Australia &

New Zealand

Staffing Trends 2016

Introduction
To build your client base, engage with
candidates, and recruit top talent, you need
to understand where the industry is going.
This annual report uncovers staffing trends
across Australia and New Zealand that will
power your business forward in 2016 and
beyond.
Interestingly, this years report shows the
common denominator between the rising
trends is relationships. Learn how this
theme ties into top priorities, upcoming
challenges and opportunities ahead.

Index

02

Introduction

16

Strategic sourcing: Quality & passive candidates

04

Key takeaways

21

Parting thoughts

07

Business development & brand: Hand-in-hand

24

Methodology

12

Data: The key to client partnerships

Key takeaways

Most important trends

Adding new clients and being a strategic business partner continue to be top priorities for recruitment firms. Were also
seeing a slight increased focus on improving sourcing techniques and recruiting passive talent. This requires recruitment
firms to spend more time building relationships with clients, candidates and even their colleagues.
Top priorities
58%

58%
47%

43%
27%

29%

29%

30%

75%
Growing our base
of new clients

Being a strategic
partner to my clients

2014

Improving sourcing
techniques

Recruiting
passive talent

2015

* Over the next 12 months, which of the following would you consider to be the most important priorities for your organisation?

Download the graph

Biggest challenges
The gap between hiring volume and budget is a continuous struggle. While volume slightly decreased from last year,
budget for recruiting tools and solutions has stayed stagnant. This imbalance prevents recruitment firms from becoming
more effective and efficient at meeting their client demands.
Placement volume vs. budget
100%
80%

82%

60%

61%

80%

75%

58%

56%
40%

40%

75%

46%

35%

45%

20%
0%

2011

2012

2013

Hiring volume increase

2014

2015

Hiring budget increase

* How do you expect the volume of candidates placed by your organisation to change in 2016 versus 2015?
* How has your organisations budget for recruiting / talent acquisition solutions changed from 2015 to 2014?

Send stats to your leadership team

Business development
& brand: Hand-in-hand

Competition between firms is heating up

Recruitment firms view each other as their biggest competitors. In-house recruiting teams also pose a threat to business.
To improve competitiveness and win more business, firms should consider working with marketing counterparts to help
differentiate themselves.
3%

Other firms as
big competitors

In-house recruiting
as75%
big competitors75%

25%

41%

14%

40%

17%

22%

Strongly Agree

Somewhat Disagree

Somewhat Agree

Strongly Disagree

13%

19%

6%

Neither Agree nor

Disagree
* Figures may not add to 100% due to rounding

* Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements as they relate to your firm?

Get the business development guide

A well-branded firm gets the most business

Firms realise that branding has a positive impact on their business. As a result, benchmarking your brand against
competitors has significantly grown over the past year. The net is that Australian and New Zealand recruitment firms
understand that building and measuring their brand will drive more business and gain edge over their competition. Their
brand will drive more business and gain an edge over their competition.
Firm branding priorities

77%

73% 71%

66%

69%

68%

69%

67%

68%

55%

75%
We understand our
brand relative to our
competitors

Brand has
significant impact to
grow our business

We understand our
brand strength
across different
talent populations
2014

We will increase our

marketing activities
to improve our
firm's brand

Brand is a top
priority for our firm

2015

* Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements as they relate to your firm.

Download the graph

Professional networks are key to growth

Staffing firms must use their connections to build relationships with clientele, so they are moving away from inbound
channels (like websites) to more outbound channels (like online professional networks). Job boards also continue to be an
effective tool to increase firm awareness.
Top tools to promote business
100%

62%
46%
44%

50%

75%
0%

2012

Online professional
networks (e.g. LinkedIn)

2013

2014
Traditional job boards

* Which channels or tools have you found most effective in promoting your business?

