Survey reveals “lack of challenge” now number one reason for looking for a new job.

MACRO Recruitment today announced the findings of their national survey of over 1,400 job seekers pursuing opportunities in either IT, Engineering, Trades & Services, Sales, Administration, Accounting, Science and Management. The goal of the survey was to gain an insight into what employers can do better to keep and attract employees.

The “war on talent” has been a leading topic of conversation and concern among HR Managers, Recruiters, business leaders and policy makers in recent years. With Australia’s unemployment rate at historical lows, many jobs key to the growth of businesses are remaining either vacant or filled with under-skilled staff and, unfortunately this significant shortage is expected to remain for the foreseeable future.

“The ultimate success of any business relies on its ability to attract and maintain motivated quality staff,” said Daryl Keeley, MACRO Recruitment’s Managing Director. “Understanding the reasons staff decide to change employment is vital for business survival. These reasons are strongly connected to the state of the economy and the employer’s businesses leadership group. Our goal in fielding the survey was to uncover ways that employers can attract the staff they need and retain the ones they already have.”

MACRO Job Seeker Survey Key Findings

Current Jobseeker Trends

Job seekers were asked their reason for leaving their current or previous employer and the survey found that their reasons had changed significantly since the last survey amidst the worst of the GFC.

• The most common reason given (17 percent) was that job seekers felt their job lacked the challenge they craved.The next most common reason was the perception of their company’s viability (14 percent), followed by life balance which included hours worked and job location (9 percent).  
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• Rated fourth on the list and equally important were Salary and “Enjoyment of job” (6 percent).  
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• Training came relatively low on the list at 3 percent.  

“This spells good news for an employer wanting to hire staff,” Keeley states. ”Instead of offering salary incentives and training, the majority of employers would most likely get better results by promoting their company viability and project challenge. Logic would indicate that job seekers attracted by these will also tend to be better producers and assets to the business”.

“Managers would do well to increase their communication of company wins as well as keep an eye on employee idleness. A rise in sick days and tardiness is a possible indicator of an unmotivated team.
The celebration of wins and the immediate engagement of a new challenging and visible project have long been promoted by successful business owners as key to maintaining momentum with motivated staff.” Keeley offered.

The survey was conducted online within Australia between October 2011 and January 2012 by MACRO Recruitment among 1,483 job seekers applying for work via MACRO Recruitment. Job seekers that were seeking their first employment were removed from the results. Data was weighted to be representative of the populations of interest. This online survey is not based on a probability sample, and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About MACRO Recruitment

Founded in 1991, MACRO Recruitment provides contact and permanent staff nationally to over 3,000 businesses. Known for their high success in their placements passing probation, MACRO also offers training to employers on hiring staff, software tools to screen staff and creating job advertisement campaigns for employers. MACRO offers expertise in hiring staff on a wide range of skills, including IT, Engineering, Trades, Aviation, Administration, Finance, Sales, Management, Real-state, Marketing, HR, and Aged Care.
http://www.macrorecruitment.com.au/

Author - Melanie Parry - MACRO Recruitment

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From these results we can see that although a significant large percentage of jobseekers are concerned about their company downsizing due to profitability, even more were lacking inspiring projects to be involved in.

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