Recruitment Extra March 2013 edition

March 2013 8543V1303

recruitmentextra.com.au

Managing candidates The leading magazine for recruitment professionals in Australia and New Zealand

Join us to celebrate and recognise the achievements of those in our industry at the sixth Recruitment Excellence Awards (REA) in 2013.

The REAs recognise excellence, innovation and professionalism in the Australian recruitment industry through the assessment of self-nominated businesses in the following categories: • The Deloitte Recruitment Excellence Award • The IMS People Best Business Innovation Award • The astutepayroll.com Excellence in the Application of New Technologies • Best Start-Up • Best Boutique Agency • Best National Agency • Best Candidate Care Program • Best Learning and Development plan • Best use of Print Advertising • Best use of Digital Media • Best Graduate Campaign • Best Employer Brand • Best Work Health & Safety Program

Nominations open mid-March All submissions due by 27 May For further information regarding nominations or sponsorship opportunities please contact Helen Sykes on 02 8587 7462 helen.sykes@thomsonreuters.com

News

Remote workers earn more

Aussie oil and gas workers reap top dollar Workers in Australia’s oil and gas sector are the highest paid in the world and earn 25% more than their US counterparts, according to a survey by Hays.

Australian workers pocket an average of A$159,259 a year and as the labour market tightens companies will be competing even more for pipe layers, welders and engineers. With home grown talent pools almost exhausted Hays says companies are looking overseas and are willing to offer even higher pay-packets for imported workers.

Despite some forecasters believing the industry stalled Hays reports that demand for skilled workers is still strong. Matt Underhill, managing director of Hays Oil & Gas, does however concede that there are, “signs of a slowdown in salary growth for both imported and local labour in Australia, which may be a sign that the market has passed its peak in terms of demand for specialist oil and gas skills.”

Spiralling labour costs have already contributed to a series of budget overruns at Australian gas-export projects operated by Chevron, BG Group and Santos. Chevron has claimed that higher labour costs were partly to blame for a 21% increase in the cost of building the Gorgon liquefied natural gas development to $52 billion. But in a mild positive for developers, the average Australian salary in the oil and gas sector fell 0.7% in 2012 compared to 2011.

OHS Managers who were earning 33% less than their more senior OHS National Managers a year ago, are now outperforming them by 4%, according to a recent survey conducted by safesearch. The difference in the results is due to a higher number of OHS project workers, many based in remote locations being included in the survey, showing the cost for businesses operating in remote areas.

The survey, supported by the Safety Institute of Australia, found that OHS Managers are now earning an average of $6,843 more than senior city based National Managers, but it also revealed that project roles are increasingly demanding with strict timeframes requiring long hours of work often in complex environments.

Julie Honore, Managing Director of safesearch, said: “The pay disparity is causing increased frustration for city-based senior managers who have worked their way up the corporate ladder to a national management role, as their indirect reports are in many cases out-earning them.

“Nevertheless, companies have a need for individuals who have built a reputation for ‘delivering’, and those candidates are being retained and handsomely rewarded across the board.

“In order to earn their premium we are seeing increased demand for strong communication skills, an ability to respond to complex circumstances and increasingly demanding workloads, alongside traditional project and technical experience.”

Nearly 65% of respondents to the survey also said they found it ‘harder’ or at least ‘as difficult’ to recruit quality candidates as they did the previous year, despite an increased availability of people due to softening in the resources sector.

Honore said, “As ever, employers need to remain flexible and responsive to attracting and retaining talent, differentiating their employee branding away from salaries alone.

While undoubtedly companies will pay top dollar for outstanding talent, as expressed in the survey results, individuals who are tired of a fly in fly out model are often willing to take a pay reduction in return for a more balanced work/life approach”.

SEEK delivers record result SEEK has reported revenue of A$275.3 million, EBITDA of A$107.5 million and NPAT of A$67.5 million for the six months to 31 December 2012. Compared to the same period last year, the results represent revenue growth of 32%, EBITDA growth of 20% and NPAT growth of 11%.

SEEK has also announced the finalisation of the Zhaopin transaction.

Commenting on the results, SEEK CEO Andrew Bassat said, “This was another record half year result that was achieved despite weak macro conditions and a re-investment focus in our international businesses. The key growth drivers of this result was pleasing growth across Zhaopin, Brasil Online and strong performances across all of SEEK’s Education businesses”.

SEEK’s Australia & New Zealand employment business achieved revenue of A$120.9 million and EBITDA of

A$75.3 million for H1 FY13. The result was broadly in line with the prior corresponding period.

Bassat said, “Given the weak macro conditions, this was a solid result. SEEK has the highest number of job ads across all its competitors. In Australia, SEEK remains the clear market leader with over 17.8 million visits in January 20133, close to seven times the number of our nearest online job board competitor.

“In the first six weeks of the year we are seeing an improvement in sentiment. Given its market leadership, SEEK is well positioned to benefit when economic conditions eventually improve. Irrespective of conditions, our focus is to continue attracting all job seekers, all career opportunities and develop products and services that assist the opportunity matching between jobseekers and advertisers.”

recruitment extra 2013 March 3

General editor Lesley Horsburgh Tel +61 2 8587 7920 lesley.horsburgh@thomsonreuters.com Production editor Imogen Tear Tel +61 2 8587 7258 imogen.tear@thomsonreuters.com Submissions imogen.tear@thomsonreuters.com Advertising Australia & New Zealand Helen Sykes Tel +61 2 8587 7462 helen.sykes@thomsonreuters.com Enquiries Emily Ings Tel +61 2 8587 7051 emily.ings@thomsonreuters.com Graphic design Michelle D’Souza Printing Ligare http://sites www.thomsonreuters.com.au/recruitment-extra/ www.thomsonreuters.com.au www.recruitmentextra.com.au Customer service and subscription inquiries Tel 1300 304 195 Fax 1300 304 196 Email LTA.Service@thomsonreuters.com Publisher Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited ABN 64 058 914 668 Head office 100 Harris Street Pyrmont NSW 2009 Tel +61 2 8587 7000 Fax +61 2 8587 7100 © Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited 2010 ISSN 1835-1395 All information in recruitment extra is copyright.

Material is not to be used or reproduced without written permission.

No responsibility is taken for unsolicited material. Articles reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the publisher.

from the editor As we wave goodbye to another summer it’s time to really get stuck into the year ahead.

The general consensus across the industry is that the market, whilst more confident than the last quarter, will still remain flat in the immediate future. So now is a good time to ensure that the customers you are currently working with are given the highest possible standard of candidate care you can offer.

Placing the right candidate in the right role always has been and always will be the bread and butter of recruitment businesses so in a static economic environment it is wise to revisit retention strategies and fine tune business processes in order to gain the best position for when the market takes a turn for the better.

In this issue we look at what products are in the market that can help us manage candidates effectively and we ask our contributors to give us tips on how to offer a productive service that benefits both the jobseeker and the recruiter.

We also welcome a new panel this month – all professionals from the rec to rec sector who provide some interesting insights into the expectations of candidates who are currently looking to change roles in the industry.

Don’t forget the REA nominations open this month. Head to www.recruitmentextra.com.au to check out the new categories and for details on how to enter.

4 March 2013 recruitment extra

News

Uncertainty the only certainty ManpowerGroup released its annual insight paper: Leading in the Human Age: Why An Era of Certain Uncertainty Requires New Approaches to the World of Work at the World Economic Forum last month. In the paper Manpower says companies must learn how to reinvent themselves as flexible and adaptable ‘Human Age’ corporations in response to continued market uncertainty.

ManpowerGroup’s Human Age concept is the idea that talent, as capital once was, is a key driver of economic growth. It is also the belief that the “forces evolving this volatile age are growing more intertwined, pushing and pulling in different directions until they become impossible to separate.” As a result ManpowerGroup believes the Human Age is becoming increasingly volatile and unpredictable and that companies must prepare for uncertainty.

“In a world where economic, political and social turmoil are creating an era of uncertainty, companies’ flexibility and ability to adapt quickly to new market conditions is crucial,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup President. “With talentism now a dominant economic catalyst, a company’s strategies, processes and solutions to navigate risk must start with its people. Only by unleashing and leveraging human potential will a nation or corporation successfully navigate these unpredictable challenges.”

The report outlined a 10-step plan (see table below) to help companies position themselves as human age Corporations.

Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup Australian and New Zealand, added: “The Australian economy is undergoing significant changes which will impact the labour market in 2013.

Traditional employment sectors, like manufacturing and retail, continue to decline, and the resources sector which has been a consistent bright spot in the Australian market is slowing in many parts. However, we are seeing other sectors continue to grow, creating demand for roles such as social assistance and aged care workers, IT specialists, engineering professionals and technical trades.

“The way we work is also changing. Contractor roles are increasing, employees are demanding flexible work arrangements, and smartphone technology is creating a constant connection between employees and businesses. Organisations must re-evaluate their workforce strategies in order to manage these emerging trends in work behaviour,” he said.

Manpower further outlines the forces shaping world of work trends as follows:

• Redefining Market Segmentation: World economic power continues to shift considerably South and East, with 70% of gross domestic product (GDP) growth between now and 2020 projected to come from emerging markets. The resegmentation of society is also evident in new “bubbles” of society, with socio-economic classes increasingly varied as individuals now easily bond over common ideas, ideologies and opinions across borders via media and technology. Companies need to consider how “bubblization” has weakened traditional socio-economic classes and leverage social frameworks to drive results from their people.

• Economic Evolution - Materialisation of Great Inversions: The global skills mismatch is inspiring the emergence of a second economy, as jobs have been lost more via technological progress than by delocalization. Stemming from this is a third economy where this loss of jobs results in a need for new skills.

For example, production line jobs may be lost to automated alternatives but this may, in turn, create increased demand for technicians to design and service machines. Companies will be challenged to plan for these shifts and ensure their talent pipeline is prepared to cope with the different skills required.

• Technological Evolution - Shifting Sands Accelerate: Technology continues to be a major agent of change in terms of economy, society, culture and work, presenting myriad opportunities and scope to transform current work models. For example, personalized apps that allow employers to communicate tailored information to individual employees could revolutionize employee engagement, bringing employees together and allowing them to interact more widely across large organizations.

• Certain Uncertainty: Periods of chronic uncertainty demand concerted action, based on strong fundamental principles to lead by. Yet governments, individuals and companies often react defensively and irrationally to uncertainty or are simply paralyzed by it. As a result, employee engagement can drop off and with it productivity will as well. As companies struggle to adapt to the Human Age and the Gordian Knot of forces creating such uncertainty, companies will require new leadership models, people practices, talent sources and also develop their internal systems, culture, engagement and training.

What we used to do . . .

What we should now do. . .

1. Rigid, long-term business models, strategies, plans

1. Create a set of core principles of execution which are flexible and adaptable to uncertainty

2. Siloed business and workforce strategies

2. Align workforce strategy to business goals

3. Segmentation of markets by geography

3. Segmentation of markets based on similarities, despite geography

4. Technology to help processes

4. Technology to drive growth and productivity

5. Society based vertical hierarchy structure

5. Develop a “community” based horizontal hierarchy system

6. Manage teams based on business goals alone

6. Develop augmented managers to play a wider role in developing growth, coaching teams and individuals

7. Leaders direct from the top in isolation

7. Leaders should work collaboratively to drive performance

8. Train individuals for the role they are currently in

8. Train individuals for the role they will likely take in the future

9. Find talent where the work is

9. Take work to where the talent is

10. Capitalism directs the company

10. Use Talentism to direct the company

recruitment extra 2013 March 5

Contents Inside March

Features 22 Candidate Management 23 The case for pre-testing candidates 24 Data is a game changer 25 Candidate care 26 Tame your database 27 Active and passive candidates

22

30 Soft vs hard skills 32 Business valuations 33 The human side of mergers and acquisitions

24

Regulars 3 News The latest news, events and announcements

25

15 What’s on 16 Online recruitment 18 HR report

26

20 Head to head 28 The panel

30 32

31 Social recruiting 34 State review: Victoria 36 On the move

Movers and shakers in the industry

38 Directory

Advertising directory

31 6 March 2013 recruitment extra

News

Uniforms: a branding tool Just over half of all Australian employees wear a uniform for work, according to a survey conducted by Employment Office, and the main reason is to improve the professional look of the company. Other motivations include making it easier for customers to identify staff members and making it easier to manage the personal appearance of employees.

However, the survey also found employees to be less than excited about wearing company designed workwear, with only 40% of respondents saying they preferred the uniform over their own clothing. Despite the reluctance from some workers to don the corporate colours, Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins says uniforms, if done right, can not only bring a team together, but can be a powerful

branding tool for Australian companies.

“Uniforms have received a bad rap in the past, mainly due to their perceived inconvenience. There’s been a sentiment that employees don’t like wearing uniforms, and in turn management don’t like enforcing them on unwilling staff members,” he said.

But as the power of a staff uniform as a branding tool becomes increasingly evident, there’s a push to make them work for both parties, to benefit of the business and its customers.

“Uniforms speak to customers before they have any human interaction with your business. It’s essential to match the uniform to your product, and to do your best to ensure employees enjoy wearing it,” Marsden-Huggins said.