2015
Our firm's website

Download the graph

10

Kay Eriksson
Head of Operations
Talent International

Employers of choice understand how vital it is to have an authentic and clearly defined brand that
aligns closely with the organisations values and vision.
Development of a strong brand not only helps to attract and retain talented employees, it contributes
to instilling a strong and united corporate culture where employees are ultimately more engaged
with the business, delivering a better experience for clients and customers. Employees are your most
important brand ambassadors and should be actively encouraged to engage with and embody the
brand. Ultimately, strong brands are about clarity and leaders should inspire employees by delivering
a clearly articulated brand purpose and building genuine enthusiasm to deliver clients better service.
At Talent we clearly and consistently convey our brand identity, communicating a strong message
about who we are, and what makes us unique. Each one of our team is communicating the Talent
brand every day. Our brands fundamental reason for being is to Empower Opportunity. Talent
pioneers new ways to connect people and organisations, so together they can realise their full
potential and inspire change on both local and global stages.

11

Data: The key to

client partnerships

Time to refresh performance measurement

Firms want to be strategic partners to their clients, but their performance KPIs are slow to change. Number of placements
and client satisfaction continue to grow, while quality of placement is down. Based on this years survey, quality of hire is the
number one metric among talent acquisition leaders. Firms might want to rethink how they show value to clients.
Most valuable performance metric

43%

47%

35%
21%

75%

Number of placements

26%
16%

Client satisfaction
2014

14%

Quality of placement

of talent acquisition leaders

in Australia and New Zealand
agree that quality of hire is
the most valuable metric
(Australia/New Zealand
Recruiting Trends 2016)

2015

* What is the single most valuable metric that you use to track your recruiting team's performance today?

Download the graph

13

Firms lack confidence in measuring ROI

When it comes to measuring ROI on source of hire, firms across Australia and New Zealand arent feeling confident in their
methods. Its concerning to see that only 6% say their ROI tracking is best in class, and more than half of respondents fall
into the lower half of the spectrum. Firms who want to be a strategic partner to clients should modify their methodologies.

10%

37%

32%

How recruitment firms feel they track ROI on source of hire

14%

8%

2015
6%

23%

35%

30%

5%

75%
Best in class

Very well

Somewhat well

Not very well/Not at all

Dont know

*Figures may not add to 100% due to rounding.

* In general, how well does your organisation track return on investment (ROI) across all of your sources of hire?

Share these stats

14

Opportunities ahead to use data strategically

Unfortunately, most firms worldwide dont use data to understand recruiting effectiveness and opportunities, and firms in
Australia and New Zealand fall significantly below the global average. Data can help improve firm performance, and also
better serve clients. LinkedIn has very good recruiting data insight. Ask your account manager for more information.
Firms using data to understand recruiting effectiveness
100%

Global average
41%
29%

31%

33%

China

Australia/
NZ

France

46%

49%

43%

0%

High = We are best in class / Very Well

Low = Somewhat well / not too well / not at all

Canada

United
States

United
Kingdom

Leaders who think their companies use data strategically for talent acquisition "best in class" or "very well"

* In general, how well does your firm use data to understand recruiting effectiveness and opportunities?

Consider Talent Pool Reports

15

Strategic sourcing:
Quality & passive
Candidates

The debate between quantity and quality

Firms still struggle with where they should focus on sourcing placements. Internet job boards and ATS provide more
volume, but when it comes to quality, job boards and social professional networks seem to be almost interchangeable.
Traditional tools, like company CRM systems, are on the decline.
Top sources for quality placements

Top sources number of placements

100%

100%

68%
53%
46%
41%

50%

0%

2011

2012

2013

Internet job boards

Your ATS/internal networks

2014

2015

Company CRM system

Social professional networks

60%
56%

50%

34%
28%
0%

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Internet job boards

Your ATS/internal networks

Social professional networks

Company CRM system

* How significant were each of the following as a source of white collar professional candidates placed by your organisation in the past 12 months?
* Out of the quality hires your organisation placed in the past 12 months, which of the following were the most important sources?

About LinkedIn Recruiter

17

Improve quality of placement measurement

Most firms worldwide feel pretty confident in how they measure quality of placement, but firms across Australia and New
Zealand are less so. Consider partnering with clients to test a few methodologies, like retention or the placements
performance feedback.
How recruitment firms feel they measure placement quality
100%

71%

Global average
50%

55%

57%

57%

United
Kingdom

United
States

Australia/
NZ

60%

60%

48%

0%

High = We are best in class / Very Well

China

Canada

France

Low = Somewhat well / not too well / not at all

Leaders who think their companies measure quality of hire "best in class" or "very well"
* In general, how well does your firm measure quality of placements with your clients?

