Step into 2021

We hope that you enjoyed a period of rest and relaxation over the summer period and, despite some stop/starts — particularly in Victoria — are ready to step into the new year. 

2020 was undoubtably a challenging year for most. It was a year of words that included unprecedented, ZOOM, covid, remote, quarantine, lockdown, home-schooling, — and who could forget "Karen"? 

2020 also gave us the platform to put HR centre-stage as businesses navigated the pandemic. Through partnering with and leading businesses through the crisis, facilitating remote and different ways of working, focusing on employee experience and wellbeing, and an uplift in leadership capability, HR professionals found themselves in the thick of it all. Despite working incredibly long hours, HR leaders have told us that they enjoyed the pace, the type of work, and genuinely having the ear of their CEOs and Executive Teams. 

So, what does 2021 look like so far? Victoria has experienced a slower ramp up to the new year compared to other states. We are referring to this as the "2020 hangover," but we continue to be optimistic about what lies ahead. Businesses are proactively planning for their futures, and confidence (and action) is returning to the HR market. From the many conversations that we have with business leaders every day, their feedback is that strategic plans and projects that were revised or put on hold last year are very much back on the radar. This has resulted in some great opportunities at all levels of the HR market. 

Similarly to 2020, the majority of opportunities to-date have continued to be at the early and mid-career level of the market. However, we have seen an increase in both permanent and contract/interim management senior opportunities throughout the last three months. Hopefully this is a positive sign, and this trend will continue. Despite the reports from some media channels highlighting the industries that have thrived or remained relatively unscathed by the pandemic, we've seen HR activity across all industry sectors. This is no doubt attributed to HR playing a critical role when businesses face any level of change. 

Although business confidence has certainly returned and job activity continues to be on the rise, there still seems to be a level of caution from candidates. We often hear questions like, “Is this the right time to move?”, “Am I jumping from the frying pan to the fire?”, and “Is it a case of better the devil you know?". However, as the market stabilises and continues to open up, there are many great opportunities for HR professionals with organisations having a true appetite for value-add HR. 

The key areas of demand continue to be: 

• ER/IR (at all levels of the market); 
• Organisational Design | Organisational Development | Change Management; and 
• Strong commercial Business Partners and Managers. 

From a Next Group perspective, we are pleased to welcome Joshua Meadows to our Melbourne team, and Jackson McDonald to our Sydney team, and welcome back Jane Ryan to our Queensland team. We are also excited to be launching the 2021 Adaptive HR programmes in partnership with Marianne Roux as well as four modules through AmplifyHR. These AmplifyHR modules include: Strategic Business Partnering, Lead Change Management, Business and Commercial Acumen, and the much asked about Insights Through Business Analytics. Further information about these programs can be found here. 

Whether you are seeking The Next Step in your career or are looking to resource new talent to join your team — either on a permanent basis, when you need additional resources to help you through a busy period, or are looking to plug capability gaps in your team — The Next Step is here to assist you. 

For further information, please visit our website at www.thenextstep.com.au, or contact one of our team. Here’s to a fabulous 2021!