HSE Jobs - Surging Ahead in ‘24 | HOK Talent Solutions - Health & Safety Executive Recruitment

12 Aug HSE Jobs – Surging Ahead in ‘24

Posted at 12:06h in Career advice, News by Helen O'Keefe 0 Comments

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So far, 2024 has been full of surprises. At the end of 2023, predictions were that we would see a cooling job market and perhaps even a recession. But based on our data over the past six months, the market is hot, hot, hot for HSE!

Those following us on LinkedIn know we track and analyse the health and safety job market monthly. As part of this process, we collate data from Australia’s most popular job boards, SEEK and LinkedIn.

In this blog, we release our six-month data, which is cross-checked against reports from the ABS, SEEK, and other industry specialists.

2024 Kicks Off Strong

Based on our data, we see no signs of HSE slowing down! In fact, the HSE job market continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience compared to other professions.

Over the past six months (1 January 2024-30 June 2024), we referenced data from 4,399 health and safety roles advertised nationally (and we triple-cleansed this data—we only reference roles that typically belong to the health and safety job family, i.e., you won’t see any patient safety or clinical safety managers here as they don’t belong to the HSE structure).

For this six-month period, there were:

Grab your Surfboards!

During the first half of the year, the total roles per month created a wave pattern with more roles in January, falling until their lowest point in March, and roles increasing to their highest number in June – right before EOFY.

June was the biggest month, with 897 health and safety roles advertised (this breaks our previous record during January 2022 with 895 roles advertised)
May took second place with 816 roles
March and April had the lowest number of roles advertised, with 656 and 710

Overall, compared to the same period in 2023, in 2024

Who was Hiring?

The top three locations advertising the most jobs;

Let’s compare

Compared to 2023—and due to increased mining and construction roles—WA overtook VIC (with 18% of all jobs) for third place.

WA jobs increased by 30%
NT saw the largest gains, at 60%.
QLD continues in second place due to a large number of jobs advertised in the construction and resource sectors.

Compared to the same period last year;

QLD’s total jobs grew by 3%,
Compared to NSW, which only grew by 2%,
and VIC, which dropped by 1%.

QLD continues to exhibit a strong position with major infrastructure projects underway or in the pipeline. These include Queensland Health capital works, the Cross River Rail Project, the Olympic and Paralympic Games projects, water infrastructure, and renewable energy projects.

There’s also a large unmet demand for new housing, which is crucial to addressing current needs and keeping up with Queensland’s booming population (Master Builders Queensland).

WA & NT Grow By Leaps and Bounds

The biggest gains in HSE jobs advertised saw an increase in NT by 60%; construction was the leading sector advertising HSE jobs in the NT during this period. The sector has been bolstered by a steady pipeline of projects, the continuation of significant defence spending, and ongoing works as part of the Territory’s $4.4 billion infrastructure program.

And an increase in WA by 30%. In 2023, approximately 130,000 people were employed in the mining industry; this was the seventh consecutive calendar year of employee growth. The sector continues to expand, and the high-risk nature of the work will continue in its demand for HSE professionals.

Construction Dominates Jobs Advertised—But Falls Compared to 2023

The top 5 industries recruiting nationally over the six-month period were

Construction led the number of available roles per industry across all States except WA and ACT.

As already covered, mining was king in WA, whilst in the ACT, Government jobs led the way (no surprises there as it’s the largest employer).

The first half of 2024 saw double-digit drops across:

And a triple-digit rise across:

The oil and gas roles naturally appeared in QLD and WA.

The Level of Jobs Advertised

Our data demonstrates a steady flow of advisor and entry-level positions; the usual job titles that you’d expect to see advertised at this level are Advisor/Senior Advisor/Consultant/Business Partner/Coordinator/Administrator)

The executive market saw the largest increase by over 120% compared to other levels: we predicted that the market would move, and it has – there’s been a mix of resignations and retirements – not so many newly created positions at this job level)

The most in-demand HSE specialist jobs were for Systems professionals (12% increase compared to 2023); this demand is unsurprising given the amount of infrastructure and high-risk projects across every State and the elevation of reporting requirements across many key industries).

The Wrap-Up

Reviewing this strong performance in the first half of 2024, it’s with cautious optimism that we predict it’s difficult to see the HSE job market dramatically falling. Our unemployment rate in Australia remains relatively low at 4%, and our data for July demonstrates that July HSE jobs remain steady. However, reports are emerging that Australia’s recession risk has increased sharply as the economy cools and inflation is still not under control.

According to the SEEK Employment Report for June, total job ads have continued to fall this year compared to 2023, but HSE jobs continue to demonstrate resilience and growth compared to the total market.

So, overall it’s a great time to be a candidate in the HSE profession, but a not so good time to be a hiring manager!

Our best advice?

Job Seekers – be transparent. If you are interviewing for more than one role, then tell the recruiter or hiring manager. That way, they won’t be as surprised if you withdraw – or conversely, can potentially move the process more quickly for you.

Hiring Managers – remember to move processes quickly, expect that candidates will choose hybrid work options over 4-5 days at site and have a great LinkedIn and social media presence – be the person they want to work for.