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Australia – Aviation and consumer goods most desirable industries

23 April 2014

A survey from recruitment firm Randstad found that the most coveted jobs in Australia were in aviation, fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG), and professional services, such as accounting, reports The Herald Sun.

The Employer Branding survey asked nearly 10,000 Australian workers between the ages of 18 and 65 about their career aspirations.

Steve Shepard, Group Director of Randstad commented: “Aviation does cover traditional airline roles but it also covers heavy manufacturing, things like airbus… not just simply what you see and fly.”

Professional service firms also ranked highly, however Mr Shepard said men and women have vastly different priorities when it comes to work. The most attractive sectors for women were aviation, FMCG and professional services. While men most wanted to work in mining and natural resources, and FMCG.

The survey also showed women looked for honest, reliable and well-respected places to work which offered a good working atmosphere, balance, accessibility and flexibility. Whereas men sought exciting and high-status jobs that would provide financial health and career opportunities.

“You saw it a few years ago when the mining boom was at its high. You saw a lot [of companies] changing their approach trying to attract females. Typically organisations that promote those benefits or [they are] more obvious to the jobseeker tend to score better with females,” Mr Shepard added.

The survey also showed the perceptions of different industries.

Mining and natural resources ranked highly for competitive salaries and benefits, strong management, career progression and training. While aviation was renowned for having a good atmosphere and interesting work.

FMCG was also thought to have a good atmosphere, long-term job security and career progression opportunities as well as good work life balance. Banking and financial services also rated highly for being ‘financially healthy’.

Media jobs rated highly for interesting content, while state and federal government work was perceived top for job security, work/life balance and being concerned with the environment and society.

Mr Shepard said while employee demands change depending on the economic climate, the recent trend has been towards jobs in industries and companies that are perceived to have honesty, integrity and reliability, which is a new challenge for employers.

“It’s one thing to put nice pictures on your job ads and talk about those things. The reality doesn’t always match up to that. The challenge is now that social media allows you to check those things out. There’s very little room for employers to hide if they don’t live up to reality now,” he concluded.