2025 HR Recruitment Predictions by Peoplecorp

2025 predictions for the HR market in Australia
 
The Peoplecorp team have landed on the following predictions about the HR market for 2025. Do you agree? Please let us know what you think.
 
Cautious recovery in Talent Acquisition roles
We think this market will develop progressively throughout the year, likely increasing once the election has passed.
 
Evolving hybrid working models
You’d think this one would have been put to bed by now, but still organisations are grappling with the right balance. Increasingly employees are being asked to return to the office 4 or 5 days a week. Regardless of this trend, it is still a turn-off for candidates when hiring new talent if there is no flexibility offered around working from home.  
 
 A continued demand for strong ER and IR professionals
This is of particular note in the first half of the year with an election looming, but also with the
continued rigour applied in organisations around governance and compliance.
 
 An increase in Organisational Development roles
At the back-end of 2024 there was an increase in roles in the culture, and organisational development space more broadly, particularly with organisations who are trying to innovate around talent and succession management. We see this continuing for the next 12 months. 

Technical and specialty roles
We anticipate an increase in data led and Strategic Workforce Planning positions. It’s been labelled as a key strategic priority for companies for many years, but true Strategic Workforce Planning is still only being done by a few. With the increase in AI, we know that data and numerate-minded HR professionals will be held at a premium. Furthermore, we expect an increase in Chief of Staff roles for Chief People Officers. To help cope with the huge workloads, a lot of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ HR work will be carried out by a Chief of Staff to the CPO.

Change & Transformation growth
We expect an increase in acquisitions in the private equity and asset management sector, which will in turn create big turnaround opportunities for HR professionals. These roles will likely come up on an interim and permanent basis.