“By wearing a uniform, many employees feel a sense of belonging. A high standard

of dress and personal presentation becomes a source of pride among staff and a part of a company’s identity as a business,” Marsden-Huggins continued.

For employers thinking about introducing a staff uniform, or aiming to increase employee satisfaction with their current uniform, there are ways to make it a success.

“Uniforms illicit the most enthusiasm and co-operation when employees are involved in the selection and design process. Seeking advice and feedback about look, form and function will help minimise potential problems with the uniform being unfit for purpose or staff dreading to wear it,” said MarsdenHuggins. “It’s also helpful to educate your employees and let them know the reasons why a uniform is being introduced.

Flexible working arrangement preferred over promotion

Skilled reports profit

With 56% of workers striving for a better work-life balance and declining promotions in favour of more flexibility, businesses should use flexible working arrangements as a powerful employee retention tool, according to Andrew Cross, managing director for Ambition, Technology.

Ambition, Technology, surveyed over 900 Australian IT professionals on their attitude to flexible working arrangements and found that employees wanted benefits that went beyond flexible hours. The research showed that workers would like to be able to work from home, bring their own devices, purchase additional annual leave and get discounts on gym membership and insurance. Yet, the Ambition, Technology Market Trends survey showed that almost 50% of workplaces in Australia didn’t offer any benefits at all.

“There is a growing assumption among staff that a good employer will invest in their wellbeing. However, flexible working arrangements are often only agreed upon verbally and remain just that – words,” says Cross. “Permitting more flexibility comes with a certain degree of risk for the organisation and involves making changes to existing HR policies.

“Many employers worry about the company’s network security or don’t trust that their staff will be as productive when working from home or outside standard business hours,” says Cross.

As a result, employees feel uncomfortable broaching the topic of flexibility and reinforcing the verbally agreed terms with their managers.

“In order to attract and retain great staff, businesses need to be more transparent and have policies in place that set out the parameters of employee flexibility,” Cross says.

To retain top talent organisations need to improve the implementation of such arrangements by being upfront and making it official.

“Typically the conversation about flexible options stops after the hiring process. However, once an employee passes their probationary period within the organisation, the flexible working arrangement should fall into place contractually and remain an ongoing discussion point in their annual salary review. Especially in businesses with limited opportunity for promotion and salary increases, additional benefits and more flexibility can be offered as an alternative,” says Cross.

“It is no secret that happy workers are more productive, and that the cost of replacing staff can be a significant financial loss for the company. With this in mind, many organisations can’t afford not to invest in employee welfare.”

Shares in Skilled Group rose by over +4% following reports from the firm of a $28.2 million net profit for the six months to December 2012, up 10.2% on the prior corresponding period. Skilled Group now has almost twice the market share of its closest rival Hays, according to research by Staffing Industry Analysts.

Chief executive Mick McMahon said the company’s exposure to higher growth sectors helped offset the impact of continuing weakness in other parts of the economy. McMahon said 54% of Skilled’s revenue was generated from mining and oil and gas, while on a geographic basis 57% of revenue came from the resources-rich states of Queensland and Western Australia.

Skilled said it had achieved about $5 million in cost savings in the first half, and expected that to rise to $10 million for the full 2012/13 year. The company’s blue collar workforce services unit had suffered a 1.7% fall in revenue but its technical professionals unit was up 11.1% and its and 9.3 per cent higher in engineering and marine services.

The company declared a fully-franked interim dividend of seven cents a share, up from five cents a share in the prior corresponding period.

recruitment extra 2013 March 7

News

The one billion dollar plan Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a $1 billion jobs plan ahead of the national election this year. The legislation is designed to improve the benefits Australian companies see from large-scale projects undertaken in the country.

Following concerns that major projects undertaken by multi-nationals tended to lean towards using international suppliers and importing material and equipment from overseas, the plan will require large companies to give local firms the opportunity to bid for contracts before they are sent offshore.

“When there are projects worth more than $500 million, they will need to have an Australian industry participation plan,” Gillard told a press conference in Melbourne. “They will need to look to how they can involve Australian businesses and create Australian jobs in what they do.”

Australian Industry Participation plans started back in the early 2000s but only applied to government-funded projects.

The Gillard Government is extending them to independent private projects.

Unions have welcomed the plans which

“The Federal Government understands that the future of Australian jobs is the most important issue facing this country today. ” they say will keep jobs in Australia and create new opportunities for Australian manufacturers.

AWU National Secretary Paul Howes said the plan put manufacturing front and centre in the national political conversation.

“The Federal Government understands that the future of Australian jobs is the most important issue facing this country today.

“The sustained high level of the Australian dollar, which is now recognised as the most over-valued currency in the

Cuts to public sector drive rise in unemployment New research by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) reveals that the number of public sector jobs in Australia has fallen for the first time in more than a decade.

The ACTU said that more than 50,000 public administration and safety jobs were lost around the country in the year to November 2012, with about half of those cuts taking place between May and November “as state governments in New South Wales and Queensland executed radical job cuts”.

The figure of -6.9% is the biggest yearly decline in that industry on record going back to 1984 (when the Australian Bureau of Statistics began recording quarterly labour force data).

ACTU President Ged Kearney said

8 March 2013 recruitment extra

cutting public servants was a shortsighted policy which would lead to more pressure on vital services like health and education and an impact on unemployment rates. “Many of the workers who lose their jobs will spend long periods of time in unemployment,” she added.

Kearney said that the ACTU’s analysis of unemployment data showed that while the official unemployment rate of 5.4% had stayed steady over the last three months, the total number of hours worked had dropped.

The analysis also found recent jobs growth had all been in part-time work, with the amount of full-time employment falling for three months in a row.

world, and shrinking global demand have hit Australian manufacturers for six.

“Manufacturing still employs over one million Australians. Quite frankly, this sector is too big to fail, and we have to put strategies in place to keep this sector alive.”

The national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), Paul Bastian, added that the jobs package largely reflected what the AMWU had been campaigning for.

“We’re now going to have in legislation that any project worth more than $500 million in this country will be required to have an Australian industry participation plan to show how those projects are giving our manufacturers the opportunity to bid on a fair and reasonable basis for work,” he said. “That is a big tick for us.”

Peter Anderson from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said the jobs plan deserved support. But Opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella has labelled the announcement a “bitter disappointment” and raised concerns over increased red tape.

Acquisition drives revenue at CAREERS MULTILIST Australian recruitment company Careers Multilist Ltd posted a +72% rise in revenue for the six-month period running to December 2012. The increase in revenue was driven by a recent acquisition.

However net profit after tax was down -15% which the firm attributed to difficult trading conditions in the recruitment market. The company also said demand for contract staff had softened in the period.

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News

Government takes on the bullies The “announcement that the Australian Government will give the Fair Work Commission (FWC) the power to deal with complaints about workplace bullying is likely to cause more problems than it solves. Bullying is a serious issue, but it is a work health and safety issue and should not be mixed up with industrial relations,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox in response to the announcement from Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten on the Government’s intention to amend the Fair Work Act. Shorten confirmed the Government’s response to a parliamentary inquiry, chaired by Amanda Rishworth MP, into workplace bullying, supported the majority of the 23 recommendations made by the House of Representatives committee.

The recommendations include adopting a national definition of workplace bullying, promoting education and awareness of what constitutes workplace bullying and developing national training standards to improve responses to bullying complaints.

“Bullying and harassment have no place in any Australian workplace. Every Australian who goes to work should be able to come home safe,” Shorten said.

“The Government will amend the Fair Work Act to allow an employee who has suffered bullying at work a right to seek assistance through the Fair Work

10 March 2013 recruitment extra

Commission. We want to make sure all Australian workplaces are safe, healthy and productive and to adopt a zero tolerance approach to bullying.”

Willox warned that the proposal could lead to a raft of speculative claims from employees and would mark a deterioration in workplace relations. He suggested, “Bullying complaints and the high community cost of bullying [would] best be addressed by a renewed emphasis on prevention. Governments need to devote more resources to working with industry groups and other stakeholders to educate employers, employees and the community on what workplace bullying is and how it should be prevented and dealt with. The Government’s proposed approach is not the answer.”

Sarah Rey, partner at labour relations law firm Justitia, said if the changes proceeded it would be the first time in Australia, either at a State or Federal level, that complainants could themselves seek a legal determination concerning their complaint of bullying, and seek compensation.

“Whilst this is an important development for victims, it will increase the workload for employers. We predict that employers can expect to find themselves in the Commission more often defending a claim of bullying, than a claim of dismissal or adverse action,” she said.

“The Committee’s report quotes the

Australian Workplace Barometer project (2009-2011) which found that 6.8 of Australian workers had been bullied at work in the six months prior to being surveyed, with 3.5% experiencing bullying for longer than a six month period (page 9 of the Report). This is a significant proportion of the workforce.

“Even though the cascade of claims should not be a reason to oppose providing a new legislative right of redress, legislators should take care in how this new right is framed. It will need to be counter-balanced with strong guidelines as to what is not bullying and what might constitute a vexatious claim.

“There will be many in the industrial relations advisory industry who will be pleased about this new development, as it will provide them with a new source of work.

“Employers will need to overhaul their workplace policies and training if these changes proceed.”

Shorten said the Government was “committed to working with the states and territories to ensure Australia’s front line work health and safety inspectors have access to the training and skills to help them respond at the highest level when dealing with workplace bullying”. He further added that the Government intended to consult with stakeholders on the details of the Fair Work Act amendments.

News

Protection against customer insolvency Bibby Financial Services has extended its product range with the launch of Bad Debt Protection, a product designed to protect businesses against the risk of customer insolvency or prolonged default of payment.

Responding to concerns amongst business owners, the new offering provides cash against receivables, and in addition protects 90% of the value of any insured bad debt suffered.

Steven Davies, Commercial Director, Bibby Financial Services Australia said, “In today’s challenging economic environment our research indicates that many businesses are still concerned about the impact a bad debt could have on their profitability. With demand weak and mainstream financiers scrutinising profitability, small businesses can ill afford to experience bad debts and the loss of ongoing business due to debtor insolvency.

“Bad Debt Protection is designed

to cover clients if their debtor becomes insolvent or cannot pay. Clients can have peace of mind that cash will continue to flow at a time when insolvencies are high.”

According to recent statistics from ASIC more businesses are entering external administration. Across Australia 2,618 businesses went into external administration in the December 2012 quarter, up from 2,589 a year earlier. NSW had the highest number of businesses entering into external administration in the December 2012 quarter (977 businesses), followed by Victoria (729), Queensland (567) and Western Australia (192).

The cash flow difficulties being faced by businesses has also been highlighted by Dun & Bradstreet’s Trade Payments Analysis for the December 2012 quarter. Firms on average took 52 days to pay their bills and 62% of accounts were settled late during the quarter.

Dun & Bradstreet’s National Business

Expectations Survey for the June 2013 quarter revealed that Australian businesses have pulled back their profit expectations for the coming months as they foresee lagging consumer activity and prolonged tough trading conditions.

The survey found expectations for sales, capital investment and inventories all decreased and cash flow pressures remain.

More than 68% of executives indicated that cash flow is expected to be an issue in the June 2013 quarter, with 28% confirming outstanding receivables as their biggest barrier to growth.

With this in mind Davies says Bibby’s range of debtor finance products can help “manage all the administration for debt protection including reporting, managing the process of making a claim and establishing credit limits on existing and prospective customers, delivering SMEs owners much-needed time savings.”

recruitment extra 2013 March 11

News

Social media: a risky business Social media may be a great way to identify talent, connect with it and promote the values of a business, but only if you get your strategy right. Get it wrong and the damage to an employer’s brand can be significant, according to Hays.

“Engaging with the array of social media sites that potential jobseekers use gives organisations a means to boost and enhance their reputation as an employer of choice,” says Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of Hays in Australia.

“And it is not just marketing and communications departments that need to put social media at the heart of their strategy. It is clear that for businesses to remain competitive, the HR function has to embrace it, too.

“But, while it is clear that the HR function ignores social media at its peril, the right strategy is harder to define. One size definitely does not fit all – and risk is often overlooked when developing and resourcing a social media strategy.”

According to the Hays Journal article, a

12 March 2013 recruitment extra

survey of US executives found that social media ranked among the top five sources of risk to a business.

Potential problems the research identified are manifold and included the need to monitor comments employees and others post on social network sites, the importance of protecting the employer brand and the constant investment needed to keep up with evolving technology.

“Therefore, we advise that companies must take this new method of communication seriously and ensure that it is handled by staff who understand it,” says Deligiannis.

“Employers need a clear strategy on how they address social media and present their brand. It has to be part of an overall brand strategy and not a free-for-all.”

Companies are advised to remember that content is very important. This means the investment needed to implement an effective and safe social media strategy can be substantial. Content must be consistent, high quality and channel-

specific to add value and reflect well on a firm’s brand. Potential and existing employees will only return to a blog or follow a feed if it is relevant and topical.

“Getting this right can be hard and raises questions of message and brand control. An ongoing resource is needed internally or externally to post and monitor content and to interact with a company’s followers,” says Deligiannis.

“Managing resources in-house presents its own hazards, since content is often provided by more than one person and by different departments. So, heads need to be allocated to manage this process across all channels to ensure content and messaging is aligned to company positioning and to respond consistently to any negative comments.

