Firstly, we need to understand the national employment market, and what trends are emerging. What has been obvious to all of us has been the impact of the global credit crunch and recession. The Department of Labour indexes national job vacancies, and the graph below highlights the impact the recession has had on job vacancies (sharply declining from a high in April 2007). Since August 2009 we have started to see improving job vacancy volumes at a national level (positive signs).

There has been a 5% nationwide increase in skilled job advertising in the last quarter of 2009(1), with this trend continuing into the first quarter of 2010. Overall business confidence has stabilised nationwide, with a net 23% of companies expecting improvement in the next 6 months(2). National commentators are certainly not expecting a boom 2010 year (the NZ economy is tipped to grow by around 1.8% this year(3)). Rather it will be a year of cautious optimism and controlled growth over the low points seen prior.

One of the more basic but effective measures in reviewing local employment demand can be drawn by analysing SEEK volumes, as it remains a key NZ job portal for those organisations looking to actively recruit new staff.

In reviewing 2008 & 2009 side-by-side we see Hawke’s Bay job volumes have been down roughly 25% from February through to October on prior year. This is a lot lower than the national median reported by SEEK, Trade Me Jobs & APN – all at approximately a 50% drop in advertising volumes from November 2008 through until August 2009, when all have reported recovery (at varying levels). So, Hawke’s Bay has in part been sheltered from the full force of the global recession (reinforced by anecdotal conversations with many businesses & locals in Hawke’s Bay) – again positive news.

So what can we expect to see for 2010 in Hawke’s Bay employment market? Whilst we all wish we had a crystal ball for this year (and beyond), here are some of our thoughts:

• Both active and “below the radar” employment activities are on the rise. People with good experience and relevant skills remain sought after, especially in the Health, Sciences, Engineering, ICT, Accounting, Media & Advertising, and Infrastructure sectors. We also see more activity in the Finance & Banking sectors after a quiet 2009.
• High calibre jobseekers continue to be drawn to the Hawke’s Bay. Many are ex-pats returning from off-shore (which have helped boost the property market), as well as those in the larger centres seeking the lifestyle opportunity afforded to us locally.
• Many actively advertised roles in 2009 were back-fill or contract cover opportunities. In 2010 we are likely to see more newly created positions, as businesses seek to return to growth mode.
• Employers remain focused on skills & cultural fit, with industry experience and a proven track record continuing to be emphasised.
• Re-engaging demoralised and disengaged employees will be a factor for many organisations. With more opportunities becoming available in the employment market there will be an emphasis on retaining good staff. Recent workplace surveys have shown that between 42% – 60% of employees are looking to leave their existing employer given the right opportunity(4)!
• The larger metropolitan recruitment markets are reporting recovery at a faster pace than we are (the bigger the drop the bigger the bounce). Auckland has seen a 30% increase in February over January. Hawke’s Bay has definitely gotten off to a slower start than other parts of New Zealand, but expect us to catch up!

In summary, the Hawke’s Bay job market remains in a stable & improving condition. This stability, matched with the outstanding lifestyle opportunity, see Hawke’s Bay remain as a highly desirable location for many.

Sources:
(1)Department of Labour Jobs Online 2009/2010
(2)NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion
(3)Economic & Risk Outlook – Dun & Bradstreet
(4)Various portal and company surveys

At RIOT Recruitment we analyse & track local statistics (the focus remains on regional growth & activity). One of these is active job postings on SEEK, a basic but effective measure, as it remains a key NZ job portal for those looking to actively recruit new staff.

Interestingly, in looking at SEEK postings in 2008 & 2009 side-by-side we see Hawke’s Bay volumes have been down roughly 25% from February through to October on prior year. This is a lot lower than the national median reported by SEEK, Trade Me Jobs & the NZ Herald – all approximately at a 50% drop in advertising volumes from November 2008 through until August 2009, when all have reported recovery (at various levels). So, we have in part been sheltered from the full force of the global recession (reinforced by anecdotal conversations with many businesses & locals in Hawke’s Bay) – positive news.

