Outsourcing HR operations

By ADAM GIFFORD

Human resources will be the next job area to be outsourced, according to IT recruitment veteran Doug White.

He says in Australia outsourcing human resources already accounts for a growing chunk of the business of Spherion.

This is the new name for Interim Technology, the global recruitment and training company which bought Mr White's Wilson White and Associates last May.

"The group in Australia has a very successful body of people who can go into large corporates and completely take over the recruitment, the payroll and setting the objectives for the HR function.

"If you are in an organisation with eight or 10 people in HR, and a couple of senior people
leave, you can be in trouble. With outsourcing, Spherion can plug those holes quickly from
resources in our company," Mr White says.

"If Australia is anything to go by, New Zealand companies will look seriously at this."

He is already enjoying the benefits of Spherion's global reach in filling positions in
the New Zealand market. Spherion is a $US3.7 billion business with 1300 offices worldwide.

"For New Zealand companies, it means we can now tap into a huge database to pick up experts - if you're looking for that real special person, we can find them.

"It's good too, for job seekers because we can offer a New Zealander looking to go overseas an easy transition to other parts of the world."

The recruitment side of the business plans to expand its consulting staff by 25 per cent this year.

Mr White says one of the most positive features of the merger has been the ability for recruiters to tap into the education side of the business, which in this country is pumping out more than 1000 trained people a year.

"The other week one of our consultants placed three students in an organisation which was rapt to have them. These are people in their late 20s, early 30s who're experienced in business - they have an exist
ing work ethic and they put themselves through nine month's training which gave them good o-o (object oriented), relational database management and multiple language skills."

Roberta Budvietas is the national director of Spherion Education, formerly Computer Power. She says the average age of students is 29. Current students are from 17 to 53.

The self-paced courses cost between $450 and $19,000, with all courses Qualifications Authority-approved. The school's dress code means shirt and tie for men, business clothes for women.

"This is a business course for a business environment," Ms Budvietas says.

Emphasis is placed on industry networking and recruitment preparation - things like writing compelling CVs and interview preparation.

She says all the graduates trained last year got IT jobs.

"If you have a 29-year-old man who probably has a house and a couple of kids, who decides on a career change and takes time out to retrain himself in this field, that's a compelling proposition for an employer.

"A large proportion of our students already have a tertiary qualification, but they might not want to be employed in that field."

She says Spherion trainees tend not to go into entry-level positions like help-desk support, but rather into positions which use their programming skills.

Spherion Asia Pacific managing director Peter James says the name change was needed to reflect its emerging role as an "i-workforce architect."