Candidate Attraction to the Industry

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Candidate Attraction to the Industry

Mission Critical • January 31, 2023

It comes as no surprise that almost 45% of those in the Asia Pacific data centre construction industry say the biggest impact on the sector in the next three years is the specialist skills shortage. Our recent Data Centre recruitment survey reveals that the most in-demand Data Centre jobs include Building Services and Commissioning Engineers, Facilities and Operations Managers, and Mechanical Consulting Engineers.

In this climate, attracting the right candidates is paramount to business success. To do this you need a well-considered and highly tailored talent acquisition strategy. It’s especially vital in a highly competitive and niche industry like data centre construction.

What follows is an outline of key candidate attraction strategies to help you address the current shortage.

Take Advantage of E-Recruitment Techniques

More often than not, candidates drop out of the recruitment process because it’s either excessively lengthy or they don’t receive timely communication, feedback or sometimes any response at all. This is certainly not something you can afford in a tight-talent market.

You will be richly rewarded by focusing on your candidate recruitment experience. While it ensures candidates remain in the pipeline, it also has the power to give your employer brand a boost. As the data construction industry here in Australia is relatively small, it is common for applicants talk about their recruitment experiences, both good and bad.

Consider using a variety of e-recruitment techniques to enhance your recruitment process. One example is AI chatbots that can engage with jobseekers 24/7 to answer questions about the position, schedule interviews and even keep them updated about their progress through the hiring cycle.

Feature Your Employer Brand

Studies and statistics abound about how a positive employer brand can help you secure talent. Whether it’s at the start of the process by encouraging them to apply and remain in the recruitment pool, during the offer phase by getting them to say ‘yes’, or most importantly, ensuring they stay once hired, you need your brand to be showcased.

According to Uptime’s 2022 Data Centre Industry survey, 42% of managers say their employees have been hired away by competitors, a figure that’s more than doubled since 2018. Invest some time auditing and refining your employer brand, particularly how accurately it highlights your company’s values, mission and culture. This will ensure people know what makes you different to your competitors.

One of the most powerful ways to illustrate your employer brand is utilise your existing employee talent. Showcase their stories and experiences across multiple channels and home in on showing what it’s really like to work with you. They can then learn what success means, how people can progress, what professional development opportunities you offer and so on.

Aim to be front and centre at industry events. Think about sponsoring an event or coming up with a novel way to celebrate International Data Centre Day.

Tailor Your Campaign to What Current Talent Really Want

Having a clear understanding of the current talent market, especially in relation to their needs and desires can help you to tailor your candidate attraction strategy accordingly.

While individual employees will want different things in a role, there are some commonalities across the board. Feel free to contact our Data Centre recruitment specialist for specifics about our industry.

According to LinkedIn’s Talent Market Australia Report 2021, the fastest-growing talent priorities are:

Access to ongoing training (up by 16.7%)
Working with inspirational talent (up by 12.8%)
Excellent pay and benefits (up by 11.4%)
Inclusive workplaces (up by 9.4%)

Overall, the top five priorities spots are:

Good work-life balance
Excellent compensation and benefits
Colleagues and culture
Open and effective management
Job security

Take a moment to evaluate your offerings in this area. You may even like to ask your current staff - anonymously or otherwise - how they feel you’re faring, as well as what’s important to them. If you can address these desires, you may just see a bonus of an increase in employee retention too.

Expand Your Talent Pool

When recruiting talent, times are tight, widening your candidate search is a savvy move. Here are a few suggestions:

Review your minimum hiring requirements

Are your hiring conditions too narrow? Perhaps you can think about hiring for potential over experience, offering an internship/traineeship, or on-the-job training to help those without the right experience or qualifications get up to speed. It’s also important to look for those that have that all-important skill of critical thinking.

Focus on transferable skills

There are plenty of specialties that have a natural alignment to data centre construction work. Consider applicants in related industries such as life sciences, quality assurance, business management, manufacturing and other construction sectors.

Look to the educators

It’s an unfortunate fact that the data centre industry is largely overlooked as an option at tertiary level. Forming partnerships with educators is a smart way to attract upcoming talent. You could do guest lectures about the industry, attend career days, and/or sponsor university events.

