Companies are looking to lift staff to meet growth plans.
As managers return to work, one of the first things they're asking themselves is "can I raise my staff count to pre-recession levels? Can I reinstate the positions I let go during the recession and start growing once more?"
Entrepreneurs and companies with entrepreneurial flair are already actively searching for new staff, say industry experts, including Hudson New Zealand and global workplace solution provider Regus.
A global survey from Regus, canvassing the opinions of more than 5000 entrepreneurs in 78 countries, found they are leading the wave of hiring planned in the next six months.
They are more prepared to take the gamble for growth and hire new staff than are larger companies, says Regus. Large conglomerates can be more measured or disciplined about hiring decisions. They are more likely to wait until the market starts moving, inevitably resulting in them lagging the hiring recovery.
Forty per cent of entrepreneurs surveyed say they intend to increase headcount in the next six months, compared with the 36 per cent "all company" average.
The survey also found that entrepreneurs are more likely to be flexible about work locations - 76 per cent said yes - than businesses overall, indicating they recognise that accommodating staff needs is a priority if they hope to secure top talent.
William Willems, vice-president for Regus Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia, says: "Compared with established corporates, the very nature of entrepreneurial business is risky, highly volatile and more sensitive to profit and revenue peaks and troughs. More indicative of a positive confidence in near-term growth is the attitude of entrepreneurial SMEs to increasing their staff numbers."
Entrepreneurial employers are realising there is a talent shortage and they can't be complacent, says Marc Burrage, executive general manager at recruitment and talent management firm Hudson New Zealand. He is reporting a surge in hiring from corporate clients.
The activity he is seeing is coming from the more entrepreneurial large companies, he says. Their attitude is: "We can either lead the pack or follow."
Hudson is reporting an increased appetite from employers for hiring early this year, up to the levels of former good times.
"We are seeing hiring intentions for the first quarter of this year at the highest level since 2008," says Burrage. "And there is liquidity coming back to the labour market."
Companies are finding people who have been biding their time during the recession but are leaping at the chance for a change of job and a promotion, he says. The demand for new staff is happening across the board.
"It is across all levels - executive, non-executive, permanent and contracting." The IT sector is the most bullish, particularly in the upper North Island.
Because the recession was so aggressive, organisations cut harder than ever, getting rid of some important positions.
"When companies cut, they cut through the fat and into the muscle," he says. Some of these quite substantial senior roles will be reinstated.
The second half of the year will see even more activity, predicts Burrage, as business confidence improves and the economy receives a boost from the Rugby World Cup.
Andrew Hamilton, CEO of business growth centre The Icehouse, says entrepreneurial companies have high hopes for the Rugby World Cup boosting their businesses, and are hiring in anticipation of that, but the optimism is coming from all kinds of businesses - from technology companies, food and beverage, to manufacturers.
Explaining the attitude of the entrepreneur, he says: "In their mind, they don't think they are taking on a lot of risk - if there's opportunity there, absolutely they will be employing and hiring without thinking. They don't think they are taking a risk, they see the opportunities. They see them and go, 'that's worth pursuing, let's go for it'."
Hamilton says the hiring activity he is seeing is occurring most among entrepreneurial companies that have weathered the recession well because of their international exposure.
"Those businesses who have been involved in international markets for a number of years are more resilient from this recession than those who are domestic only," he says. Firms that have invested time and money in international markets may have found that not all their markets have gone well, but at least they were insulated by some.
Hamilton knows through The Icehouse that fast-growing businesses are invariably looking to plug gaps with skilled workers. The firms are looking for people with a strong background in manufacturing and distribution, he says. Although they will go to manufacturing recruitment firms, they will also go to existing employees and ask: "Who do you know?"
Technology firms are commonly looking overseas for talent. Hamilton says there is a trend for skilled immigrants to be more attractive to Kiwi employers than returning New Zealanders.
The skilled immigrants are looking for more career progression, have good skills and excellent international contacts, while the returning Kiwis want a change of lifestyle from their busy, international careers, to "lounge out" when they first return and can let their overseas contacts lapse.
Skilled immigrants, by contrast, tend to keep up their international contacts and want to return home every now and then to catch up with family.
Gill South is an Auckland freelance writer
