Industry Spotlights

Human resources and recruitment professionals play a crucial role in building successful business strategies. Not only do they find and recruit talent, they play a key role in building the kind of culture that attracts and retains the very best. So, what are candidates in this industry looking for when it comes to making their next career move?

Salary and compensation stands out as the number one driver of attraction for candidates in human resources and recruitment (16.0%). While they are less likely to seek compensation for things such as overtime or time in lieu, base salary is an important priority.

“Culture is an important driver for HR professionals. The company culture doesn’t necessarily need to be ideal on arrival, but an appetite for change and senior leadership endorsement for change is considered critical.” – Mary Darke, Associate Director - HR, Support, Sales & Marketing, Robert Walters

Work-life balance is ranked the number two driver of attraction (12.8%) and the ability to work from home is seen as a key draw card.

Workplace culture comes in at number three for candidates when it comes to making employment choices (11.4%). This factor has moved up two spots from fifth place in 2012 and is a higher priority for HR and recruitment candidates than for those in any other industry, with the exception of marketing and communications. By comparison, the total sample group ranked culture as the number eight driver of attraction.

The value placed on culture may be caused by a number of factors. As candidates in the HR industry play a key role in driving workplace culture, they know first-hand how important it can be to overall job satisfaction and business success. Culture also helps to support successful talent attraction strategies and determine engagement and retention programs. Candidates in this industry recognise that people are a fundamental asset to any organisation.

While workplace culture is vital to candidates in this industry, they view job security as less important than the total sample group when it comes to considering a new role. This may be because they feel a greater sense of security by being at the front-line of information when it comes to business operations. They may also feel more confident about finding new roles as they have an intimate knowledge of the processes required to secure and retain a job.

HR and recruitment professionals play a vital role in driving workforce capability. While money is the greatest attraction, work-life balance is also highly valued and a strong culture of collaboration, transparency, empowerment and high performance is now even more enticing.

About this research: The data points referred to on this page are drawn from the SEEK Laws of Attraction survey. For more information about the SEEK Laws of Attraction survey and the terms and conditions governing the use of this data, click here.