A regular employment update from Kinetic Recruitment.
As we speed along towards the end of the third quarter of 2009 the world is holding its breath.
Great talk of the recession being "officially" over in a number of countries abounds.
What does this mean for normal people going about their everyday lives in New Zealand? Can we breathe out and really start moving forward?
We have conflicting evidence on which to base our predictions.
As a business we have noticed, in Auckland especially, that a number of clients have begun to employ staff with relative confidence in the stability of their workload for now and the future.
It's not to say they don't still consider the options carefully before beginning the recruitment process - suffice to say that costs and expenditure are still being monitored closely by most.
However, the "green shoots" that people talk about, in recruitment, come in a number of forms. An increase in temp orders, for the short term role are now surfacing more often, also a definite increase in permanent work ("We need to get an Account Manager on board, ideal start date, two weeks ago"), and of course the interest from employers in the market and what is really happening out there.
Work is gradually increasing for a number of clients across varying sectors of the market. The jobs that are coming to us to recruit are a mixture of replacements and newly created roles.
We are delighted to still be working with these clients as they are the ones who have weathered the storm and have seen positive changes in their business and levels of work in the last few months, as we have.
What about the candidates? Do we have less applicants for roles now? The unemployment figures for the second quarter have just been released and New Zealand has reached 6 per cent.
The volumes of applications we receive for roles are still high although not at the hysterical level of early 2009.
There are still a lot of irrelevant applicants who are rejected time and again from unsuitable positions and have been looking for a long time (our software tracks applicants who have been rejected from roles more than once).
This highlights the availability of skilled and capable candidates who are meeting employers' briefs exactly and nullifying the need for them to look "outside the square" or settle for unsuitable candidates.
Over the year, most recruitment agencies have had it tough but I firmly believe that, regardless of market condition, it is vital that in our industry we keep the service standards high.
I know of several agencies who have dropped their fees drastically and I can understand why they do - surely it is better to get work in the door than not have it - but it means devaluing a service that in this market needs to be more thorough and professional than ever before.
Do you pay half the cost for a Bentley just because there are lots of cars around and not many people are buying them? Not likely. It is still true that you get what you pay for.
One thing I know for sure in this industry, and it is equally relevant in or out of a recession, you are only as good as your last job. Quality of service and delivery is a guarantee that not many can make.
So standing back and surveying the third quarter of the year with a critical eye; there is good news from overseas of countries moving into better times, we are working with clients who have weathered the storms of the recession and are seeing light on the horizon and at the same time we are still dealing with candidates who remain frustrated and disheartened by the job opportunities they have not yet found.
As we move through 2009 into warmer weather our outlook will change and hopefully, with a bit of bullish optimism, we will come back into our own very soon. We're all ready for it.
* Kate Ross is director of Kinetic Recruitment, school leaver career search company whr24u and the Return2work programme.