Up your inclusivity

Recent Uptime Institute statistics show a lack of data centre gender diversity. Around 20% of data centres don’t have any female employees. Only 4% of those surveyed say approximately half their data centre staff are women. What can you do to tweak your employer brand and benefit offerings to attract more women?

Summary

If you’re scratching your head on this point, you may like to touch base with one of our Data Centre recruitment experts for advice.

We’d be happy to offer support in this area, or in any of the other candidate strategies we’ve mentioned, be it utilising e-recruitment techniques, tweaking your employer brand, understanding what data centre candidates really want, or widening your talent pool.

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Construction Salaries: Are You Paying Enough?

By Mission Critical • August 29, 2023

Are you paying your team enough? Money talks regardless of market conditions, and with the cost of living increasing, you can bet that salary is now the primary consideration for candidates and employees. As data centre recruitment in Australia is a niche and highly competitive market at the best of times, this is a question every employer must pay attention to. Several factors are placing upward pressure on construction salaries: the economic environment, record employment growth in the sector, and a strong pipeline for data centre projects that require specialist skill sets. Approximately 183,000 square kilometres of data centre construction is currently underway in Australia, according to CBRE data , with future growth linked to the rise of AI applications and gaming clouds. General inflation is also starting to bite. In 2023, the Avdiev Report forecasts salary increases between 1-5% slated for 70% of roles in the property sectors (including construction and project management), with pay rises of 6% and above for 30% of jobs. We’ll highlight the significant signs you’re not paying your team enough and what steps to take to avoid underpaying your employees. The Company Is Frequently Out Bid on Job Offers Does your organisation often find itself about to bring a candidate over the line with a shiny new job offer, only to find out at the eleventh hour that the candidate has chosen another role? Whether or not the candidate cites salary as the reason for turning down the offer, chances are that salary was the deciding factor. This proper preparation can help you avoid stumbling into this trap. Before recruitment starts, run a benchmarking exercise to compare the company’s salaries to the market average (or median), and what competitors are likely paying. If you need to argue for increasing salary budgets for critical roles, being armed with this data will help you make it. To access more in-depth salary trends that aren’t online, engaging an agency specialising in data centre recruitment in Australia will help. Recruiters are regularly privy to a range of relevant job descriptions, along with job offers and counteroffers, all of which are rich sources of market intelligence. Low Interest In Advertised Positions One of the common signs that you’re not paying your team enough appears at the front end of the recruitment process. While not all talent attraction challenges are linked to salary, pay does become critical wherever demand for specific skills or positions is high, and supply is limited. If your company would like more applicants for roles but isn’t finding them, consider whether your job ads have enough detail. Including the salary range in job ads can encourage more qualified people to apply while acting as an effective screening tool. Emphasising other perks, such as bonuses and non-salary benefits, is also essential for attracting good talent. Overall, it’s sensible to highlight the company’s generous remuneration and other great reasons to work there. Candidates will always compare positions based on competitive compensation and opportunities for growth. Staff Retention Is Poor Has the front door started to swing so much that it’s revolving? Poor retention can have more than one cause, but any uptick in resignations is a warning light that usually calls for evaluating current salaries. If employees are exiting the business within months of starting a new role or are being headhunted, these could be signs you’re not paying your team enough. Have your employees' roles and responsibilities evolved since their initial hiring? If their duties have expanded significantly without a corresponding salary increase, they are likelier to embrace a new role and score an instant pay rise. Word Is Getting Around If gossip about the company’s apparent stinginess is reaching the ears of management, that’s a vital clue that remuneration may be misaligned with the market. Rather than allowing negative talk to start driving away employees, getting in front of these concerns as quickly as possible is better. Listening to employee concerns and taking notes is a wise place to start addressing this issue. Employee satisfaction surveys and one-on-one conversations will help you gauge sentiment about salaries. These conversations can support pay reviews and help you take necessary steps to avoid losing valuable employees. Summary So, are you paying your team enough? While the answer can make managers uncomfortable, it’s always worth asking! Regularly reviewing pay and understanding trends influencing construction salaries will help you build loyal teams and spend less time on recruitment. For expert help with finding the right talent, salary advice and retention strategies, you may contact the friendly team at Mission Critical. As leading specialists in data centre recruitment in Australia, we can help you solve your talent problems and devise a pay strategy that ticks all the boxes. Check out our latest report here for in-depth salary trends relevant to data centre hiring.