“Just as social media has the power to support and drive an employee value proposition, badly handled it can completely undermine those efforts.

And worse, the evidence remains online indefinitely.”

News

Contractors key to growth for apac business

T

he majority of APAC businesses predict growth in the next 12 months, however many do not plan to increase their workforce numbers to support intended growth according to The Talent2 APAC Market Pulse 3 Study.

The report finds a strong sense of optimism amongst the majority of APAC businesses, with 61% predicting growth for the next 12 months, and only 5% predicting decline. In Australia, the research shows that whilst more than half (55%) of businesses are forecasting economic growth in the next 12 months, only 40% expect to increase employee numbers.

This discrepancy could threaten to place great pressure on some companies and their employees and it is expected that as growth occurs without an increase in human resources, APAC businesses will turn to contractors. Businesses in APAC are however already using some growth strategies such as reducing headcount and investment in mature markets (36%) and increasing back-office services through shared service delivery (33%).

The Talent2 research reveals that 66% of organisations across APAC currently employ contractors, a figure that is potentially set to grow as unemployment figures rise and job seekers accept contract positions.

Senior business executives believe that the majority of contractor roles (60%) are filled because job seekers find it difficult to secure permanent employment.

Whilst awareness of the benefits contractors can offer organisations is high, the research finds there are also challenges.

65% of Australian businesses believe contracted workers increase workforce flexibility and scalability to support economic conditions and 37% feel contractors offer improved business performance by better matching specialist resources to company projects. Despite being aware of the benefits, organisations also cite higher costs (46%) and having a clear method for measuring the performance

In Australia, the research shows that whilst more than half (55%) of businesses are forecasting economic growth in the next 12 months, only 40% expect to increase employee numbers. of contracted workforce suppliers (43%) as the main businesses challenges.

The research also indicates a decreasing trend in the percentage of permanent full-time staff. In Australia, full-time employees currently represent 73% of its workforce, which is less than Talent2’s Market Pulse 2 study in 2011, which indicated that 78% of the Australian workforce was made up of permanent fulltime staff.

“It may become increasingly necessary for businesses across APAC to consider the flexibility of a contracted workforce in an oscillating economic climate, rather than resorting to cuts to full-time employees as a reactive profitability measure ,” said Caleb Baker, Managing Director, RPO & Managed Services Asia Pacific, Talent2.

“When unemployment rates rise, the demand for contractors also rise as people who were traditionally used to full time roles begin considering part time or contractor roles. It’s clear that whilst businesses are aware of the benefits a contractor workforce can offer, there are perceived barriers to adoption for businesses to overcome in order to consider employing contractors. These barriers can be easily addressed by working with expert providers who can offer ease of management and better visibility of contracted employees,” concluded Baker.

Other Research Findings » 40% of Australian businesses are expecting to increase their workforce in the next 12 months, 24% are expecting to see a decline and 36% do not anticipate any change. With 55% of these businesses expecting economic

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growth in the next 12 months many believe they can achieve growth with no increase in the workforce.

One in three Australian businesses (31%) expect to increase the number of permanent staff and 23% of those that employ contract staff expect an increase in these contingent employees.

Employing or increasing the number of contracted workers is considered by 41% of senior managers to be one way to help manage the likely future economic climate.

The key benefit of employing contract workers is perceived to be the increased workforce flexibility and scalability that allows them to better meet economic conditions (61%) and support regional expansion (26%).

Business managers believe that contract employees benefit from more flexible hours (42%), higher earning power (39%) and more varied work (37%).

Just as there are benefits to employing contract workers, senior managers acknowledge that they also come with challenges. The main challenge is having a clear method for measuring the performance of their contract workforce suppliers (41%).

There are also financial challenges, including higher costs (37%) and not knowing if they are getting the most competitive rates (20%).

It is not uncommon for contract workers to be paid more than permanent workers on a like for like basis. Overall, 39% of senior managers acknowledge this to be the case, with the practice more common in Australia (46%) than elsewhere.

recruitment extra 2013 March 13

Online recruitment

REA nominations open!

The Recruitment Excellence Awards will be opening for nominations in March, with a number of new categories open to include the participation of blue collar agencies and advertising agencies along with a renewed focus of employer brand.

Now in the sixth year, the awards have fast become a key event for recruitment firms across Australia.

Assessed by a panel of independent judges, all with extensive history and expertise in the Australian recruitment market, businesses are invited to self nominate for the categories of their choice.

The winners will be announced at our glamorous black tie gala dinner in October. In keeping with our reputation for hosting the coveted awards and most entertaining night we are busy working away on the finer details for 2013.

Every year the standard of entries goes beyond expectations and this year will be no different. To nominate your business for these highly-sought after awards go to www.recruitmetnextra. com. Nominations open in mid March and close 4 June 2013.

Outlook for Clarius ‘conservative’ Clarius Group reported a revenue drop of -9% to $123.0 million in the six months to December 2012. The firm blamed a slowdown in the permanent recruitment market, particularly in the IT sector, as well as falling demand for contract staff.

Gross profit in the half-year period was also down and the firm posted a net loss after tax of $0.5 million compared to a net profit of $1.3 million a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company said: “The outlook continues to be conservative with some signs that hiring sentiment is improving – however, any indication that this is going to impact hiring activity is yet to be seen.”

14 March 2013 recruitment extra

Australian Government partners with SEEK Following a tender process, SEEK has won the opportunity to partner with the Australian Government to provide the technology for the Government’s Resources Sector Jobs Board creating a new partnership between the public and private sector.

CEO of SEEK, Andrew Bassat, said his company welcomed the opportunity to work side by side with the Government. “We are excited to have been given the opportunity to build a strong relationship between the public and private sector, to assist the thousands of job seekers and employers throughout Australia,” Bassat said.

“From mid-February, the online jobs board will draw directly on SEEK’s giant database,” Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Bill Shorten said. “This will make it easier for job seekers to link with vacancies in the resources sector and will give hirers access to a larger pool of skilled workers to meet their recruitment needs.”

As with the current Government jobs board, people looking for a job will be able to search for jobs and apply online, and employers will have an option to upload vacancies from their existing systems. However, the matching of job seekers to jobs will be run through SEEK’s job search technology.

HR must adapt to the era of ‘big data’ Warwick Kirby, newly appointed CEO of Onetest, has warned human resources professionals to embrace data-driven decision-making in order to drive sustainable growth.

“The HR industry as a whole has relied largely on unquantifiable selection techniques for too long,” Kirby said. “We have reached a juncture. The era of ‘big data’ is upon us and in order to continue to improve HR outcomes organisations need to explore and incorporate scientific selection methods into their recruitment process.

“Psychometric testing has been proven to be one of the most effective indicators of future job performance in prospective candidates and when paired with structured interviews, offers more insight into how a candidate will perform once hired.

“The types of information companies typically use to select candidates,

“Psychometric testing has been proven to be one of the most effective indicators of future job performance in prospective candidates and when paired with structured interviews, offers more insight into how a candidate will perform once hired.” supplied in resumes and application letters has proved to be one of the least effective means of predicting future job performance.

“Organisations are increasingly incorporating scientific techniques, such as psychometric testing to improve talent selection practices,” he concluded.

News

Adecco: Growing temp workforce calls for workplace reform With the temporary workforce expected to break 500,000 by 2015, Adecco’s ANZ chief executive Jeff Doyle has called for policy makers to overhaul Australia’s industrial relations framework to better meet the needs of a rapidly changing and increasingly diverse workplace.

Speaking at the launch the Adecco Group’s 2013 edition of the Temporary Labour Report, Doyle said, “We have a 2% growth in temporary labour in 2012, and with almost 30% of Australians now working in part-time roles, our 20th century industrial relations framework does not reflect this shift to a more flexible workforce.

“We are in a situation where we’ve got young kids struggling to find a job to the other extreme of older Australians wanting to work – but not nine to five, five days week – so we can’t ignore the need for a more flexible industrial relations framework anymore,” Doyle said.

The 2013 Temporary Labour Report found that over half of the organisations surveyed expect to hire temporary employees in 2013.

“Equally, the continued rise in temporary labour reflects the need for Australian companies to have flexibility to address the skills shortage that continues to be a significant issue, with our report identifying 86% of organisations surveyed expect to face a skills shortage in 2013,” Doyle continued.

“Over the last few years, temporary labour is proving itself as the key factor in sustaining a competitive and robust marketplace in Australia. Giving companies the ability to manage resource fluctuations, expand easily and increase workforce participation across society, can often mean the difference between offering a temporary job and not offering a job at all in this environment of subdued business confidence.

“Temporary labour also helps to reduce the pool of under-utilised developed talent in this country by giving older professionals, carers and students the

opportunity to participate in the workforce in a way that suits them. Interestingly the Adecco report found professional and management roles experienced the largest increases in temporary engagement in 2012 with our customers reporting a rise of over 30%, contradicting the assumption that temporary labour is primarily used in unskilled labour sectors,” he added.

“And the total youth unemployment rate for Australian’s aged 15 to 19 is 17%,” Doyle said. “While many of these teenagers are still in education, a part-time or casual seasonal job will give them their first employment experience and may lead to their first role after school or college.

“It is essential that businesses can hire these teenagers easily so we can increase the employability of our youth by building their workplace skills and experience while addressing our very real skills shortage at the same time.”

The report also found a number of industry sectors had experienced a double-digit increase in their temporary labour hire. Mining and resources topped the list with a 91.7% growth over the past four years, followed by energy and utilities (51.1%), engineering and technical (29.5%), sales and marketing (21%) and government (13.7%).

“We would expect mining to be the main driver behind temporary labour hire in Australia but it is very interesting to see the more white collar industries increase their use of temporary labour,” commented Doyle. “They way organisations work and the way employees want to work has changed in Australia and these statistics are the proof of that.”

The paper further reported that one third of temporary workers, who contributed to the report, intended to stay in their roles for over two years and the most popular reasons for choosing temporary labour were because they like the flexibility (45.5%), as a stepping stone to full time employment (30.5%), and because of the difficulty in finding a permanent role (24%).

What’s on

training & events calendar 2013

january • february • march • april • may • june • july • august • september • october • november • december

aug HRIZON2013 – AHRI National Convention and Exhibition HRIZON2013 is Australian Human Resources Institute’s (AHRI) yearly convention presenting a variety of inspiring speakers for business today.

HR professionals and business leaders will be motivated with big ideas and innovative practices from both national and global thinkers. HRIZON2013 will empower your vision of the future for your organisation.

Speakers include: Dr Lois Frankel – executive coach and author John Boudreu - professor and research director, University of Southern California Layne Beachley – seven-time women’s world champion surfer and entrepreneur Ruby Wax – leadership communication specialist And many more. Visit the website for the latest program updates.

When: 19 – 21 August 2013 Where: Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Price: Prices vary for members and non-members and there are discounts for groups of three of more. Early bird prices are now available.

There are pre-conference workshops focusing on technology and the public sector.

For more information and to register visit www.hrizon.com.au

recruitment extra 2013 March 15

Online recruitment

Year-on-Year market share for Business and Finance Employment and Training, in All Categories Based on market share of visits to the industry. Monthly rankings for the month of December 2012 This category features online job databases, employment classified websites, employment agencies and human resource management services. It also includes any websites related to job seeking, vocational training and career development.

Rank

Website

Domain

Visits

1

Seek Australia

www.seek.com.au

27.15%

2

Linkedin

www.linkedin.com

13.67%

3

MyCareer

www.mycareer.com.au

6.94%

4

indeed Australia

www.indeed.com.au

4.96%

5

CareerOne

www.careerone.com.au

4.49%

6

jobrapido Australia

au.jobrapido.com

3.58%

7

Australian JobSearch

www.jobsearch.gov.au

2.97%

8

Job Seeker

www.jobseeker.com.au

1.86%

9

SimplyHired Australia

www.simplyhired.com.au

1.82%

10

Woolworths - Careers

www.wowcareers.com.au

1.05%

11

Fair Work Online

www.fairwork.gov.au

0.75%

12

Hays Personnel Services

www.hays.com.au

0.74%

13

WebJobz

www.webjobz.com

0.67%

14

Jobs.com.au

www.jobs.com.au

0.63%

15

Star Now Australia

www.starnow.com.au

0.59%

16

jobsearch.com.au

www.jobsearch.com.au

0.58%

17

Service Seeking

www.serviceseeking.com.au

0.55%

18

ninemsn Seek

ninemsn.seek.com.au

0.54%

19

Mining Australia

www.australia-mining.com

0.54%

20

Coles Group Careers

www.careers.colesgroup.com.au

0.51%

Date

Market Share

Date

Market Share

Dec-11

0.570%

Jul-12

0.783%

Jan-12

0.936%

Aug-12

0.769%

Feb-12

0.689%

Sep-12

0.818%

Mar-12

0.845%

Oct-12

0.758%

Apr-12

0.845%

Nov-12

0.800%

May-12

0.781%

Dec-12

0.831%

Jun-12

0.776%

Jan-13

0.756%

16 March 2013 recruitment extra

News

Australia relying on luck rather than training Australia faces being locked-in to its reliance on the resources sector unless businesses in other sectors of the economy make more effort to up-skill and train employees, according to a recent international Grant Thornton study.

