Inside look at the policy sector in Wellington, NZ

Having recruited in the policy sector for over 20 years, the current recruitment market is the tightest I have seen. With high demand, multiple major reforms and closed borders, the policy job seeker supply is very short. Even for contractor roles, there are difficulties in finding available appropriate talent for the multiple vacancies we have listed.

You have probably heard this repeated a lot in 2021 and early 2022.

Alongside the short supply of talent, hiring managers are looking to retain or employ key talent. This has resulted in a fierce competitive environment, with job seekers often having multiple offers of employment. We have seen a sharp rise in counter offers from current employers, fighting to retain key staff. It’s also interesting to see employees being offered more senior positions, if the hiring managers discover this top talent is job hunting. 

My suggestion is to; ‘Search carefully and hire fast’ for permanent positions. As a hiring manager, be methodical and organised with your recruitment search. Once you identify suitable talent, you need to move quickly. However, due diligence is still key, because as we all know, an incorrect hire is one of the most challenging staff management issues to work through.

For contracting, speed is the key requirement but this does not mean being sloppy, due diligence again is key. 

Staff retention should still be the key part of your management strategy. A solid defensive plan of looking after your team is vital. This is not rocket science, so look after your work family. There is plenty of information about work culture, well being and employee satisfaction which an be sourced from either your own inhouse HR professionals or online.

Treat your staff the way you want to be treated. But like a parent understands there comes a time when the children need to leave home, assist them, they may want to boomerang back!

The other component to effectively managing teams, is to train the next cohort, so they can take over. As an organisation, we are implementing this strategy across our branch network in both Australia and New Zealand, with our quality training programme.