KEY POINTS:
The finance crisis is changing the employment landscape - in New Zealand and internationally.
A spill-over from the financial crisis on related service industries is seeing a the rise in returning expats hoping for an easier place to ride out the global downturn.
"When Wall St sneezes, other
industries catch cold," says Brien Keegan, of the international financial services recruitment consultancy, Link Recruitment.
"The recruitment market has dropped 60 per cent in terms of job vacancies in the UK", but for local employers, "it's still definitely a war for talent," he says.
But a lot of people from the UK have highly specialised skill sets, particularly from the financial services sector.
With demand declining in the finance sector, employees should focus on their transferable skills.
New Zealand is characterised by a market of small to medium employers, so employees need to be general "all-rounders" in their roles.
For accountants moving into commercial organisations, this may mean highlighting their valuable understanding of regulatory reporting requirements.
Returning expats need to align their salary expectations with what the New Zealand market pays and also be aware the recession means there are fewer opportunities than normal.
Employers should realise that a candidate's culture and personality fit into an organisation is as important as industry background.
Candidates with overseas experience often have alternative skills, such as working through a contract market, and bring a global understanding to the marketplace.
They fit well into the culture of multi-national organisations here, familiar with reporting to Australia, Asia or the UK.
Organisations looking to grow their offshore presence will also benefit from employees who understand what it's like working in different marketplaces throughout the world.
Downturns present employers with the opportunity to "performance manage" underperforming employees out of the company and replace them with better quality people returning from overseas, Keegan says.
It's not only returning expats broadening the talent pool - some Generation Y employees are postponing their OEs, given the decline in jobs in the UK since the economic crisis.
But Keegan says Generation X employees are seen as preferable because they experienced the economic decline at the turn of the millennium. However, they are still new to holding leadership positions during a downturn.
