Australian recruitment trends – 2022

2022 was a challenging year for hiring, ask any manager, business owner or recruiter. We tracked time to hire and salary movements and are pleased to present our insights for HR candidates in Australia for 2022.

Salary movement was a hot topic for all of 2022 and it will be interesting to see what effect market pressures will have. In 2022 the range of movement for permanent roles was -30% to +50% and for contracts, it was -11% to +38%. Where we saw the biggest increase was for people who had been in their current role for a couple of years and looking for their next career step up. By moving out and up they saw the biggest increase but actually, the end result was being paid what their skills were worth in the market. The biggest decreases were for people moving back to Australia from overseas, mostly Asia, the Middle East and the UK. We also saw a salary decrease for people who wanted to change their career path into a different specialism within HR; and some were downscaling their responsibilities in terms of team management to a more sole contributor focused role.

Whilst time to hire is impacted by factors both internal and external to the process, we keep a close eye on the averages to help with planning and keeping all parties engaged. In 2022 time to hire was largely impacted by the lack of talent available on the market at all levels within HR. Direct approaches and referrals were a large component of longlisting and we all know this is a longer process.

We also saw candidates having multiple offers so you get the end of the process only to have to take a few steps back.

For more details on recent recruitment trends in Australia or to discuss your company’s search and recruitment needs, please contact Angela Franks or a member of the Frazer Jones team.