Excited to start your new job in the new year but not too sure how to prepare? Read more you can make an impact on your first day.

Due to the pandemic and lockdowns, virtual interviewing and remote working has become a part of the new job onboarding process. Read more to learn how to stand out and make an impact.

The pandemic has taken away many aspects of life we considered normal. However, it has also provided an opportunity for some to reinvent themselves, given inspiration to change careers or find a new job. Read more.

Learn more about the Great Resignation and its impact on talent shortages in Australia.

It used to be a major factor in almost every job seeker’s search process, and some employers showed ‘location bias’ when hiring new staff. I know we hear ‘post-covid reality’ far too often, however since the enforced migration of employees away from the office and the resulting uptake of new work arrangements, it has called into question if location really is that important anymore for these types of roles. Job seekers are now taking on new opportunities that offer more flexibility than ever. For example, some organisations have mandated a minimum or even a maximum of 2 days in the office. This scenario makes a huge difference. Previously a job seeker who would be unwilling to travel more than 30 minutes each way to their workplace 5 days a week, now only must consider the travel for 2 days. We are finding job seekers are now happy to look at commuting for over an hour because ‘if it is only for a few days, the right role is more important’. For employers, the ‘location bias’ seems to be diminishing, also. In fact, people2people has been briefed on several roles with large organisations with multiple sites, that are happy to consider job seekers from anywhere on the eastern seaboard. Even those organisations with one office, have accepted the reality of the trend of people moving further out of the cities, seeking more space and affordability. With increased flexibility, gone are the days when someone commuting for over an hour, made them a ‘flight risk’. From either a job seeker or employer’s perspective, location is slowly dropping down the list of factors in the hiring process.

Author of 'Get The Job You Really Want' shares her tips to get your life and career ambitions on track.

..as the old saying goes…but one that rings true with border restrictions and overseas dream holiday destinations on pause. I know I’ve been dreaming of jet setting across the world but due to the current lockdown in a few Australian states, that dream is a dream for now, but what other changes in our lives are as good as holiday? Why is now a good time to focus on making them? Well with so much spare time on our hands, now is a great time to start refreshing your CV, plan your next career move and start engaging with recruiters. Although some of us are in a lockdown and some job seekers might feel hesitant about making the move, this lockdown is different to 2020. Law firms are still hiring, recruitment processes continue and the demand for talent is at an all time high. Firms have already set up to work from home, they have processes in place and can onboard remotely! The only change with Covid-19 in 2021 is face to face interviews. The legal recruitment market has continued to hire as some expand their practice groups and most record their best financial performances year to date. A secure industry to join, whether in a lockdown or not! With so many similarities in our lives right now and being so bound to our homes, by having to work from home and staying home, looking for a new role might just be the change you are looking for, something new to sink your teeth into and refocus with a new motivation. Finding a job is a job within itself and can be challenging, with work commitments and timings, so take advantage of the current climate and start looking for that new role. Let’s face it, we all have more time available and virtual interviews are much easier and more discreet to organise. If you would like to have a chat about securing your next role, you can reach out to me directly on 02 8270 9746.

A couple of weeks ago I was allowed out of the office and attended a recruitment event in Sydney. The conference had several industry and related speakers and what amazed me was the consistent message that was coming through from all of them. The future of work is not about the skills you have now, it’s about your ability to learn new skills and pivot into new jobs The rapid change of technology, the adoption of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and outsourcing job functions mean that even those of us in cushy office jobs are not immune to the changing workforce. At the conference I attended, one of the speakers mentioned that by 2030, globally, the world will have lost something like 85,000 jobs BUT gained 97,000 brand new ones. This isn’t job numbers ie the number of people employed, this is job type. I can’t tell you what jobs will disappear or even what the new ones will be, but what I can tell you is how to prepare for this change. It’s all about adaptability. Traditionally (and let’s be honest, currently) recruiters and employers have focused on key skills and experience when considering someone for a job vacancy. For example, a hiring manager is looking to recruit a Payroll Manager with experience using the IT software SAP and who has managed teams of up to 20 people. So, when reviewing resumes, we focus on exactly that – have you used SAP and have you managed teams of people? Do we go outside these requirements? Of course, we do, we will consider other large ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, we will consider teams of different sizes. But it would be rare indeed for us to consider someone who has never used a large, complicated payroll system or someone with no management experience. But this is going to have to change. Because these new jobs of the future won't come with ‘must have xx years of experience’ requirements. After all, they are completely new jobs. So how will we recruit these roles? We will have to pivot to evaluate the job applicant's ability to adapt /to learn new skills. In fact, your ability to re-skill is going to be your greatest asset in the future. Chances are that employees will need to reskill multiple times over their working lives in the future. Now some of this reskilling might be ‘small,’ like learning new systems but some may be major – where you need to pivot from entering information in a system to analysing the data its producing. Get ahead of the game – when preparing your resume NOW, play to the current recruitment process (experience and skills) AND the future recruitment process – by spending time on your resume detailing where you learned new skills, adapted to change, pivoted to the changing needs of the business in which you were working. In the past, employers and recruiters would not consider job applicants who changed jobs a lot as being ‘choppy’ (this means they ‘chopped and changed’ their jobs a lot). This frequent change is no longer an automatic negative IF that change was adapting to changing business needs, or reskilling to work in different industries and roles. Don’t forget, change doesn’t need to be vertical either e.g., change shouldn’t always be you being promoted. The most valuable change can be horizontal change where you reskill / gain new skills in a new area of business. This ability to step outside of the job you are in now is your ticket to being at the front of the new jobs that are waiting to appear in our future!