The latest research from the International Business Report (IBR) suggests that Australia is most affected in the world by the scarcity of talent, with more than two thirds of businesses finding it hard to source skilled workers. The fastest-moving sectors credited as major drivers of economic growth beyond the peak of the mining boom, such as high-tech and clean-tech, are reporting the most serious recruitment difficulties.

“As an unprecedentedly lengthy election campaign begins, both political parties will need to address the shortfall of skilled workers and how Australia will develop our capacity to compete in innovative sectors,” said Grant Thornton’s Workforce consulting specialist, Rory Gregg.

The research shows that 63% of businesses report a shortage of technical skills, and 70% are citing a lack of required qualifications as a major inhibitor to recruitment plans.

According to the study, businesses are now ready to invest in talent to fuel growth.

However it seems the ongoing dialogue between business, government and education institutions is not bearing fruit.

“In the afterglow of the release of the Asian Century Whitepaper, Australia’s vocal ambitions to move to a more high-tech, clean-tech and service-oriented economy will remain a distant reality if the country does not accelerate investment into the training and up-skilling of its workforce,” said Gregg.

“These difficulties are directly impacting Australian businesses’ capacity to take up positions as industry front runners. To compete in these new and growing sectors, Australia needs to address the issue as a matter of priority.”

Gregg urged businesses to get serious about retention of staff and look beyond

current government funded programs and agreements such as the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development to fuel innovation and growth.

“Retention of highly skilled staff that will contribute to innovation through planning or execution should be an immediate priority. This may require targeted up-skilling of these staff to ensure they remain engaged and buy into the future growth plans of the business.”

According to Gregg, if access to skilled labour does not improve during 2013, businesses will have no choice but to actively source technical and accredited skills in countries that have greater populations available – namely China and India.

“For business, this can be a positive strategy as their sourcing models may encourage collaboration, alternative ideas, and help work around local regulatory and taxation inhibitors. It will, however, require careful sourcing or partnership models to manage the intellectual risks,” he said.

recruitment extra 2013 March 17

HR Report

HR REPORT recruitment extra's monthly update on the latest news, reports and opinions on what’s happening in HR nationally, trends from overseas and briefs on the activities of equal opportunity organisations, employers, EO tribunals and agencies and governments.

Reporter: Jane Dillon

Australia’s bullying stats highest in world Coupled with the Federal Government’s announcement it would amend the Fair Work Act to include workplace bullying a Safe Work Australia report showed Australia has the worst record in the world for rates of workplace bullying.

The December 2012 research The Australian Workplace Barometer: Report on psychosocial safety climate and worker health in Australia found levels of bullying in Australia were 3% to 6% higher than other countries. The Australian rate of workplace bullying sits at 6.8%, compared to rates of 1% to 4% for other countries.

Significant findings from the research showed employees aged 25–34 years were most at risk of poor psychological health from workplace bullying. It found more than 40% of men had been yelled or sworn at in the workplace, more than 20% had been “humiliated” in front of colleagues, and 7% of women reported

they had experienced unwanted sexual advances in the workplace.

A Safe Work Australia spokesperson told HRR that “similar definitions” for workplace bullying were used in the comparison but cautioned against a direct comparison with other countries as “differences in research methodologies and definitions will produce different rates”.

She said the research provided a “best estimate of the prevalence of workplace bullying in Australia” as it was the “first population-based study in Australia”. It used a “large, representative samples of Australian workers across industries and occupations within six of the eight Australian states and territories” and a “well-established, tight and clear definition of workplace bullying”. However, she said it was not possible to conclude whether bullying rates had changed as there was no national data against which to compare.

Unpaid trials exploitation: FWO A Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) investigation into unpaid work experience and trial periods has found a “growing number” of Australian businesses are “using unpaid work arrangements to exploit workers”.

FWO government and policy director Anthony Fogarty told HRR the report identified young people and international students as most at risk of abuse. He said the FWO acknowledged the importance of professional learning opportunities for students and graduates. “Legitimate placements are absolutely essential,” he said. However, Fogarty said some industries, including hospitality, marketing and PR, were abusing the conditions of the Fair Work Act (FW Act) which allowed work experience and internships.

“Asking a barista to work a shift to demonstrate they can make a good latte is reasonable,” he said. However, he said hospitality had a “growing culture of weeks and sometimes months of unpaid trial work”. He said while there was no definitive timeframe to differentiate between a legitimate trial period and exploitation “generally the longer the time period the more possible the person could be deemed to be an employee”.

The report said unpaid internships and work experience are allowed under the FW Act. They are conditional upon the student being “engaged on a vocational placement which is a requirement of an education or training course and is authorised under a law or an administrative arrangement of the Commonwealth, a State or Territory”.

18 March 2013 recruitment extra

“If an unpaid work experience arrangement is not a formal vocational placement, and the person is actually an employee working under a contract of employment, then the person is entitled to the conditions and entitlements under the Act and Fair Work instruments – including a minimum wage,” the report said.

Fogarty said tips for HR practitioners to ensure they were operating within the parameters of the FW Act included double checking with the education provider that the work placement was an essential training component. For students wanting more work experience than required under their course, he suggested negotiating “agreement on expectations” in advance of the placement.

He said the test of exploitation rested on who benefited from the arrangement.

Fogarty conceded the GFC may have had some impact on the increasing Australian trend to unpaid trials and internships and said it was an “enormous issue internationally”. He said the US had seen several class action lawsuits brought by interns and employees seeking reimbursement of unpaid wages.

He said the FWO would now work closely with stakeholders to clarify and communicate what is acceptable to increase industry awareness and compliance, and the issue would remain a focus for some time. He said the FW Act’s unfair dismissal conditions allowed 12 months probation, and there were a “number of formal traineeships” on offer to employers, so there were “avenues and possibilities to allow employers to legitimately test employees”.

HR Report

Unions call for minimum standards

Family friendly laws needs teeth

Unions NSW has seized on a report showing poor conditions and security of employment for casuals to call for the State Govt to provide minimum standards for those in the public sector.

Perspectives by legal policymaker Margaret Wilson shows a gap in pay, conditions, certainty of work and legal rights between full-time workers and casual workers in Australia and NZ. The report calls for rights to be better protected by statutory minimum standards.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon said “having no access to leave, while suffering from low pay and insecurity about future work, means casual workers are often battling under difficult conditions. The NSW Govt needs to be setting a far better example.” He said the public sector’s use of casuals was increasing.

A spokesperson for acting treasurer Greg Pearce said claims of a gap in conditions were “unsubstantiated” and the number of casuals in the public sector was “low compared to our total workforce”. “The NSW Govt is committed to ensuring that all public sector staff, including casual staff, are treated fairly and appropriately.”

Employers unreasonably denying balance between family and work should be taken to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), according to Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney.

Kearney said Australia lacked “meaningful laws to give women a genuine and enforceable right to find a balance between family and work”. A “practical solution” would be to allow female workers to approach the FWC for an independent assessment as to the employer’s reasonableness.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on February 10 the workplace relations agenda would focus on work and family life.

She said the govt would “take some of the burden off modern families by extending the right to request flexible and part time work to mums who are returning from maternity leave”. She said it would include “dads who are returning from caring for children” in further reviews of the Fair Work Act. Kearney welcomed the PM’s statement but called on the govt to “give the tiger some teeth”.

“44% of mothers say they do not feel comfortable taking time out from work to care for their children because their workplace is not family friendly,” she said.

Grattan Institute research predicted Australia’s productivity could increase $25bn annually if disincentives for women to return to the workforce were removed.

Feds slash disability target The Federal Government service responsible for creating job vacancies for people with a disability has scaled back its target quota by more than 300% despite employment participation minister Kate Ellis announcing the program’s extension. The govt says this is to focus on sustainable jobs rather than job placement numbers.

Ellis announced the national disability recruitment coordinator (NDRC) service would be extended to 2015. She said it was “tasked with the target of creating 300 job vacancies a year for job seekers with a disability, and work[ing] with organisations to help them integrate practices to recruitment people with disability into their mainstream policies”.

When the service was introduced in March 2010 its stated aim was to create 1,000 job vacancies annually.

A spokesperson for Ellis told HRR the substantial revision came about following “an extensive review into the program”. “The target has been revised due to the extra effort and expenditure needed to ensure the right job for each job seeker, so that they have meaningful long term employment,” she said.

She said after consultation with employers engaged with the program the focus shifted from “achieving job placements” to “providing more support to help find long term sustainable jobs for people with a disability”. She said the revised target would mean more support for companies to change their HR practices which will help bring about more cultural change in the workplace”.

The NDRC service links employers of more than 100 employees with Disability Employment Services providers and facilitates the administration behind employing a targeted worker.

Hiring plans ‘hover’ Hiring sentiment for the first quarter of 2013 will remain conservative, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

The survey of 2,200 Australian employers’ hiring intentions revealed a mixed bag, with 13% planning to decrease hiring for the first quarter in 2013, 20% planning to increase and two-thirds reporting no plans for change.

Manpower MD Lincoln Crawley told HRR employment trends had been “trending downward since mid-2011 but have now stabilised”. He said he expected the “slowdown in employer sentiment” to continue throughout 2013. “There are a number of factors contributing to cautiousness in the Australian labour market. The Eurozone crisis and a sluggish US recovery, the decline in exports and strong Australian dollar are hurting industrial employers and impacting their ability to hire. All of which are creating a drag on the labour market,” he said.

He said despite a slowing down of the resources sector in 2013, reports indicated “demand from China and India for iron ore and coal should pick up mid-way through 2013, which will have a flow through to jobs in those commodities”, he said. “The Oil and Gas industry remains strong, with an expanding pipeline of projects that will drive demand for workers throughout 2013.” Crawley said he expected to see pockets of demand continue to grow in this “micro-sector” labour market”.

HR Report is an independent fortnightly new service published by Thomson Reuters. The service is available in paper and email format. For further details visit: www.thomsonreuters.com.au/hr-report-email.

recruitment extra 2013 March 19

Head to head

Rod Hore, HHMC and Nigel Harse, MDBTWO say its time to accept the industry has changed for good

Embrace changes in the recruitment industry A glance at any of the recruitment industry media looks depressing, with company after company reporting declining results. While some agencies are thriving, some are in real trouble. We contend the structural changes that are underway are good for the industry and can be embraced.

T

alking with agency owners usually brings up some common negative themes around recruitment being taken in-house, procurement lead contracts, and the rise of RPOs. All of these are making it more difficult for agencies to conduct business at the same level and for the same fees that they could previously.

There is no doubt business trends come and go, and the use of RPOs and internal recruiters will probably be less prevalent in the future. But one aspect will not return – corporates will not return to paying full fees in the future for tasks they are currently receiving for a smaller fee.

This makes a lot of sense in a rational world. The recruitment industry exists to provide a value added service that organisations believe is better sourced externally rather than internally.

Organisations outsource their talent acquisition to recruitment agencies. But the service from the industry needs to be economically viable compared to other alternatives.

Over the past decade the growth of job boards and online facilities like LinkedIn have commoditised activities that used to be the domain of the recruitment industry.

20 March 2013 recruitment extra

In response, the recruitment industry has done a good job in developing new cost models and new quality services to ensure they maintain relevance and expand available opportunities.

But not all agencies are enjoying the changes that have been building over the past few years. It seems 2012 was the year it all hit home. As someone said to us recently “whatever we were doing before the GFC is not relevant or applicable to us now”.

The reality of living in a global economy also impacts the industry. It’s not just the uncertain global economics that influence us, but the arrival of more global niche recruitment agencies and the opportunity for local organisations to source services from offshore.

The Changes From our perspective we see the major changes as: • less access to capital for growth • fluctuating economic conditions impacting corporate decisions • reduced job flow, especially for perms due to in-sourcing and RPOs • reduced margins for perms and temps • smaller agencies losing direct access

to larger corporations as procurement lead organisations deal exclusively with larger agencies • difficulty in maintaining a business development culture – sales are critical to replenish client lists • remuneration models inappropriate to the current business – too many consultants earn commission for tasks that can’t justify commission • pressure to invest heavily in social media and mobile computing It is hard to see the rate of change in these areas slowing.

Build a robust business So what to do about this? Last month we wrote an article on “building a robust business in any economy”. Some points from that article have been revised and included here.

1. Seek an external view It is almost impossible for a business owner working within their business to gain an appreciation of strategic, operational and financial risk without review or questioning from an external party. Having access to external opinions

Head to head

is a critical step to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your business; including how it is viewed, and valued, from those on the outside .

2. Measure your business Those companies that have the courage and conviction to measure and manage their service process and outcomes and empower those entrusted with working it, while challenging them to improve it, sustain a much higher level of engagement and get real performance gains over the long haul. This means you must take the lead in creating a culture that’s always in search of continuous improvement with strong strategic direction, confident leadership, intense customer focus, equitable rewards for all and honest, effective communications.

Companies that excel in these areas will always enjoy stronger individual and company performance with superior longterm financial results.

3. Listen to what your customers are asking you to provide While the recruitment industry is known for its good focussed sales activity, just occasionally someone needs to stop and listen to what the customer is actually asking for.

