“In society there is an expectation that businesses will create fair and equal and meaningful careers for everyone – but now it’s up to businesses and their shareholders to hold these businesses to account,” she said.
“If you’re a large listed company, and you’re letting thousands of people go without transitioning them into other jobs … that’s a failure of leadership.
Siobhan Savage of Reejig has raised $6 million to expand in the US. Credit:Rhett Wyman
“We’re really calling on shareholders and boards and CEOs and CFOs to think about their wasted potential on how they run their businesses. Because at the end of the day, these are human beings we’re dealing with – their livelihood.”
New technology has made it possible to prevent this from happening, she added. “Now there’s no excuse.”
For months, Australian employers have been grappling with what is widely referred to as ‘the great resignation‘. Australia has some of the highest rates of burnout in the world; Hays’ 2021 salary guide found nearly 40 per cent of Australian workers are looking for a new job this financial year.
Closed borders have tightened the talent pool, putting job candidates in the driver’s seat. Lockdowns have also prompted workers to think about the ‘why’ of their workplace. According to Ms Savage, this will play out as one of a number of key workforce shifts to emerge in 2022.
And as remote work firmly asserts itself as an enduring legacy of the pandemic lockdowns, the cool, trendy office digs that used to attract top talent no longer have the charm it once did.
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“No one cares about your ping pong table, no one cares about your beanbags,” she said. “They want to wake up, and they want to do something that is really driven from a purpose [where] they have a meaningful impact.”
Ms Savage says she’s already seeing employers shift the way they attract talent as a result. The way recruiters are approaching potential candidates is also becoming “hyper-personalised”, with their previous experience and potential career trajectories being taken into account.
“I want my career path to be told to me. I want to know what’s possible from my organisation, rather than having to go and find it online,” she said.
So while we haven’t abandoned resumes altogether yet, if you’re on the hunt for a new job, and you don’t have a section that details your skills, put one together. And if it’s at the bottom of your resume, it might be worth the effort of rearranging it.
“I would put the skills right at the front. It would be the first thing I would put on my CV.”
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