The larger metropolitan recruitment markets are reporting recovery at a faster pace than we are (the bigger the drop the bigger the bounce), but even so we have seen a resurgence of local activity over the last two months. A lot of this has included placements & activity relating to opportunities that are not on the open market. We see improved business & consumer confidence continuing to lift the market at a steady pace through the first half of 2010.

In summary, the Hawke’s Bay job market remains in a stable & improving condition. This stability, matched with the outstanding lifestyle opportunities, see Hawke’s Bay remain as a highly desirable location for many (both nationally & internationally).

By way of example a recent international survey* undertaken has shown that despite widespread redundancies & downsizing across the globe, businesses in a number of countries are actually finding it increasingly more difficult to hire good staff.

New Zealand ranks amongst those countries facing increased challenge; this year 42% of businesses have expressed difficulties in finding skilled accounting & finance professionals (compared with only 28% in 2008). This is a significant increase in a market in which there are more & more jobseekers actively seeking new opportunity. This is compounded by a significant increase in the number of employers now worried about losing star performers (72% in 2009, up from 51% in 2008).

So what are we seeing locally in the Hawke’s Bay recruitment marketplace?

• In many cases Hawke’s Bay recruitment agencies & businesses are receiving literally 100’s of applications for advertised roles.
• An increasing number of people are applying for a diverse range of opportunities, often without the necessary skill set or attraction to the role, company or industry. This has lead to overheads in filtering down to a meaningful shortlist of “right fit” applicants.
• A number of highly capable & skilled people are no longer actively seeking change, as job security has become their highest priority. With these people no longer necessarily on the active job market, businesses have to be more proactive in attracting top talent.
• Employer expectation is now much higher than in the past few years. There is a real push to only take on board those who are seen as “stars” – those who have the right attitude mixed with relevant experience and skills.
• Specialised roles in certain sectors remain difficult to fill – areas of particular challenge include ICT, Finance & Accounting, & specialty areas in the Technical & Engineering sectors. This can be attributed to both continued global shortages, as well as a smaller Hawke’s Bay market opportunity.

Overall, the challenge this year still remains in building & retaining winning teams. Now, more than ever, the focus should be on getting the “right fit”, for both employer and employee. To ensure this, call the RIOT Recruitment Team on (06) 835 4550.

* Source = Robert Half Global Financial Employment Monitor – 2009.

Economic & Global Market Conditions

The winds of change and uncertainty are blowing across the globe. It is highly probable that we are faced with recessionary conditions over the next few years. This is a "re-balancing" of credit markets, and of property values that have been in boom mode for at least the last six years.

These conditions are likely to impact in a number of ways in the general employment sector, as follows:

• Business focus will be on streamlining process, and getting "bang for buck" across the board. This is likely to lead to further "right-sizing" in the commercial (and possibly government) sectors.
• Sectors that are heavily exposed to discretionary consumer spending (e.g. tourism, hospitality & retail) will see a downturn in employment numbers, while emphasis will come on our primary production & manufacturing sectors, to enable the economy to trade to back to balanced conditions. The services sector will see a shift in skills focus to support such change.
• Private sector large scale capital projects are likely to be deferred, at least in the short term, due to credit limitations & risk aversion.
• Short term contracting & temping opportunities will likely increase, particularly in the smaller & medium size business category, as "gaps" are plugged (rather than committing to additional full time employees).
• The ongoing outsourcing of non-core business functions will increase. For example organisations may opt to partner with specialised HR consultancy firms rather than retain this expertise (and cost) in-house. Similarly organisations will rely on ICT partners to guide them through the next few years. There will be a real focus on the cost effectiveness & "value-add" of such relationships.

For employers there is no doubt that this is a crucial time to position and utilise your most valuable asset (your people), ensuring that you have the right people in the right place doing the right job.

