Short queue to become a whizkid

By VICKI JAYNE

Want a career? The good news is that you're unlikely to be joining a long queue. The bad news is that this doesn't bode too well for business growth.

Skill shortages that have been showing up for some time in new economy growth areas - IT, telecommunications, biotech and the like - are now becoming more widespread.

Where recruiters once had a choice of 10 candidates and could weed out at least four goodies forclient interview, they're now lucky if they can dredge up two.

And we're talking reception skills here, not your telco whiz, or people fluent in java.

It's not just a skill shortage but a people shortage, lament employment agencies. Jobs advertised in print or on web are not generating sufficient response. Why this should be is something of a mystery - though cheaper travel and better earning ability overseas are commonly cited.

While there's not exactly a flood of people leaving, the ebb and flow of migration has been running against New Zealand for a few years now. Our last net gain, says Statistics NZ, was in 1998 when the flow was 2180 in our favour.

In the next three years, permanent and long-term departures exceeded arrivals by 10,200, 8990 and 12,600. Most are lost to Australia (31,580 in the past year), the UK (1290) and the US (960). Net gains are from China (6420), India (2470), South Africa (2200), Fiji, Japan and Samoa.

Those leaving are not only new graduates off on overseas experience, though they are well represented. The number of 30 to 60-year-olds leaving has also increased.

The biggest occupational loss is in the professional category - a 16.3 per cent jump from 1995-96 to 2000-01, says a report compiled by the Boston Consulting Group for the Competitive Auckland project.

Set up to look at how Auckland stacks up against other cities worldwide and identify the business and skills needed to drive growth here, the project's interim findings make gloomy reading.

Skilled or experienced workers are heading overseas or are in short supply because the city's tertiary institutions aren't turning out needed skills quickly enough.

Meanwhile, incoming migrant talent is being poorly utilised. A lot of highly skilled people are driving taxis for a living.

It's too early yet to pinpoint tactics that will help improve the skills problem, says project chairman David Irving.

He is also chairman of Genesis Research and Development, adjunct professor in enterprise and management at Auckland University, and a former chief executive of Heinz-Wattie.

"What concerns me is the lack of a good fit between the sort of businesses we can grow in Auckland and the skills we should be bringing through our universities and tertiary institutes," he says. "There's a lack of cohesion there."

Phase two of the project will focus on the value-creating business that can thrive in Auckland's metropolitan environment, and how to best meet its skill needs.

It will also check what other cities are doing to attract and retain talent.

One of the problems is that skill shortages are global, not local.

Talent is more mobile and a lot of poaching is going on, says Dr Kaye McAuley, NZ director of strategy and business development for TMP Worldwide (formerly Morgan & Banks).

"People here are being targeted by other countries and we need to be more proactive in highlighting New Zealand attractions.

"At the moment, there is this big global exchange going on but with one loop missing - the one bringing skilled workers back in."

There's no shortage of expats keen to return, says Dr McAuley.

"Our Monster internet recruitment site in Europe has 80,000 New Zealanders registered. These are expats who would come back if they had an interesting enough job to come back to."

While recruiters seek these people out individually, she believes a more concerted promotion effort would help - and she wants the Government to take a more active role.

Changes to immigration criteria making it easier to import skills have certainly helped, says Dr McAuley. But more could be done to target people who have the skills we want and sell them on New Zealand's attractions.

We can't compete on salaries, but lifestyle benefits and the fact that this country is testing ground for some pioneering technology projects are good selling points, says Dr McAuley.

Recruiting is a much more global game, agrees OCG Consulting's general manager, Carol Dallimore, who now often goes overseas hunting talent.

"It's why recruiters are buying up companies all around the world, to control the sourcing problem."

They can't be successful if they can't find the candidate skills businesses are seeking, she says.

She doesn't see any quick-fix solution to a local shortage that has been getting worse for several years.

Reasons for this, she says, include large companies concentrating their activities overseas and taking staff and jobs with them, OE options that are more career-motivated and lucrative than in the past, more competition for the limited supply of top-level candidates, and not enough training.

One problem is that everyone wants good candidates but too few companies are training them.

"We're not feeding the pot at the bottom, and that lack is leading to the present skills gaps," says Ms Dallimore.

"There's a real gap now in that middle ground - those who have got their trainer wheels off, have lots of energy for work, and don't yet aspire to management.

"There are a lot of roles now for these sorts of people."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz