NZ's most wanted: knowledge workers in growing demand

New Zealand’s most wanted: knowledge workers in growing demand

New Zealand’s most wanted: knowledge workers in growing demand

The demand for knowledge workers is increasing across New Zealand as employers recruit these highly-skilled professionals to add immediate value and adapt to the rapidly changing and digitising world of work.

Of the new jobs added to the latest Hays Quarterly Report of skills in demand (for October to December 2016), the recruiter says “almost all” require knowledge workers, particularly those who are technologically savvy.

"A growing number of knowledge-intensive jobs are now available, but there is often a shortage of suitably skilled, experienced and educated candidates for these roles,” says Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

"These include financial analyst, architecture, structural engineering, corporate commercial solicitor and digital project manager jobs, all of which require highly-skilled professionals who perform non-routine tasks. Layer this with the ever-increasing need for technology and digital skills across most job functions and the talent pool is tightening," he said.

Candidates with these skills are known as 'knowledge workers' because they require a large amount of knowledge to succeed in the role. They are highly skilled and experienced and use their extensive technical expertise to think of the right solution to the issue at hand.

This is supported by findings from the Hays Global Skills Index, which in New Zealand found that there is a widening talent mismatch between the skills candidates possess and those employers require.

According to the Hays Quarterly Report, the latest hiring hotspots for knowledge workers include:

• Financial Analysts and Business Analysts: There is a focus on providing useful information to managers so that sound decisions can be made.

• Qualified Chartered Accountants at the intermediate and senior levels within professional practice: Many candidates move abroad for their OE or into a commercial role upon achieving their qualifications, fuelling the skill shortage.

• BAS Managers and Audit Managers: Candidates with financial services experience are in particular demand.

• Registered Architects able to run projects and lead a team: Architecture practices are extremely busy with commercial and housing projects and therefore require candidates who can oversee projects from the architect’s perspective.
• Interior Designers: These candidates are needed for commercial interior projects, commercial offices and retail spaces.
• Project Managers (construction): Candidates in interiors and commercial fit-out are in particular demand.
• Qualified intermediate to senior Quantity Surveyors: Employers require candidates with commercial construction experience.
• Site Managers: Well presented candidates with large-scale commercial construction experience and good communication skills for client-facing roles are in short supply.
• Structural Engineers: In Christchurch candidates are needed for residential inspection work, building upgrades and new build design projects for commercial and industrial buildings. In Wellington the work is focused on new build design and the strengthening and upgrading of older buildings.
• Geotechnical Engineers: Needed in both Christchurch and Wellington to work on projects related to infrastructure and buildings. Employers look for senior CPEng level candidates.
• Licensed Cadastral Surveyors: One of the most sought after skills in the Auckland and upper north island region.
• Senior CPEng Design Engineers: Strong experience in commercial or residential projects is in demand but short supply.
• Marketing Managers: Those with knowledge of digital and marketing automation platforms are in demand as employers prioritise lead generation and return on marketing investment.
• Construction Solicitors: Demand is rising thanks to the booming construction market, especially in Auckland and Christchurch.
• Corporate Commercial Solicitors: In response to New Zealand’s economy demand exists across all areas of corporate and commercial work.
• DevOps Engineers: When the communication between infrastructure, development and testing is aligned, the time required to produce clean high quality code is reduced; demand has also increased as organisations move to cloud based servers.
• Digital Business Analysts and Project Managers: Rapid digital growth and an increased focus on customer service has led to demand for candidates to ensure that projects exceed expectations.
• Solution Architects and Enterprise Architects: Organisations require solutions that improve the business.
• Marketing Analysts: Needed as corporates optimise their direct marketing programs.
• Digital Project Managers: Required by digital agencies to work effectively with marketing, creative and development teams.

For more, please see the Hays Quarterly Report at www.hays.net.nz/report

Hays is the most followed recruitment agency on LinkedIn in the world. Join Hays’ growing network by following Hays Worldwide. You can also get expert advice, insights and the latest recruitment news by following Hays on Twitter @HaysNewZealand.

Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.

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