Skills Requirements

There will be an increasing demand on highly specialised skills in short term. We are seeing this already in the Hawke’s Bay professional services sector, where the emphasis is on skills and capability that can assist organisations in transitioning through the ever changing economic landscape. By way of example specialised tax expertise, risk management skills, HR change management capability, strong financial & management accounting knowledge, and so forth are now areas of high demand.

In the engineering and manufacturing sectors we see ongoing demands in specialist skills relating to areas of efficiency gain (this will increase as further focus comes on streamlining production).  In addition project managers, designers, electrical engineers, skilled machine operators and others remain in demand.

Strong sales skills & strategies are going to be key across the private sector moving forward. People will become more and more demanding in assessing where every dollar is being spent, and the importance of getting recruitment decisions right take on even more importance.

In essence, we are seeing more emphasis on specialised knowledge, and less on "generalist" capability.

Job Volumes & Applications

With unemployment figures likely to rise (fairly rapidly) in the near future, there will be a perception that there will be more "people on the market". Whilst this is true, the reality is that high calibre people will remain in demand, and it will become harder to find those with the skills needed to ensure business growth, or even sustainability, during more challenging times.

Another aspect of such increases in jobseeker numbers is an increase in recruitment overheads and workloads. For those of us that have actively recruited for roles in the past we will now find significantly higher volumes of applications for opportunities. This will mean much higher workloads in finding the "right fit" for business needs.

For the jobseeker in today’s employment market, you will need to seek ways to stand out from the crowd. Target your hunt in on opportunities that fit your experience and skill base, and be proactive in your approach (never be afraid to pick up the phone). Think laterally and if in doubt seek assistance from a job or career coach, or other trusted advisors.

Act Positively

In today’s uncertain economic environment it is important for both employers and jobseekers to act in a positive fashion. High calibre jobseekers will aspire to work with organisations that take such a positive approach to tackling the current conditions, and are capable of looking forward at the opportunities.

Similarly, employers will not look favourably on prospective employees who take a "victim" mentality into interview situations. Regardless of your situation, approach a prospective employment opportunity as just that, an opportunity.

Consider this – "some people walk in the rain, others just get wet".

What does this mean?

Revolutionary Recruitment means bringing great businesses and great people together with great "fit".

At RIOT Recruitment we believe in partnering with leading Hawke’s Bay businesses. We are business people, working with other business people and we recognize the challenges involved in building winning teams.

Recruitment decisions often rank amongst the hardest and most thought provoking decisions made within most organisations. Get the "right fit" and everyone wins.

Getting this "right fit" is an evolving challenge, and there are a number of trends (both old & new) that continue to shape the recruitment landscape. We explore a few in this article.

Dynamic Employment Market

Fundamental cultural & societal changes have seen the employment market become increasingly dynamic; employees today change jobs more often than in previous generations (indeed, people are likely to change careers several times throughout their working life). "Lifers" are dwindling, and organisations are increasingly being forced to plan for higher turnover of staff. This has lead to ever increasing demands on human resource and recruitment services. By way of example, "Generation Y" (people born between 1982 & 1994), generally speaking, pose totally different challenges to prior generations (a 2008 UK employment survey suggests that Gen Y are generally more ambitious, brand conscious and tend to move jobs more often than ever before). The generation following Gen Y (known as Gen Z, Gen C or "digital natives") will bring further changes to the employment market. One thing that stands above all else is that the pace of change continues to accelerate.

TREND = employment markets are more complex today than ever before. Businesses will continue to develop acquisition & retention strategies around these broad generational differences.

Shrinking Boundaries

The advent and ongoing evolution of the internet, along with technological advancements in travel & telecommunications, has effectively "shrunk the globe". This shrinkage has created opportunities for people to research destinations & opportunities more extensively, and to more easily make the transition to a life based in another country.

This trend works in two ways for a regional employment market such as Hawke’s Bay. On the one hand, we are in a constant struggle to retain emerging talent, and to retain highly successful organisations within our regional boundaries. Out of region movements are inevitable, and the broadening of horizons should be encouraged. Many organisations now recognise & embrace this extension of the talent pool and plan for the long term (with the possibility that people will return to Hawke’s Bay later in life, and will have a predisposition to their prior employer).

