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"Stock-standard" salary offers no longer cutting it

Too many employers still lack awareness around how hard it is to attract talent, and particularly that more creative offers are required in light of inflated salary expectations, Become's regional director says.

"Unfortunately, salary expectations are so inflated," Kelly Pike tells Shortlist, and this is especially so in the junior- to mid-tier market.

Entry-level workers once attracting $65k salaries are now demanding $100k, for example, and this is having the biggest impact on small-to-medium employers that just don't have the budgets to meet that, she says.

Employers of choice and cashed-up organisations are all doing "really cool stuff", she notes, with companies like Atlassian and Canva offering perks such as stock options, for example.

But smaller businesses "probably need to take a leaf out of the US and the UK's book and see what added benefits we can provide, whether that's healthcare, gym membership or meal tickets," Pike says...