One of Australia’s leading recruiters has revealed digital marketing managers, graphic designers and marketing generalists are the most in demand roles currently sought by employers.

According to Hays’ 'Quarterly Hotspots', staff movement is creating vacancy activity as people decide to change employers.

Hays said that marketers are being sought by employers as candidate movement and the preference for people with solid tenure in previous roles impacts hiring decisions.

“The movement of candidates onto the jobs market to explore their options and change employers is fuelling an active jobs market,” said Peter Noblet, senior regional director of Hays sales & marketing.

“The majority of vacancy activity is the result of replacing departing staff rather than the creation of new roles. Employers will act fast if an employee leaves a business critical role.”

Noblet said the movement of candidates between jobs is a trend not reflected in the unemployment rate, but it is a good sign of candidates’ confidence that they can improve their prospects by looking for a new job.

“As a result overall vacancy activity is expected to increase this quarter. Many employers also tell us they are keen to secure candidates who can start early in the new calendar year,” he said. 

“But employers prefer candidates with a solid history of tenure with their previous employers. Candidates who have changed employers often aren’t viewed as favourably as those who have been loyal for several years.

“We’ve also seen the recruitment process lengthen as employers become more thorough when assessing candidates. They often want to make sure their candidate of choice has a broad skill set so that they gain the most value from new hires,” added Noblet.

According to Hays, another trend impacting today’s recruitment market is the preference for companies to recruit on a temporary-to-permanent basis in order to trial a candidate in the role. 

“Many employers prefer temporary assignments to not just cover workload peaks, but to trial a candidate to ensure they are a good fit, both in terms of skills and with the business’ culture, before offering them a permanent job,” said Noblet.