There is rapid change in the way corporate and government clients are developing models for procuring recruitment and HR services. Your business needs to understand what is happening in your client base so that appropriate strategic decisions can be made. If your clients are seeking different services from its suppliers then you can be quickly marginalised – you might need a new service offering or you might need new clients.

4. Prepare for less buoyant times Many planning activities, revenue budgets and remuneration models assume “on target” outcomes. Not enough attention is focused on the financial “valley of death” when performance is below budget.

Owners need to minimise the break-even position for the company. How much revenue do you need to break even (eg what is the minimum average billings per income producer for you to break even)?

How can you reduce that figure?

The first task is to reduce fixed expenses as much as is possible either by

eliminating them or by turning them into variable expenses (eg by outsourcing).

The second task is to ensure that variable costs don’t kick in until the company has been paid back for its investment and risk. The biggest single expense is staff remuneration and too many agencies incent their staff before the company has been rewarded. The financial health of the company must come before the individual staff member and remuneration models need to reward staff after the company is financially safe in any particular period.

5. Keep project costs and ongoing costs in proportion to your business Unfortunately growing businesses need step increases in expenses such as office accommodation, IT systems, processes and procedures, back office staff, and management structures. A business is particularly at risk at these points of investment as they move from being underinvested to over-invested in a particular area.

The challenge for owners is to choose the timing for the new investment correctly and to choose the size of the investment correctly. You need to consider both the project costs and the ongoing costs. A question to ask is: what if your business shrank by 40% next year? Would the investment you are about to make jeopardise the viability of the company?

6. Business mix Business mix is so important for the future; you don’t want to be too dependent upon the highly volatile perm market. At the moment far too many companies are making reasonable profits only when they have had a good perm month and that tends to be one in every three months if lucky! As soon as possible make the call and have dedicated staff focused on growing and servicing the temp/contractor sector, it’s different to perms and requires a very different person to make it grow. Acquire or quickly develop this capability with an aim to achieve a 70% to 80% contribution to gross profit from this highly valued offering, then the next time the perm market hits a bump you should at least still be able to make profit on a regular basis.

7. Cash management Cash is always king and you must be focused on your debtor days and be

prepared to act quickly to keep them at a good level. Tougher market conditions often means people taking longer to pay you, you must be able to overcome this obstacle more often than not if you are going to succeed.

In addition, you need to have investigated and have available (at short notice) the access to increased funding for growth, you might just need to tap into it if you hit that big order?

Nigel Harse, MDBTWO Nigel commenced his recruitment career in the UK in 1977. In 1990 he came to Australia and launched ECCO Personnel, and in just five years took the company from $7 million to $75 million in sales. The company doubled in size, turnover and profitability each and every year for four years. This Australian subsidiary of the worldwide Ecco Group was consistently ranked within the Top 3 performers.Throughout the 90s Nigel was instrumental in the creation, development and delivery of training for the Special Interest Groups within the NAPC He also served as a Councillor for five years and is a former Vice President of the NAPC (now RCSA). Nigel was appointed as a NonExecutive Director for Catalyst Recruitment in October 2001 and is a Fellow of the RCSA and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2003, Nigel established the Recruitment Industry Benchmark Report (RIB Report) in response to frequent requests from industry members to find a means of comparing the results and successes of peers. Currently, Nigel is a business coach and mentor to recruitment firms throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Rod Hore, Executive Director, HHMC Australia Rod was born and educated in Western Australia and works with organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand from his base in Sydney. Rod has 20 years, experience in the Information Technology industry undertaking a range of sales management and leadership roles. Since 1999 Rod has been the Executive Director of HHMC Australia Pty Ltd providing advisory and M&A services to global, locally listed and private organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Much of Rod’s work is with emerging private companies, providing advisory services to owners who are seeking to define and achieve their growth ambitions.

Rod is an enthusiastic supporter of the Recruitment Industry and is an accomplished presenter on topics related to small business.

recruitment extra 2013 March 21

Feature: Candidate management

candidate management tired and testing?

H

ow do you manage your candidates? Does your sourcing, identifying and testing systems get you the results you want or are your tried and tested processes tired and testing? Are your candidates responding positively to their experiences or are you leaving them confused, uncertain and anxious?

Candidate management can involve everything from sourcing, interviewing, tracking and onboarding through to employee engagement, succession planning and turnover analytics. It is a time-consuming yet important process that can make the difference between a great candidate accepting or declining a job offer. It can make the difference between raising your brand above others in the marketplace or sinking without a trace.

Great candidate management is a two-way process – it should be a fulfilling and productive relationship for all parties concerned. In this feature we hear from some industry experts who tell us how they do it. Can you work better and more efficiently using the latest systems? Is it time you ditched your lumbering database and embraced new software or simply improved your communication skills. Now’s the time to improve on ‘candidate care’ not just for the sake of your clients but for your own feel-good factor too.

22 March 2013 recruitment extra

Feature: Candidate management

The case for pre-testing According to John Lescohier, Managing Director of SkillCheck Australia, the value of candidate pre-testing prior to an interview is becoming more apparent to recruiters. Conducting pre-testing on site is no longer seen as a cost-effective or productive method if the candidate has to be rejected on the basis of insufficient skills.

In this article John Lescohier examines concerns around remote testing and offers advice to counteract fears of cheating.

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esting candidates remotely can make your life easier. You can pre-screen the candidates, before they step one foot into your office. This means fewer people to interview, a more efficient process and a quicker time to hire.

Pre-testing would be a no-brainer, if only you could be sure that it’s not your candidate’s cousin’s uncle’s sister’s plumber’s spouse actually taking the test. And who’s to know if the candidate is looking up the answers. Surely your candidates wouldn’t do that, would they?

It can be tough to decide whether or not to allow remote testing, but here are a few thoughts to help you navigate those rough waters. These are not “set in stone” rules by any means but you can use these thoughts to help make the decisions.

1. You can administer cognitive and behavioural tests remotely and then administer skills and knowledge tests within your offices.

Candidates might be more likely to cheat on skills tests (ie Excel tests) and knowledge tests (ie accounting tests) than they are on behavioural tests, where the answers are less clear cut.

2. Tell candidates about how much time it should take to complete each test. If you don’t, the candidate might initially think that, after starting the test, he/she will have hours to complete it, which may lead them to research possible answers. If a candidate knows that the Microsoft Word 2007 test should take about 30 minutes, then they will usually complete it in a similar time frame - around 30 minutes, not three hours. By using the timed version of Microsoft Word 2007, Excel 2010, etc, you may limit the opportunity for a candidate to research an answer.

3. Tell candidates that you will be re-testing final candidates in your offices before the job offer is made. And then do so. This will reduce the temptation to cheat because the candidates know that they will have to test again.

None of these are fool proof ways to eliminate cheating but can provide some peace of mind that you are getting an accurate picture of the candidate’s abilities.

John Lescohier has a unique blend of experience in the recruitment industry plus extensive experience in delivering online skill testing services. SkillCheck was established in 1994 and has evolved from a purely software-based skill testing software provider to a major force in the online skill testing marketplace. An honours Graduate of Indiana University (USA) and ongoing Affiliate Member of the RCSA, John continues to seek out opportunities to provide the best-in-class products and services to all his customers.

recruitment extra 2013 March 23

Feature: Candidate management

Data is a game changer

By Glen Perry, Managing Director, iProfile Asia Pacific

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n the last few years the recruitment profession has gone through a period of unparalleled change. This has prompted many agencies to review their business processes and look more closely at how the use of technology can help them keep pace with rapidly fluctuating market conditions.

Many agencies are seeking a technological advantage to help them improve key elements of the supply chain, particularly in the areas of data acquisition and candidate searching. The objective is to deliver the most accurate and up to date candidate information to their recruitment team in the fastest possible time. Social media in its various forms is a source of candidates, but the majority of agencies have already spent time and money building up their own in-house candidate databases.

The majority of these databases are not used as effectively as they could be. Many records are duplicated and, once downloaded, become quickly outof-date with no cost effective means of maintaining their accuracy. As a consequence, consultants tend to use

24 March 2013 recruitment extra

their internal CV pool as a final resort rather than a first resort. Therefore, the challenge facing these agencies is: how to cleanse their internal candidate database, bring it up-to-date and maintain its currency to make it a rich source of candidates to reduce their dependency on job boards. iProfile can play a key role in this transition for agencies, both large and small, by turning otherwise out-of-date CV databases into a prosperous source of candidate CVs that consultants have the confidence to rely on.

We can improve the quality of your internal candidate database by creating a private iProfile candidate data exchange for your agency, which cross matches the records in your database with the 1.3 million CVs in the iProfile Exchange – in real time – resulting in a dramatic increase in the frequency of updates to your CV records. iProfile processes your existing CV database and creates your iProfile network, linking you with the latest candidate information where an iProfile already exists and creating one where it does not. In

keeping with changes to how candidates want to interact the iProfile candidate portal allows candidates to edit their own iProfiles and create a direct relationship with you. This increased communication with the candidate community helps to drive your brand.

If you want to encourage your consultants to use your internal candidate database rather than continually deferring to external advertising then it’s time to clean up your system and rediscover a potential goldmine of candidates.

Glen Perry started his career as an accountant but soon developed an interest in technology and business process re engineering. Having worked for over 10 years as a management consultant for Morgan & Banks, TMP, Hudson and Talent2 the opportunity arose to travel and Glen headed overseas for a number of years and held management roles for Virgin Atlantic and was IT Director of Monster Europe. On his return in 2009 he bought iProfile to Australia, and as Managing Director has seen it thrive to the point that there are now over 1.3 million professionals in the Australian Network.

Feature: Candidate management

Long term benefits in candidate care

By Rebecca Wallace, founder and Managing Director of Launch Recruitment The Problem The recruitment industry could certainly improve on reputation in ‘candidate care’.

Consultants can often provide a list of excuses as to why candidate care is difficult to prioritise. No doubt, the balance of meeting high expectations from clients and caring for your candidate is tricky.

Order to fill time is ever decreasing and the candidate pool increasing. Candidates now flow into our inboxes through many different sources making tracking and response more complex. Consultants discuss the pressure of targets and how candidate care is often not a measured KPI. OK we understand the issue, however there are solutions and as recruiters it is our job to care for the people we connect with, our candidates.

The Solution 1. Align your Values Choose an organisation that is playing the long game; a company that has integrity and respect for others in their core values and drives for long term relationships.

This can be identified in many ways from the company vision down to the detail of the consultant activities measured by management. The importance of candidate care needs to be driven from the top in order for you to be successful.

2. Candidate Care Programs A comprehensive candidate care program is essential for setting the guidelines and expectations for consultants to follow. There should be separate programs for permanent and temp/ contract placements. They should include; a candidate communication plan (discussed in point 4), Occupational Health and Safety policies and procedures, rewards and recognition, training and development, delivering personalised service - ensuring that every candidate has a positive experience.

3. Technology A lack of care can arise from time pressures versus large candidate volume. However in this age of technology we are fortunate to have

access to a wide range of sophisticated applications specifically designed to assist consultants in candidate care.

Company expectation may be to return every call, respond to every applicant email, this is an acceptable expectation if you are supported by good systems.

Many CRM’s provide the function for auto-generated emails at every step of the recruitment process to assist the recruiter in regular communication even under tight time deadlines.

4. Communication Open and regular communication is imperative in developing long term successful relationships with your candidates. Seeking a new contract or permanent position can be a stressful experience for your candidate therefore it is our job as recruiters to ensure we don’t add to the stress, contrary to this, aim to make the process an enjoyable one.

A few things to note:  Good phone screening avoids wasting your candidates time in face to face interview  Inform the candidate of being unsuccessful in interview as soon as you know to reduce their waiting time.

This also frees the candidate to focus on alternative positions  Thank the candidate for allowing you to represent them  Coach your candidate on good interview technique to ensure they are prepared for your client interview  Provide a thorough job description and complete background on your client company

 Follow up all phone conversations with email instruction so the candidate has the information at hand to review  Inform the candidate upfront of the client interview process i.e. how many interview stages, testing, reference and background check process and contract generation time frames. The candidate is then aware of the time investment and can decide upfront if it is appropriate for them.

These are just some examples of good candidate communication, there are many other examples at every stage of the recruitment process and beyond the completion of the assignment, for after placement care.

5. Know your Market Knowing your specialisation provides the candidate with a level of confidence that they are being represented appropriately.

In-depth market knowledge enables you to provide your candidate with an understanding of market changes and demands. Your knowledge will assist in building trust and make it easier for you to advise the candidate on salary and his/ her appropriateness to a position.

The Benefits There are tangible returns of caring for your candidate relationships:  Developing your professional reputation  Candidate volunteered referrals  Candidates, even the ones you don’t place, become your clients Making a positive impact on people’s lives is at the heart of our profession.

Candidate Care has multiple benefits, not the least of which is making us feel good about what we do!

Rebecca Wallace is the founder and Managing Director of Launch Recruitment, she started her career in the Education sector however moved into recruitment in 2004. Launch has offices in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane and is an award Winning organisation; REA, Fema, Seek and BRW fast starter.

recruitment extra 2013 March 25

Feature: Candidate management

Ditch your database or

tame the beast!

