Tide turns for the also-rans

By MARK STORY

With recruiters digging deeper to find talent within the tight labour market there has never been a better time to apply for that plum position. If you weren't one of the top 10 per cent getting job interviews last year, it's time to dust off your CV - the tide has turned.

For Laurie Finlayson, HR director with accounting firm Deloitte, the litmus test on the talent paucity within the candidate market, is the way the market is devouring the fat layers it formerly spat out. The net effect is creating curious dynamics within the recruitment industry and Finlayson says the truly savvy are starting to wise up.

The morass of good people at the middle management level previously sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring - after being "disestablished" from their last jobs - are now gainfully employed again. Ironically, while employers are proud to have snapped up what they regard as top talent, many of those same people are just chuffed to have landed another job.

With the "layer of fat" syndrome all but gone from the market a longer recruitment chain is expected to follow. That means candidates previously overlooked should have a better crack at making job shortlists.

What is sustaining near full-employment levels - at around 96 per cent - is economic growth. Research from job ad monitor ANZ Bank reveals job ads nationwide are up 11.2 per cent on March last year.

So exactly how acute is the candidate shortage? One of the telltale signs for Finlayson is the way firms and recruiters interact.

"In years past, recruitment firms had to beat a path to our door. But in the past two years it has become the other way around," she says. "Firms recognise the importance of preferred relationships, especially when access to candidates is tight."

The other big barometer of the candidate wasteland for Finlayson is the virtual doubling of the time it now takes to put someone into a job. While finding an IT manager remains relatively easy, she expects it to get tougher in specialist areas as the talent pool evaporates.

There is no fat left in accounting, and Finlayson suspects what surpluses are left across other sectors, especially marketing and banking, are drying up fast.

Having reached desperation levels, Matt Wood, associate with recruiter Chamberlin Doyle & Associates, says firms are now placing into prime banking roles people he had previously been advised would never be hired again.

Wood says what is driving the appetite for those with investment banking skills is strong corporate activity, including the biggest number of share market listings since the Muldoon era.

There is also a dearth of permanent support staff, including PAs, secretaries, and customer services people, says Juliet Casey, consultant with recruiter Pohlen Kean. She is also witnessing greater demand for middle management by SMEs that started out as one-man bands.

It's the same within the insurance sector, says former fund manager Paul Lyons, who was only able to get contract work since the industry started shrinking post-September 11, 2001. He has landed two good job offers but opted for another short-term contract that allowed him to remain in the Auckland market.

The prospect of one job opening creating vacancies elsewhere, as people with jobs join the candidate market - as opposed to those without (who filled half of all vacancies last year) - bodes well for recruiters. But if they can't find candidates to fill these jobs, they won't make any money.

Nothing illustrates Deloitte's plight finding good staff more than the results to an advert for an HR manager. Out of 42 who applied - half the application level received two years ago - only two made it to interview.

Based on these numbers, Finlayson admits Deloitte now has to look within an employment sandpit it never had to play in before.

That means looking to newer, hungrier recruiters as another source of good candidates, plus job boards, and offshore markets.

"We're now saying, 'Let's contact 10 places instead of five' and are going beyond university campuses into polytechnics. We used to wait for post-graduates to knock on our door. Now we have to go out and find them."

Instead of always selecting the best candidate on offer, Finlayson says some Deloitte appointments can take up to nine months. But most employers who don't have that luxury are being forced to drill down below the top 10 per cent of candidates to fill jobs.

But from former recruiter Sheryl Green's perspective that doesn't mean the market is lowering the competency bar. The market is having to recognise that candidates beyond the top 10 per cent could perform the job equally well.

"Drilling down beyond the top 10 per cent has forced employers to widen their catchment areas and look for much broader competencies," says Green, a national sales services manager with Yellow Pages. "As a result, recruiters have to assess on attributes as opposed to experience or technical knowledge alone."

A notable pick-up in candidate numbers over the past few weeks suggests more people recognise the timeliness of throwing their hat into the job ring. That's good news for recruitment firms, but Casey warns, employers who can't turn around new appointment decisions quickly risk their shortlists dwindling as candidates respond to more pressing opportunities.

From a candidate's perspective, Finlayson claims the talent squeeze is an opportunity too good to miss. With so many job pickings to choose from, candidates are starting to pre-qualify potential job opportunities even before the interview stage.

The net effect is that a lot more can be negotiated today than in previous years. Finlayson says candidates are capitalising on the job market by driving the terms of employment more in their own favour.

"People are demanding more flexibility in their employment - for example working mothers, or participation in other areas of interest - while still having a full-on career," says Finlayson. "We are also witnessing candidates who have been self employed apply for positions - for income security and collegial reasons, but on their own terms."

With good candidates likely to have the upper hand in the recruitment stakes for the foreseeable future, Casey urges employers to get better at selling what their organisations can offer over the short, medium and long term.

Labour market conditions are making employers more flexible in accommodating individual needs but Casey urges candidates who see the labour shortage as an opportunity to put their boss on notice not to flaunt it.

That means not moving for the wrong reasons or burning bridges. Casey advises the best way for candidates to capitalise on the tight labour market is to have a well-evolved career plan, key contacts and strong drivers - beyond money - as to why they might choose to jump.

"You don't want to be remembered in three years' time - when labour conditions may have swung the other way - as having run roughshod over people," says Casey.

"Never enter the candidate market just to test your arm, and don't leap too early."