Among the factors of brand name, career advancement opportunities, company environment and location, which one do you think is the priority for job seekers when it comes to choose a career?
We have conducted a small survey among job seekers about the main factor of choosing a career recently, and found it’s quite a surprise that location is the main factor for them.
First, the pandemic changed the way companies hire talents. When people are working from home, companies experience a huge surge of remote talents. For example, interns work from their hometown in Sabah for an MNC in Kuala Lumpur. Awesome, right?
However, we know that it won’t last long. As the workforce is starting to return to the office again, office locations now become a huge concern for jobseekers again, particularly in the cities.
It’s easy to see why location matters to jobseekers – it boils down to time and money.
Everything is expensive these days. Take rent and transportation costs for example. Job seekers have the choice to either rent a place near the office or a public transportation hub, or spend hours commuting to one place and another using their private vehicles.
- City rents are sky-high, a large chunk of their salaries are going to housing.
- Public transportation costs are manageable but think about comfort and safety.
- Commuting via private vehicle is time-consuming due to the traffic jam.
The fact is, commuting tends to result in lower productivity, higher costs, longer workdays, and different lifestyle choices. Office locations have the power to influence jobseekers’ decisions to pursue a career, and even their directions in life.
House prices in the cities can even push away highly sought-after professionals despite great career prospects and salary increments. One of my clients recently faced difficulties hiring talents for their company in KL.
“The candidate declined our offer because the job did not make sense financially for him. We offered a high salary but the house prices and living costs are causing higher distress for him and his family in Johor.”
A different scenario would be companies in rural areas that are having talent shortages. Hiring people from KL for example, is difficult because not many job seekers are willing to give up on the city life and migrate to a place far from their friends, family and decent entertainment.
Office locations may not change easily, but policies are always flexible.
Understanding the pain points surrounding the office location is a good way to retain your talents and get a competitive advantage over other companies in the area.
Companies should put more emphasis on location-based incentives. Subsidised parking, flexible working hours, and transportation allowances are useful to improve employee wellbeing and to attract talents.