By Bronwyn Murphy, Owner, BJ&M Consulting Services

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hat is your value proposition?

I bet you think it is your database…but your database is possibly doing your reputation more harm than good.

As professional recruiters it is important to identify what value we offer a market place that is full of candidate sourcing tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter et al as well as corporate specific talent pools and databases. In previous cycles our big sell was our database and yet on the whole not many businesses used the database to its maximum potential to source candidates. The push was always to advertise to keep up market presence and put more people on the database.

It was like a perpetual merry-go-round to grab candidates, add them on the database swelling it in order to boast about the number of candidates. And yet it seemed the bigger the database the more alienated the candidates were and eventually the more damage done to the agency brand.

It is a common complaint from candidates that when they submit a CV for a role they have seen advertised, they never hear from the recruiter again. The CV seemingly falls into a black hole never to be used or accessed proactively by a consultant again. Instead the candidate continues to see roles advertised which they know would fit their skills and experience and yet their CV is being overlooked.

From the client perspective if a consultant is engaged based on the promise of a large relevant database they are often perplexed to find their role advertised in the same media they would use themselves.

Corporations can not see the value of using an agency if the agency simply recruits by advertising and not sourcing candidates from their own database.

Internal corporate recruiters have built up their own databases which have also become untameable beasts.

26 March 2013 recruitment extra

Searching a database for talent is a skill that requires discipline at receipt of the CV to ensure it is properly coded/ catalogued and entered. There is an enormous volume of CVs now sitting in databases that are so unmanageable that the only solution appears to be automated acknowledgments or automated rejections. Such an impersonal response is not only a factor to candidate rejection but also contributes to the loss of good reputation and employer value proposition. In-house recruiters are losing the advantage to communicate the company’s value and qualities to the candidates. The internal recruiters’ biggest threat is generating its own downfall by falling into the same traps that they accuse agencies of.

A solution is to ditch the database and move to a candidate on demand model where the job is advertised throughout networks, social media and job-boards.

This solves both the issue of keeping the database up to date and candidate care.

No more broken promises to keep in touch or be in touch when the right role comes along. This means being really aware of what value an agency recruiter offers.

There is more to the role of a consultant than finding a candidate; the value might be in creating a solution, listening and matching skills and experience to clients needs or understanding market specific skills and trends in order to give the candidate and the client a good outcome.

The true value is in knowledge of and the implementation of recruitment skills. Being accessible to applicants and candidates and offering solutions and information can make the agency recruiter stand out in the crowd. Offering a personalised, solution-based approach to both candidates and clients gives credibility and relevance to the agency recruiter in an ever more crowded market.

It is not difficult to add value though

it can take time from a consultant who is already most often time poor. Engaging the principal of “treat others as you would like to be treated” is a simple and easy place to start. Job seeking is a stressful activity, taking a moment to return phone calls and speak with applicants makes for a better applicant experience and the possibility of greater applicant/candidate loyalty. Engaging in a conversation can identify talents and experience the candidate has not identified on a resume and could save a ‘good fit’ candidate from being overlooked.

The market is forever changing so finding the right balance of value, skills and service always has been and probably always will be a moving target.

Add to this the prevalence of internal recruitment teams and it has never been more important to be aware of the kind of service you can offer candidates and clients.

Recruitment consultants will only continue to be relevant if they add value to the recruitment process for all concerned. This does not mean constantly adding services and value offerings free of charge but can simply mean being of service by offering expert recruitment skills, opinion and an understanding of the state and future of the market place in order to provide solutions to both clients and candidates. So maybe ditch the database and start building relationship-based networks.

Bronwyn Murphy is the owner and principal coach/ trainer of BJ&M Consulting Services. The business provides its clients with the tools to improve the recruitment skills of those responsible for hiring decisions. A former recruitment consultant and head hunter, Bronwyn also has considerable experience delivering short courses, workshops and business coaching. To date her recruitment and training career spans over 17 years.

Feature: Candidate management

Recruiting and managing active and passive candidates

By Stefano Masiello, Head of Marketing, CXC Global

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he recruitment and management of active and passive candidates can be one of your most challenging tasks as a recruiter.

These are two totally different audiences which, understandably, require unique approaches in both the recruitment and management processes. It’s important to understand how to effectively recruit and manage both of these candidate pools in order to improve your effectiveness as a recruiter.

Active candidates are those who are actively seeking new job opportunities and possibilities. They are pounding the pavement, looking for on-going challenges and learning opportunities in their employment pursuit. They are typically unemployed, but may also be in jobs where they are looking to move on to new challenges. They will be looking at job boards and career centres. A good portion of online job opportunities are posted with this particular audience in mind. The active candidates are also fairly easy to sway to your recruiting sites because they are actively seeking employment challenges.

Passive candidates, on the other hand, are generally already employed.

They may be in executive positions and have no real intention of moving. They may casually glance at a job board but in reality they are happy in their positions.

If a better opportunity came along they would possibly take it, which makes them passive candidates. The key strategy in hiring passive candidates, unlike active candidates, is to take your time.

Passive candidates are far more likely to ask about the job opportunity, the title, the duties involved and the salary.

They will definitely ask you about the benefits package as well as issues such as required travel and work-life balance.

Once you’ve recruited these candidates it’s important to manage them effectively.

As can be expected, the management

involved in overseeing active candidates is different from managing those that are considered passive. As a general rule, likely because they are fairly passive in their job search, passive candidates are generally thought of as being lower key.

They tend to be professionally mature and stable and will likely fall into the category of upper management due to their professional maturity.

Active candidates, on the other hand, may seem somewhat desperate for work.

They attend career fairs and information sessions and take advantage of social networking in order to optimise their job search experience. It’s quite possible that these candidates won’t be considered for management roles regularly, as they are grasping at whatever job opportunity comes their way.

This is not to say the active candidate is completely immature, however. As a result of the changing landscape in the global employment market, employees of all ages and experiences are seeking work. This, in turn, means that careful consideration must be made when looking at your active candidate pool as possible management candidates. Certainly, when working with active candidates for various positions, you should make all the same considerations as you would ordinarily make – largely answering the questions, “Does this candidate really meet the overall requirements of the position? Does he or she fit in with our organisation?”

Managing the passive candidate can be equally trying largely due to their passive nature and multiple questions. While they are definitely professionally stable and mature they may be slow to jump at any position. It takes some time to persuade them that the position you want to offer is ideal for them, they will have an endless number of questions and can take up a lot of your time. You need to be clear with the passive candidate that you are willing to

work with them and will answer all their questions in due course.

As can be expected, it is a challenge for the active candidate to be patient and wait for answers. Active candidates are anxiously anticipating word as to whether or not they’ve been hired, so it’s important to them that they be informed quickly whether or not they’ve been successful in securing the employment. As a result it is important to offer them some reassurance that their application has been processed and they will be contacted in due course. Give them a timeline as to the process of events, assure them that their application is in the queue and someone in Human Resources will look at it as soon as possible.

The bottom line is, active and passive candidates are two different candidate pools which require different approaches when it comes to recruitment and management. How you choose to manage them will be largely up to you, but you need to keep in mind that one group might need a slow push to come to you while the other might need some assurance. Take that time. Get to know the candidates you’re dealing with and the management issues could settle down with little effort on your part.

Stefano Masiello is Head of Marketing at CXC Global. He has over 15 years’ experience in Australasia, the Middle East and Europe working primarily with leading ERP and payroll IT organisations. As a qualified Industrial Designer, Marketer and Project Manager, Stefano’s experience ranges from developing online multi-currency solutions, GPS, medical, HR, payroll and superannuation to market turnaround and penetration campaigns for global clients.

recruitment extra 2013 March 27

The Panel

Rosemary Scott

Jackie Rees

Managing Director Scott Recruitment Services

Owner Simply Recruitment

The market has been flat since the last quarter of 2012. However, I am pleased to report it has picked up this year already with a growing confidence amongst some sectors of the industry. Although it is worth noting that this confidence is dependent on the location of the business, the segment of the market in which they specialise and also the health of the business generally.

We have found that a flat market creates a common trend amongst recruitment consultants. The successful consultants become less ‘active’ in the market. They understand the nature of the unstable market and work solely on adding value to their current employer.

A flat market does, on the other hand, create an increase in the number of ‘average’ recruitment consultants actively entering the market for two main reasons: 1. Either they have been made redundant 2. They fear becoming redundant Unfortunately, by the very nature of the market being flat it is difficult to find a home for these consultants, as clients become more discerning and want to look for the ‘best’ talent in the market.

What we have been noticing is that the top tier of consultants are still approachable via discreet search, but are more risk averse to making a change. We also notice that clients are also more risk averse – meaning the recruitment cycle is taking far longer, more reliance on multi-referencing candidates and more interviews.

The important aspect for these top tier consultants who are open to an approach to move are that they are acutely aware of the credibility and sustainability of the business they are looking to join. They are taking time to do their research, to make sure that the business they are considering ticks all the boxes in the areas of presence in the market, recognition in their area of speciality, internal systems, culture, financial stability, turnover of staff and branding.

At Scott Recruitment we have had over 20 years of experience in the rec to rec space and we pride ourselves on both an excellent knowledge of the industry and the fact we only accept ‘Employers of Choice’ on our client list. In fact the levels of due diligence recruiters are now taking in their recruitment decisions is refreshing and to be encouraged.

Rosemary, FRCSA (Life) has spent 35 years in the recruitment industry in Australia and run her own business for the majority of this time. Rosemary started Scott Recruitment Services in 1992, as the first recruitment to recruitment company in Australasia, and now has offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne. All the offices in Australia are now franchised.

Rosemary also buys and sells recruitment businesses.

28 March 2013 recruitment extra

What an interesting question, with an answer that will vary from month to month in this economic climate! In the last quarter of 2012 we saw some cut backs and redundancies, particularly at the more senior level and, in the main, affected those who didn’t tangibly contribute to the bottom line. It seemed to be a tough quarter for many businesses so the sales pressure was put on again, activity monitored more closely and poor performance managed. Coupled with a lead up to the end of year, there was very little voluntary movement or perception that a new role was a better option.

In reality there were very few ‘good’ recruiters who were prepared to take a risk and move to an unknown employer at this time. The only people we were seeing were those that had already been made redundant or were on a performance management program and knew their days were numbered.

Since Christmas, I’m seeing far more confidence and ‘good’ recruiters (ie those with a stable background, good network and a good billing history) are open to attractive opportunities again.

Once again the ‘good’ recruiters who know their value in the market are not prepared to put up with poor management, poor reward and/or poor career opportunities. They still appreciate that however much they back themselves, in this market, there is a risk involved so will only consider a move if all their boxes are ticked.

Typically, these people are looking for opportunities with better commissions, clear strategy or a strong leader they can learn from.

Equity is still a huge draw for a strong recruiter.

On the other hand, we are also seeing the ‘average’ recruiter who is finding the market tough. These people are still feeling the pressure but probably covering their costs so not at the stage they feel their job is at risk. Confidence for these recruiters is low and they will only move if it makes their life easier. They tend to have an interest in a warm desk or an account management role.

Otherwise, they will stay with their existing employer until the market picks up.

To conclude I think confidence is still reasonably low but I also think this is the new normal. On the upside I believe that movement is more likely to be well thought through and that can only be a good thing for our industry!

Jackie has a recruitment background spanning over 20 years.

She joined the industry in 1989 after completing a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology and worked her way up from Temp and Perm consultant to Regional Business Manager and Regional Training Manager for a leading UK recruitment business. She relocated to Sydney in 1997 where she managed a boutique recruitment agency in Parramatta. Jackie has since worked in Wellington, Melbourne, London, Sydney and Brisbane in a management capacity and across several industry sectors.

She started in rec to rec in 2000 and established Simply Recruitment, a Sydney based recruitment to recruitment specialist in 2008.

The Panel

Mary Dowrick Founder Dowrick Recruitment & Coaching

Given the current flat market conditions what level of confidence are you seeing amongst recruiters looking to change roles?

Across the market there remains a level of confidence, however there is also a level of caution that has not been seen in the industry before. The recruiter is showing a higher degree of conservatism in areas that previously were the companies’ domain.

The recruiter is looking for more security in both the company and the job. They seek details from companies in terms of infrastructure, reputation and market presence. They are looking for much more from their potential leader in terms of the manager’s strengths, how they will contribute to the success of the consultant through leadership, mentoring and learning. Do they have real client contacts and market knowledge? They are questioning the manager’s industry reputation and history and asking if they shown consistency in their leadership.

Candidates are more conscious of looking into the company infrastructure, database, systems and process. Will they assist or hinder the process of making a placement? Is social media being used and at what level? Is the organisation as a whole in a profitable situation, has there been a retention issue, are there recent redundancies and are the existing consultants billing.

Expectations need to be clear regarding hours, billing levels and whether the desk is a cold start-up or if there really are some current contacts that translate into business currently being conducted from the desk.

Restraints are being discussed and dissected as never before with recent history showing more cases being held up by the courts. Quality candidates are aware that this is an area they need to be conscious of adhering to and are happy to do so, as long as the expectations are reasonable.

There is no doubt we have seen a drive towards internal recruitment as people perceive it as a career progression or that they will no longer have the pressure of the agency 360 degree recruiter. The important point here is that internal recruitment is a different career path not an easier option.

