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The global survey was carried out by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the Curtin School of Mines in Western Australia, Leeds Mining Department and Camborne School of Mines in the UK during late 2003. The survey revolved around what prospective employees looked for in a company.
AusIMM said management and opportunity were clearly the most important drivers with 71% of respondents indicating that the selection of a prospective employer would be influenced by the specific opportunity on offer. Quality of management was also seen to be important by 62% of respondents, followed by other management issues such as friendly atmosphere (56%); company ethics (53%); career development and training (55%), and autonomy and freedom (50%).
A large number of respondents (66%) also indicated that the geographic location of the operation would be a major factor when considering a particular employment opportunity. Exploring geographic location further, the survey revealed just over half of respondents (52%) said that they believed that they would need to move internationally in order to further their career. Sixty two percent of the respondents also believed that they would need to change employer in order to further their career ambitions.
Interestingly, remuneration was not a major factor in career choice. Specifically base remuneration was deemed important only by 35% of respondents, but 44% judged bonus schemes provided incentive to take a role.
Company benefits rated low, with only 26% of respondents rating this as a factor.
AusIMM said prospective employees were not particularly influenced in their career decisions by factors such as the profile of the leader, location of head office or the strength of company image or brand.
“The message is clear – those companies which work to promote their image or leadership, without putting in place the underlying quality of management, human resource development systems and ethical values, will struggle to attract and retain talented management within the organisation,” AusIMM said in a recent article.
