Temp & Perm Office Recruitment – Market Commentary April 2016
Moving into the second quarter of 2016 has brought with it an escalation in temporary staffing requirements in both Melbourne and Sydney. Clients appear to be more tentative in offering a permanent role initially, taking a cautious approach to recruitment, although conversion from temp to perm is happening regularly. Clients appear to be less sure of their long term requirements and hence the predominance of temporary assignments across the office staffing sector.
Sydney’s requirements are more customer service oriented, whereas Melbourne is largely administration and accounts.
As we move closer to the end of the financial year, we predict that accounts receivable/payable and bookkeeping assignments will gain momentum. There also appears to be a wider range of software prerequisites, although MS Office and MYOB are still the major contenders.
Salary ranges have not altered noticeably for either permanent and temporary roles. Clients are continuing to offer more flexibility in working hours, creating opportunities for working parents to drop off and pick up their children from school. Work/life balance continues to be a priority with candidates and clients appear to be more than happy accommodate this.
An interesting ‘quirk’ is a rising number of companies allowing employees to bring their beloved pets onto the premises. So far from what we see, this appears to create a sense of ‘well being’ within the office environment.
With another election on the horizon, companies will no doubt continue to show caution with recruitment and we expect requirements for temporary staff to outweigh permanent recruitment for at least the next few months.