Confident candidates see the current market conditions as a way to further develop their reputation with the backing and support of a good company that has the right processes and leaders in place. For a skilled and competent recruiter this is a good time to find a new role amongst an industry that is still struggling to hold its talent. With evidence of consistent employment and sales, a recruiter can be confident of individual and career growth regardless of the market conditions.

Mary has a recruitment career that spans more than 25 years, consulting across many industry sectors and at all levels of the market in Australia and New Zealand. From her formative days managing teams at Paxus & Recruitment Solutions and founding the trade publication recruitment extra, to growing her namesake brand to have international scope and a multimillion dollar turnover. A recruitment expert, business coach, career coach, mentor and manager, Mary shares her skills and knowledge in areas such as candidate attraction and retention, succession and leadership planning, sales productivity and recruitment skills through to assisting the individual to secure the right role.

recruitment extra 2013 March 29

Development

Soft vs hard skills Effective and frequent use of the soft skills enables the deployment of the hard skills Successful leaders need both to impact business productivity.

By Bruce Watt PhD, Managing Director , DDI Australia

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oo often we hear the distinction between the leadership soft skills (interpersonal) and hard skills (business management, operational decision making, financial acumen). Further, companies often espouse that they value leadership soft skills and employee engagement - but when the going gets tough economically, the budget that funds the investment in “soft skills” is often the first one cut.

It is in times like these that we need to emphasise that soft and hard skills are not so much distinct but rather linked and effective and frequent use of the soft skills enable better deployment of the hard skills which in turn drive business productivity. Of course the typical response of line managers is “that’s a nice idea but can you prove it?”

It was in response to this question that we commenced some pilot research

recently on a sample of Australian DDI executive assessment data. The pilot results tell a compelling story about the Interaction EssentialsSM (soft skills) and their positive impact on business judgment (hard skill).

We used multivariate regression and created a single dependent variable called “business judgment” which was a combination of the business acumen, clarifying and selling the vision, driving for results strategic thinking (basically the leadership hard skills). Then we regressed all the other assessment data – competencies such as engaging others, coaching, executive disposition and personality data on the business judgment data to find out what most statistically predicted business judgment.

Seven behaviours and two personality predictors were statistically significant and collectively accounted for 91% of the

Leading Change – Drives for Improvement

Business judgment is higher when these scores are higher

Approval Dependent

Business judgment is higher when this is lower

Engaging Others – Builds commitment

Business judgment is higher when this is higher

Communicating with Impact – Demonstrates inclusive behaviour

Business judgment is higher when these scores are higher

Communicating with Impact – Invites Feedback

Business judgment is higher when these scores are higher

Volatile

Business judgment is higher when these scores are higher

Executive Disposition – Behaves consistently

Business judgment is higher when these scores are higher

30 March 2013 recruitment extra

variance in business judgment (which is huge). The most noteworthy are listed in the table below.

The volatility finding is intriguing because it suggests that this derailing disposition is actually a predictive characteristic for successful leaders as they make good use of unsettled emotional states. However, the findings also suggest that good leaders ensure that the impact of their volatility derailer on others is well managed through interpersonal skills or in DDI speak – “the Interaction EssentialsSM”.

The findings from this pilot research are sufficiently encouraging to now scale-up the analytics. We look forward to sharing this extension of our research that business productivity is derived from the effective and frequent use of the soft skills – to enable better deployment of the hard skills. 

Bruce Watt, PhD, is the Managing Director of DDI Australia. He consults with clients to design and implement integrated talent systems, drawing on his expertise in designing selection systems, executive assessment and development, succession management, and driving organisational change. Bruce also maintains a number of executive coaching relationships with senior executives in a variety of industries, including banking and finance, manufacturing and mining.

Social recruiting

Have you Googled yourself recently?

By Richard Spencer, Director, TWOSocial

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n Greek mythology, Narcissus, a hunter and the son of a nymph and a river god, was renowned for both his good looks and his pride. In revenge for any number of slights, Nemesis lured him to a pool, where falling in love with his own reflection he was unable to leave and subsequently died. This cheery tale is the etymology of the word narcissism meaning a fixation with oneself, egomania, conceitedness or just plain selfishness.

So it sounds a little narcissistic to suggest you Google yourself right?

Maybe, but I suggest you do and in fact you should Google yourself on a regular basis.

If you like you can take solace in the fact that your Google search will be just one of the two million searches undertaken in that same minute. That minute will also see the creation of 48 new hours of video on YouTube, 100,000 new Tweets, 684,000 pieces of content shared on Facebook and nearly 28,000 new Tumblr posts.

In September of 2012, Google had 900,000 servers around the world that had indexed 50 billion separate web pages. And that proliferation of data is exactly the reason that you, and all your candidates, should Google their own names regularly.

What does Google say about you, your personal life and your career?

In outline terms, there are only really three possibilities. First, and the most likely, Google and all of the social media pages it has indexed, contain highly accurate, and wholly (or at least largely) complimentary information. No problem.

Second you find things that you would

rather other people don’t, which could be as simple as being tagged by a friend in an image you don’t want shared. And lastly, it doesn’t quite contain as much as you would hope and doesn’t really outline you or your stellar career.

In the second case, you need to consider your personal security settings and also double check what your friends, colleagues and family share about you – and where they tag you or check you in?

You can also change your settings to limit how much other people can attach you to the messages they send. Of course as a recruiter, the third option is also a concern – what happens if a client or a candidate Google’s you and finds nothing at all? Who are you and what have you been doing all this time?

When you do give in to your narcissistic tendencies, you will find that Google and indeed Bing and the other major search engines, index the open areas of the main social networks really well.

Which means that it’s highly likely the first search returns you read about yourself will be hosted on one of those sites. To get increased volume of more accurate information about yourself on the web, you can add more content to your social channels. Increased numbers of projects and recommendations through LinkedIn, greater levels of thought leadership through LinkedIn again, or even Twitter, or maybe even Slideshare or Scribd.

From a candidate perspective, you should also be talking to everyone you interview to recommend they review their social media content and security settings.

Jobvite release a Social Recruiting Survey each year and three years ago, 45% of respondents admitted to checking the social profiles of candidates before or after interviewing them. I am willing to guess

that this proportion would now be in the ninetieth percentile. In a 2012 Eurocom Worldwide survey, one in five of those surveyed said that a candidate’s social media profile had caused them not to hire that person.

Google has reached a rare status amongst brands in that it has become a verb. Very few iconic brands achieve such a position – Hoover, Video and Kleenex to name a few of the few. However, according to Wikipedia, Google would prefer us only to use the proper noun as a verb when we are actually using their particular search engine.

Either way, google or Google yourself and act on what you find.  Richard Spencer is a Director of TWO Social, a specialist Social Media agency. As well as being a regular media commentator, Richard advises organisations on how to maximise their opportunities across Social channels. Prior to founding TWO Social, Richard was Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Interactive with TMP Worldwide, Global Head of Marketing for Michael Page and has been working in digital communications since 1996.

recruitment extra 2013 March 31

Mergers & Acquisitions

The Importance of Business Valuations

By Richard Hayward, Principal, HHMC Australia “If business schools could offer just one course, it would not be on stock trading, the efficient market hypothesis or modern portfolio theory. Rather, B-schools should be encouraging students to learn the boring, but critically important, discipline of business valuation.”

- Warren Buffett

I

couldn’t go past this quote from Warren Buffet that so neatly points out the importance of business valuations. The oracle of Omaha definitely has a way with words.

Having a realistic understanding of the value of your business or the value of your shares is critical to personal decision-making and planning. Of course privately owned businesses don’t have as easy a mechanism to determine market value as do publicly traded companies, however, there are many reasons for SME recruitment companies to become aware of their current value.

Why have a valuation done?

There are a range of reasons that business owners require a valuation. These start with the most obvious; commencing a sale process, through to helping resolve shareholder disputes, determining tax obligations, and myriad other circumstances.

It is important to stress that there are different methods for calculating the value of a business which are all valid but can vary substantially in terms of result. We believe an appraisal based on market value is the most relevant in the majority of circumstances. This provides an up-todate view of the business’ value. Ultimately any business is worth what the market is willing to pay at a particular point in time.

Using a non-market based model to value a business for sale may not present the right picture. However well presented it is, a valuation that is well above the market norm is not going to influence experienced buying organisations to pay more.

Business sale Having a realistic market valuation prepared prior to starting a sale process is a key step in understanding your business’ position. If properly undertaken the valuation will give an accurate gauge to the price range you

32 March 2013 recruitment extra

may achieve. That is an essential starting point for any future negotiations. It can also be a reality check for those whose expectations are out of line with current market circumstances. In those cases an honest assessment provides the best means for decision-making: choose to continue with a sale; or take steps to improve the value in your business for a future sale.

Departing shareholders There are times when one shareholder wants to move on and exit the business. This may be either an amicable parting or not. Usually a departure means that one party wants to sell their shares and that is most likely going to be to other existing shareholders.

Where a departing shareholder has 50% or less of the business it becomes very difficult to find external investors willing to buy less than a controlling stake. Shares in private companies are not readily tradeable and can’t be converted to cash easily. Even in amicable situations determining a price for the shares of the departing director can be challenging.

If the business has an effective Shareholders Agreement in place then there may be a requirement for a formal market valuation to be conducted when a shareholder wants to sell their shares. In any case, this is a highly appropriate starting point to determine the business’ value and those of minority interests. It doesn’t always mean that disputing parties will agree but there is a realistic basis for establishing market value.

Divorce settlements Divorce is a fact of life and a common reason for business owners to require a current market valuation. Whether or not the life partners were also business partners and shareholders in the same business, an impending divorce often leads to an assessment of the assets of both parties. This includes determining the value

of the business, or the relevant portion of shares owned, as the case may be.

Financing requirements When businesses require external finance they are frequently required to provide a valuation of the business by the lending body or investor. This applies to both debtor funding and to external equity funding in the circumstances where that has been pursued.

Business planning As part of forward planning any business should be aware of their market value.

Understanding the current position enables business owners to make choices about the approach they want to take for their business; undertake the often challenging actions necessary to increase value in the business or continue as they are.

Summary At HHMC we stress that a business valuation for recruitment companies needs to reflect the industry’s relevant market circumstances and status. Privately owned recruitment companies derive their value almost entirely from goodwill and are affected by a range of determinants that impact on pricing at the time of sale.

Analysing the factors that determine pricing requires an intimate knowledge of the recruitment industry and the comparative values achieved around the country.

Richard Hayward is a principal of HHMC Australia, a specialist Merger & Acquisition consultancy focusing on the recruitment industry. Richard has an extensive background at senior level in the recruitment sector having worked with international, national and smaller local companies for over a decade before joining HHMC. His clients, as either buyers or sellers, include companies ranging from blue collar industrial, ICT, banking & finance, accounting, business support, and operations recruiting businesses.

Change Management

The human side

of mergers and acquisitions

By Vicki Daniel and Kerryn Fewster, founders and directors of Change2020

D

uring a merger or acquisition the majority of time and effort is often spent ensuring changes to products, services, technology, workplaces and branding are in place, meaning the people aspect is often overlooked.

Considering the importance of maintaining a productive and engaged workforce, especially during such an uncertain time, surprisingly little attention is given to ensuring employees are kept informed about how upcoming changes will affect them.

It is important to be honest with employees during a merger or acquisition, ensuring transparency and clarity about what is happening. Merger is often just a more polite way of saying acquisition.

Genuine mergers do occur where there is the intention to integrate leadership and management teams, systems, processes and locations, however, more often than not, a transaction communicated as a merger is a takeover. Such an ambiguity can lead to confusion amongst employees, placing them in the uncertain position of trying to adapt to a new working environment without all the information.

There is nearly always a dominant partner in a merger so it pays to be honest about this with staff. Employees are not naive; they can see what is happening and they will talk to each other about it, filling in the blanks if they have too little information. It helps the transition if the dominant partner is clear about what business rules and behaviours are open for discussion and which ones are not.

Pre-merger or acquisition, it is the financial due diligence of the deal that receives most attention, leaving employee due diligence overlooked. If companies are not making reasonable plans to understand the current employee base of a partner or takeover they leave themselves open to significant risks.

Some companies forget that although the financial numbers on a potential merger or acquisition look great, people issues can add to the time taken to finalise the transition and cause morale issues for the new entity for a long time.

While acquisitions can represent a significant challenge for companies both financially and in terms of employees, there are a number of key actions that help minimise negative outcomes. For example, companies need to understand the differences in each party’s employment terms and conditions so that they can make sensible decisions on this during and after the merger or acquisition.

It is important to be honest with employees during a merger or acquisition, ensuring transparency and clarity about what is happening. Merger is often just a more polite way of saying acquisition.

To really stay on top of any potential risks, companies should plan consultation and significant engagement of relevant parties. This helps them stay in touch with how their employees are approaching the merger or acquisition – either positively or negatively – and mitigate any problems that may arise.

Starting the people planning process early and ensuring steps are taken to make the transition as easy as possible are key to success.

Every company should have a comprehensive draft transition plan before they attempt any merger or acquisition. It is extremely important that the process is not just left to unfold on its own.

