suit them. It also means candidate’s expectations about offers to work for a company have increased.
What can you do to secure top digital talent in 2019 ?
Companies and business will need to put on their thinking cap to come up with other ways to attract candidates to their place of work. Gone are the days where simply offering more money would secure the person you wanted for the job.
Creativity is essential.
What, apart from money, will attract an employee to your place of work?
Flexibility.
Do you want us to say it again? Flexibility is the number one consideration for most people. This flexibility ranges from being able to work reduced hours, to working from home, or taking time off in lieu. These things are a massive consideration for people when deciding who to work for.
From what we’ve seen, the ‘9 day fortnight’, has gained a lot of momentum this year. We’ve also seen a lot of tech start-ups approving this in order to secure top talent.
If this sort of flexibility isn’t your thing, or doesn’t suit your business, you may want to think about training budgets. A training budget allocated to each employee is another workable option.
Alternatively, providing access to online, eLearning tools for specific roles in your business has benefits too.
Things like on-site parking for client facing sales people is a huge plus.
Think about recognition in different ways. Traditional bonuses are still appreciated by employees, but so are other incentives and rewards you can offer to the usual commission option. A trip away, a dinner for two, or any other number of options are available to an employer.
Remember, recognition is important. Everyone wants to feel important and valued.
Start-up businesses are trying a profit sharing scheme, with good success.
Then again, you may want to offer more than the traditional four week holiday period per years. It is up to you how creative you can be around this topic.
There is plenty of opportunity to give people an extra day off here and there. For example, a staff members birthday could be a day off, or you can create special days off staff can try to vie for; ie. for great/exceptional productivity a staff member gets their own public holiday once every three months or so.
Final words on 2019
Overall, exciting times are ahead, as always. It’s good that as an employee, the world is your oyster.
And it’s a great opportunity for companies to structure their workplace to not only suit their employers, but also themselves. Gone are the days where people spend most of their time at work. Throw out old work practices and be brave by trying new things.
Lets’ all embrace the wave of change and get on board to create a great 2019!
At Big Wave Digital , Sydney’s leading technical recruitment agency, we have deep digital connections, experience and proven expertise, and the ability to achieve a win for all parties in the technical recruiting process. We can connect to highly coveted tech talent with the world’s best employers. To discover more, just give us a call at (02) 9380 4431.
Keiran Hathorn is the CEO & Founder of Big Wave Digital. A Sydney based niche Digital, Data & Technology recruitment company. Keiran leads a high performance, experienced recruitment team, assisting companies of all sizes secure the best talent.