On the other hand, the Hawke’s Bay continues to attract people looking for work-life balance, in a region with good infrastructure & a sufficient population to sustain a breadth of private and public sector organisations, across various market sectors. This draw of talent continues to refresh and challenge local business thinking, and to inject new direction into the region.

Our ongoing challenge as a region and within individual organisations is to differentiate our brand/s, and in doing so, attract top talent. This means continued development of employment brands, and just as importantly of the Wine Country regional brand (as well as support of other regional development initiatives).

TREND = Hawke’s Bay remains a highly desirable location for individuals & families, with the strong lifestyle (life-balance) draw. This will continue to appeal to both the national and off-shore markets.

Targeted Talent Acquisition

With the ongoing challenges associated with finding, attracting and retaining good people the emphasis has for some time been switching from the traditional "advertise & filter" approach, to a more focused acquisition strategy. This approach will often include a well thought out marketing campaign (capturing active and passive candidate markets), as well as incorporating a proactive "head-hunting" strategy. Once the "right fit" has been found the retention strategies are crucial.

In a short space of time within the Hawke’s Bay, RIOT Recruitment has established a point of difference & a strong reputation in this targeted talent acquisition space.

TREND = more emphasis will be placed on targeted talent acquisition ongoing, as advertising channels become more complex and fragmented.

From "Agency" to "Partnership"

Hawke’s Bay employers have traditionally worked on a basis of either recruiting directly themselves, or engaging recruitment agencies to assist on an "ad-hoc" basis. This has largely been driven by a misconception that recruitment services "sit outside of the business", and are independent of the organisations strategic direction. In today’s marketplace a businesses recruitment partner needs to be able to align themselves to that business (both culturally and commercially). They should be seen as an extension of the business, effectively acting as a brand champion in the wider market, and promoting that business beyond pure recruitment needs.

TREND = Globally, trends show us that recruitment businesses are being recognised as adding more & more value to organisations (both large & small). This has largely stemmed from the fact that business managers and owners are seeing real value in working closely in "partnership" with recruitment companies that can add real strategic value to their business and challenge their thinking. RIOT Recruitment was established with this as one of its founding principles, and businesses will continue to shift to this model.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)

RPO is an industry buzzword (much like "social networking" and "talent acquisition"). The phrase Recruitment Process Outsourcing (and the moniker RPO) has been around for quite some time, and has it origins tracing back to Silicon Valley in the 1970′s. RPO is more widely implemented in global and national markets, and has yet to become "mainstream" in Hawke’s Bay.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a tailored recruitment strategy providing businesses with planning and execution for recruitment needs. Successful RPO providers will create a process that seamlessly integrates into an organisations operation reducing needless recruitment complexities. This implementation of outsourced services maximizes a company’s ability to rapidly scale and adapt, creating the flexibility and agility to effectively respond to the constantly changing talent acquisition environment.

A significant separation between pure RPO providers and staffing agencies is the goal of making the recruiting function a core-competency and integrating this with overall business process (versus simply filling open opportunities or ad-hoc engagement).

TREND = While RPO is predominantly the domain of larger organisations, this will become more widespread in smaller and medium organisations over time, as businesses seek expertise in "cradle to cradle" recruitment services.

Economic Factors

Economic factors play a critical part in our recruitment & retention strategy. Today, we are very much part of a global economy and people will benchmark local market conditions with offshore opportunity. As a region (indeed as a country) we cannot compete on a global scale in terms of job opportunity or pay scales. Our ongoing challenge is to play to our local strengths, and to innovate, building niche "value-add" products and services based around the future. Attracting top talent remains focused on "quality of life" elements that we can offer as a region.

If you would like to discuss your ongoing recruitment needs the RIOT Recruitment team would be delighted to hear from you.