Companies would benefit from developing and scheduling specific activities to help minimise disruption to business. In particular, items such as communication plans, including key messages, timing and designating who will deliver these messages, can prove invaluable, especially when a company needs to announce sensitive information.

Plans should include a range of actions to address issues such as appointments, outplacement or relocation costs, workplace change costs, business process and technology rationalisation, organisation restructuring costs, and rebranding costs including physical signage, uniforms, stationery etc.

While these logistical issues are vital to businesses and require significant effort to implement, the way in which a company approaches a merger or acquisition in relation to its employees should still be the number one priority.

Lastly, and most importantly, companies should be willing to have an open discussion about the differences between the style and behaviour in each company. The change in the culture of a company must be explained so people are able to understand and identify with how things are done in the new world. We really encourage employers to have open and frank discussions about this.

Change2020 is a change management consultancy founded in 2005 by Vicki Daniel and Kerryn Fewster, co-directors. They have worked with companies in the mining, oil & gas and construction, finance and retail sectors across Australia and New Zealand, dealing with local well-established businesses, blue chip companies and multi-nationals alike.

recruitment extra 2013 March 33

VIC State Review

STATE OF THE STATES: VICTORIA Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria has the second largest economy in Australia after New South Wales1. However, the troubled manufacturing sector has seen thousands of jobs lost in the last couple of years and the outlook doesn’t look encouraging if the dollar continues to remain so high.

Figures from the Bureau of Statistics show the states unemployment rate increased to 6.1% in January from 5.6% at the end of last year.

Josh Gordon recently reported in The Age that Victoria’s unemployment rate had jumped to the highest level since the global financial crisis, with the loss of 30,000 jobs from the state economy in January. Whilst the Premier Ted Baillieu blames the high dollar, the carbon tax and a failure of the federal government to press ahead with an inquiry into construction costs, others have suggested that a loss of state funding towards big infrastructure projects has added to the challenges. According to Marika Dobbin, also writing in The Age, the total work delivered by big contractors for government capital projects has fallen by nearly 37%, in the past two years. She said, “A unanimous chorus of industry leaders – from lobby groups, peak bodies, unions and economists – say capital spending is the lifeblood of the Victorian economy, which is under increasing strain because of the building decline.

They are calling for the state and federal governments to fast-track funding for the next round of bigticket projects – including the East-West Tunnel and Melbourne Metro Rail tunnel – which are all a year or more away from building getting started.”

Similarly the latest Business Outlook report from Deloitte Access Economics doesn’t offer much in the way of confidence saying that Victoria’s heavy reliance on manufacturing will keep the economy struggling until the high Australian dollar eases – which will not be until at least 2014.

However, once the dollar begins to fall and interest rates drop the state will start to pick up and employment will grow…though few commentators expect the outlook to be rosy for some time yet.

Randstad Workmonitor:

Deloitte Access Economics:

Victoria specific statistics: • 83% of employees are hoping for a better work/life balance this year compared with last year (79% nationally; so VIC is slightly higher) • 69% of employees expect a pay rise this year (75% nationally; Vic workers slightly less confident of a pay rise than the national average) • 79% of employees said their work load increased last year (77% nationally; so VIC is slightly higher) • 74% of employees believe their organisation is performing well financially (77% nationally; so VIC is slightly lower) • 45% of employees expect the economic situation in the country to deteriorate in 2013 (41% nationally) • 69% of employees are currently satisfied with their jobs (73% nationally) • 60% of employees are focussed on getting a promotion (58% nationally)

Forecast growth in labour costs: Victoria and South Australia, October 2012 The pain from the $A is still being felt. That has left job growth weak, job vacancies shrinking, and the State’s unemployment rate lifting above the national average.

That is why the pace of economic growth in Victoria is expected to ebb further in the near term, before bottoming out in early 2013. It then begins a modest and partial recovery, in part as I expect interest rates and (more importantly) the exchange rate to fall further (and that will help power the projected turnaround in Victoria’s economic growth). However, while more favourable interest and exchange rates will help manufacturers, a complete turnaround in the fortunes of the State’s manufacturing sector is not expected.

1

http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/invest-in-nsw/about-nsw/economic-and-business-climate/state-economies#sthash.etYtydzf.dpuf.

34 March 2013 recruitment extra

NORTHERN TERRITORY

QUEENSLA

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Australia Q1/2013:

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Employers in seven of the eight regions expect to grow staffing levels in the next three months. The most optimistic hiring plans are reported in both Northern Territory and Western Australia, with Net Employment Outlooks of +15%. Victoria employers also anticipate respectable payroll growth with an Outlook of +11%.

Quarter-over-quarter, hiring intentions weaken in six of the eight regions. The most notable declines of five and four percentage points are reported in Northern Territory and Western Australia, respectively. Meanwhile, hiring plans strengthen in two regions, including Victoria, where the Outlook improves by four percentage points.

Based on unadjusted survey data, employers forecast payroll gains in six of the eight regions during the coming quarter. The strongest hiring prospects are reported in Victoria and Western Australia.

Victorian job seekers are likely to benefit from a steady hiring pace in Quarter 1 2013, according to employers who report a Net Employment Outlook of +11%.

Hiring prospects improve by four percentage points [in Victoria] quarter-over-quarter and are unchanged yearover-year. Based on unadjusted survey data, employers report respectable hiring plans for the coming quarter.

The [Victorian] outlook is moderately stronger when compared with the previous quarter and also improves slightly year-over-year.

Clarius Skills Index December Quarter 2012: The Victorian Government’s 2012-13 Budget Update showed a stable outlook for the state’s finances.

The state government forecasts a substantial improvement in its property market over the forecasting horizon.

In the past year, the Victorian economy has grown at a better-than-expected pace of 2.3%.

The state has benefitted indirectly from the mining boom through its port facilities, which has resulted in strong interstate trade and transport. It is also a provider of professional services to the mining sector, including scientific and technical services, and financial services. Health care has also been a strong performer.

However, the labour market has been softer than the national average.

While mining investment activity is expected to peak earlier than anticipated, there is likely to be further growth for these service providers. The high Australian dollar will continue to impact exporters, especially Victoria’s manufacturers.

VICTORIA

NEW SOU WALES

MyCareer Employment Forecast: November 2012 edition After a flat 2012, 2013 is looking better in Victoria. The state of play in Victoria can be characterised as an economy in a holding pattern, although in June 2012 economic growth edged up a notch to 2.3% from 2.1% since June 2011. This insipid economic growth has translated into the job market, with overall job figures during 2012 staying basically flat. However, there is a significant difference between full time jobs and part time jobs.

Over the year to August 2012, the number of full time jobs has fallen 17,400, whereas a year ago 79,500 were added. On the other hand, 21,700 part time positions have been added. The shifting of full time jobs to part time jobs is a typical response to soft economic conditions as businesses adjust their costs.

The unemployment rate in Victoria has also edged up, from a low of 4.8% early in 2011 to 5.5% by August 2012. This rate, however, has remained at this level since the beginning of the year, indicating the job market is static rather than declining.

The number of hours worked also points to the fairly flat job market, with hours worked softening by 1.4% in the year to August 2012.

This softening in growth has also resulted in a similar softening in wages growth. Wages in Victoria continue to grow, but the growth has slowed to 4.4% per annum in the May 2012 quarter, whereas a year earlier they rose by more than 8%.

The outlook still remains positive and well up from the negative troughs at the height of the GFC. Employment intentions are still positive (0.2) but only just. The EMDA model is forecasting another flat quarter for Victoria, followed by a return to growth as the economy picks up, thanks to improved confidence and lower interest rates.

ACTU Jobs Report Feb 2013: All States and territories other than the NT and NSW saw their unemployment rates rise in the year to January. The largest rises was recorded in the ACT, albeit off a small base… It looks as if Victoria has broken with NSW in recent months to join the ranks of the high unemployment states.

The largest reductions in employment in the year were seen in Victoria and NSW, driven in both cases by falling local government employment.

recruitment extra 2013 March 35

TASMANIA

On the move

ON THE 

Gillam joins Kelly Services Kelly Services has announced the appointment of Kurt Gillam to the role of Western Australia State Manager.

Gillam joins Kelly Services following his recent success as Western Australia General Manager of Alliance Recruitment and Lloyd Morgan.

In his role with Kelly, Gillam will be responsible for driving strategic growth within Kelly’s business in Western Australia. Using his extensive experience in Commercial, Banking & Finance, Industrial and Mining & Resource recruitment Gillam will direct Kelly’s Executive, Scientific, Commercial and Industrial lines of business.

Karen Colfer, Managing Director Kelly Services, said Gillam’s appointment was a demonstration of Kelly’s commitment to the Western Australia market.

“The areas of notable growth in Western Australia align very closely with Kelly’s areas of expertise in regard to delivering first-class recruitment solutions.

“Having someone with Kurt’s local profile, knowledge and expertise heading up our already formidable Western Australia team is an exciting proposition for our business as a whole,” Colfer said.

Gillam said he was looking forward to overseeing Kelly’s Western Australia

36 March 2013 recruitment extra

“The Kelly structure and the expertise which exists within the local Western Australia team means the business is really well positioned to provide outstanding service to the WA business community.” operation and believes the local team is in a very strong position to take advantage of the opportunities the Western Australia market presents.

“Western Australia continues to lead the way in regard to business confidence and employment demand. The Kelly structure and the expertise which exists within the local Western Australia team means the business is really well positioned to provide outstanding service to the WA business community,” Gillam said. “It’s going to be an exciting period for Kelly Services in the West and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

New NSW GM at Talent International Sean McCartan has joined Talent International as the NSW team General Manager.

McCartan has spent the last five years at Charterhouse as the Director of its Technology Division. Prior to this he worked for Manpower Professional and Elan.

Commenting on the appointment a spokesperson at Talent said, “[McCartan] has enjoyed particular success in the Banking & Finance and Digital Media sectors, and we’re confident that he’ll add great value to our company.

On the move

MOVE Bibby makes key appointments Bibby Financial Services has appointed Rob Lamers as Regional Sales Manager for the Southern Region to drive sales growth in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. He will report to Gary Green, National Sales Director.

Lamers joins Bibby from Oxford Funding where he worked as Head of Debtor Finance for over four years, and as National Sales and Marketing Manager for five years. Before that Lamers worked as Business Development Manager for debtor finance provider, Scottish Pacific, and as Business Banking Manager for St George Bank and Commercial Account Manager at ANZ. Ian Watson, CEO, Asia Pacific, Bibby Financial Services said, “Rob brings with him more than two decades of banking and finance experience, 14 years of which was spent in the debtor finance industry.

He has a thorough knowledge of business lending and has demonstrated the ability to provide strong leadership, strategic direction and drive financial results in his previous roles. He is a powerful addition to the Bibby team.”

Lamers commented, “With a presence in over 15 countries, Bibby is a key player in the debtor finance market. It has established a significant footprint in Australia and has strong growth plans for



“My key objective is to build awareness of debtor finance as a mainstream funding option available to small and medium sized businesses. Maintaining a strong cash flow will be important for SMEs this year, particularly the manufacturing sector." the local market. I look forward to being a part of the growth story.

“My key objective is to build awareness of debtor finance as a mainstream funding option available to small and medium sized businesses. Maintaining a strong cash flow will be important for SMEs this year, particularly the manufacturing sector.

Debtor finance allows businesses to use the strength of their sales to secure funds, making it the ideal lending option for growing businesses.”

Lamers appointment follows the recent hire of Brendan Green as State

Sales Manager NSW and ACT. Green has 28 years experience in the banking and finance industry. He was a founding director of Scottish Pacific and past Chairman for the Institute for Factors and Discounters of Australia and New Zealand.

Bibby has made a further appointment in Queensland of Sally Taylor as Client Manager reporting to , Paul Rossiter, Head of Operations, NSW and Queensland.

“Sally has over 22 years experience in the banking and finance industry and will help drive our expansion in Queensland.

We have strong growth plans this year and we look forward to expanding our footprint in this important region,” said Ian Watson, CEO, Asia Pacific, Bibby Financial Services.

Taylor joins Bibby from FactorONE, a debtor finance company division of Scottish Pacific, where she worked as a client relationship manager. She previously worked as a client relationship manager with Scottish Pacific from October 2008 to April 2011.

Prior to joining Scottish Pacific, Taylor owned her own broker business, Raven’s Finance, where she specialised in providing all aspects of commercial finance. She has also worked with ANZ Bank as a relationship manager and as finance development manager at Symbion Health.

recruitment extra 2013 March 37

Corporate Advisory Services

Industry Benchmarking

Payroll Solutions

RIB Report www.ribreport.com.au 03 9005 7007

Learning & Development Learning Seat www.learningseat.com

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PBC / Hogan Assessment Systems HHMC Australia www.hhmc.com.au 02 9925 2229

www.peterberry.com.au 02 9967 9666

Recruitment to Recruitment Barton Mills Recruitment

Scott Recruitment

www.bartonmills.com.au 02 9262 5544 – Sydney Office 03 8676 0511 – Melbourne Office 07 3010 9766 - Brisbane Office

www.scottrecruitment.com.au Rosemary Scott – 0414 670 342

Candidate Data Management

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Migration Services

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