Present this to your team

18

Firms heavily recruit passive candidates

Passive candidate recruiting is still a central part to firms recruiting strategies, however, its slowly on the decline. Since
recruiting passive candidates is among one of the top priorities for the year ahead, we expect this decline to level out in
the future.
Passive candidate recruiting
100%

82%
50%

75%

17%
0%

2011

2012

2013

Very Much So - To Some Extent

2014

69%
Of recruitment firm leaders
agree that passive candidates
are an important differentiator
for their business

2015

Not at all - Not Much

* To what extent does your recruiting organisation focus on reaching out to passive talent?

Download the graph

19

Joanna Cockle
Marketing & Communications Manager
Xpand Group

At Xpand, we focus our time on building pools of talent and developing

relationships with passive candidates. To us, it is more about matching the candidate
to their ideal working environment, role and culture, as opposed to filling a
requirement from a client. This is especially important in talent short markets within
Digital, Media, Advertising and Technology specialisms which is our core
specialisation.

20

Parting Thoughts

Recruiting trends that are here to stay.

Looking ahead, recruitment firms consider sourcing passive talent, social professional networks, and lead management
for talent are the most essential, long-lasting trends. Whats interesting is that all of these trends emphasise the
importance of building strong relationships. The relationships firms have with both, candidates and clients power
recruiting success.

58%

53%

42%

Finding better
better ways
ways to
to
Finding
source
passive
candidates
source
candidates

Utilising social
social and
and
Utilizing
professional
networks
professional networks

Building communities
Building
communities or
ora
pipeline
of
talent
a pipeline of talent

75%

* What do you consider to be the three most essential and long-lasting trends in recruiting for professional roles?

Get the graphs

22

Put these insights into action

Now that you have the data, use it to plan for the future. Set yourself up for success by incorporating these trends and
insights into your strategies. Start planning for next year, get buy-in from leadership and your team, and show off your
strengths by using the data today:

Share the data. Present this report, or download all the graphs here
to share these insights with your boss, CFO, team and direct reports.

Download the global report. See whats trending at a global level.

Visit our website to download the global reports.

75%

Continue learning. Download the Business Development Playbook or

scroll through searching and pipelining tips.

23

Methodology

About this report

We surveyed 1,659 search and staffing and recruitment firm decision makers. These individuals focus exclusively on
sourcing, manage a recruitment team, or manage client relationships. These survey respondents are LinkedIn
members who opted to participate in research studies. They were selected based on information in their LinkedIn
profile and contacted via email.
We also compared historical Global Recruiting Trends research taken from 2011 2014, which had similar sampling
criteria and methodology.

2014

Survey fielded August September

1,994 global respondents

2012

Survey fielded May July

1,656 global respondents

2013

Survey fielded August September

1,537 global respondents

2011

Survey fielded April June

1,055 global respondents

Learn whats trending around the globe. Download the report

25

Canada: 180

Nordics: 62
UK: 196
Netherlands: 112
France: 145

US: 200

China: 100

India: 185

South East Asia: 180

Brazil: 132

Australia /
New Zealand: 167

26

About LinkedIn Talent Solutions

LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers a full range of recruiting solutions to help organisations of all
sizes find, engage, and attract the best talent.
Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the worlds professionals to make them more productive
and successful. With over 380 million members worldwide, including executives from every
Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network.

Subscribe to our Blog

See our videos on YouTube

talent.linkedin.com/blog

youtube.com/user/LITalentSolutions

Check out our SlideShare

Additional insights

slideshare.net/linkedin-talent-solutions

bit.ly/1JN96TY

Follow us on twitter

Connect with us on LinkedIn

@hireonlinkedin

www.linkedin.com/company/1337

27

Researchers

Afrodisia Cuevas

Sam Gager

Nathan Gordon

Kate Hastings

Erin Stites

Research Associate

Team Lead, Research

Research Associate

Global Insights Director

Research Consultant

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

Authors

Lydia Abbot

Stephanie Bevegni

Marketing Associate

Marketing Manager

LinkedIn

LinkedIn
28