After a
quick read of Immigration New Zealand’s latest
report, it doesn’t
take long to
work out that we’re facing a skill shortage crisis which is affecting nearly
every industry. However, this isn’t necessarily true when looking at senior
level roles in sales and marketing.
There is a
simultaneous shortage of mid-level candidates and senior level roles due to the
number of roles at each level in corporate structures. Mid-level employees
often relocate overseas to more established markets either to acquire the
wealth of experience they need to progress upwards or for the fun of the
‘overseas experience’. When they return home, they find that there are too many
candidates for the number of available jobs. So what can both employers and
employees do to overcome this issue?
Employer’s Solution
A key problem
is that mid-level employees usually have gaps in their experience, often in
leadership and strategy. Many employees tend to gravitate towards roles with
more exposure to people management rather than roles that involve decisions
that have a business-wide impact when it’s not always just about how many
people report to you, but what the role offers as a whole. While a role with a
big team might look like a big role, if it’s not giving you exposure to
strategic thinking, it might not be as big as you think.
Companies could
take more pre-emptive steps to offer their employees exposure to various areas of
management before they’re expected to formally acquire this experience. For
example, allowing a Manager to sit in on business meetings outside of their normal
level will allow them to get exposure to strategy that usually isn’t available
to them. We’ve seen great success in companies where they have handed over the
day to day operations to the next level of managers allowing the executive team
more time and space to think long term while their direct reports get real
business management experience in a relatively controlled environment.
Providing
the opportunity to shadow a Manager in a different discipline will provide them
with exposure to how an operation is run. This will allow mid-level employees to start to understand the
complete experience needed to transition to an executive role. The next step is
for employers to take the plunge and give candidates that hands-on experience
in a different discipline as we find when companies are looking for General
Managers many value experience in a different discipline.
Another
issue is that most companies turn to external candidates when recruiting for
senior positions, ahead of internal employees who may almost have the
experience needed for the transition. Ignoring loyal top performers like this
creates a risk that they may look elsewhere for their next career move. Someone
who has done absolutely everything needed to do the role probably wants to do
more otherwise why move? You may lose more productivity by discounting internal
candidates in favour of hiring marginally more experience and the time an
energy put into a recruitment process could be better spend developing and
promoting from within. Often we’re required to search for the senior
appointment and then find a replacement for their disgruntled direct report.
Employee’s Solution
A great
deal of responsibility will fall to the employee however, as the decisions they
make will define the experiences they acquire and ultimately how appealing they
are in the New Zealand job market.
The job
market here is still very small when compared to the rest of the world, and as
a result, over 1 million New Zealanders have
already moved overseas to forge careers in more established markets or to extend the
traditional ‘OE’. When they return home with a wealth of experience they are competing
for a smaller number of senior level roles.
Employees
need to consider what a ‘Head of’ role actually entails in relation to New
Zealand’s job market. Businesses here operate differently to other countries
and tend to be smaller, which causes managers to have more of a complex and
diverse role rather than narrower management roles we see overseas. This often
means that New Zealand candidates who return from overseas come home with a
skill set that doesn’t suit the job market, which is looking for candidates
with broader management experience
As
candidates progress up the hierarchy they’re struggling to decide between roles
that provide good involvement in business strategy or those with larger numbers
of staff reporting to them. Candidates perceive lack of leadership involvement
in these kinds of roles, often unaware that the high-level strategic experience is considerably harder to come by.
One thing
these candidates can do is to target smaller companies which are experiencing
growth. Larger, established corporations will rarely have the level of growth small
businesses experience after the first two years of operating. Joining a smaller
business will not only provide a greater chance of being exposed to business
critical decision making, but may also provide the opportunity to create a senior
role once a gap in infrastructure has appeared. However, taking structured
corporate experience to a looser entrepreneurial environment is not without its
own challenges.
Another
alternative is finding a New Zealand business that is looking past the next 12
months and is focusing on implementing major changes to their operation, as
this could provide exposure to strategic projects that can offer that
experience. If the role is in a different industry sector it will also help
broaden the candidate’s experience which also seems to be valued by employers
hiring for General Management roles.
Some
employees will prefer to hold out for the perfect chance to transition upward,
and contract as an independent worker or on a consultancy basis. This is a
fantastic way to stay current in the job market whilst waiting for a senior
role to appear. Self-employed contractors can work for a multitude of small
businesses on part time hours, which provides a broad range of experiences.
Conclusion
The
problems senior candidates face in our job market won’t be solved overnight,
but that doesn’t mean there is nothing that can be done about it. Getting exposure
to people management and strategy along with exposure to different disciplines
and industries is vital to being appealing to our job market. There’s also a
lot that employers can do to expose employees to the skills they’re missing and
allow them to transition to executive roles, eliminating the need for them to
look elsewhere. If you’re looking for more advice on the options you have
available when trying to cross that gap between mid-level and executive, then
feel free to contact us today.