Second Quarter Employment Market Updates

ROBERT WALTERS RELEASES QUARTER 2 2010 EMPLOYMENT MARKET UPDATES

Improved Economic Confidence Gives Green Light to Recruitment To complement the annual Global Salary Survey published in January, the New Zealand office of Global Recruitment firm Robert Walters has just released its Employment Market Updates for Quarter Two of 2010.

These Market Updates provide an in-depth analysis of market changes, hiring trends and salary fluctuations in Quarter Two of 2010 for both permanent and contract workers across the Accounting & Finance; Banking & Financial Services; Information Technology; Legal; Procurement & Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing; and Secretarial & Business Support Sectors.

Richard Manthel, Managing Director of Robert Walters New Zealand commented: “The recruitment industry acts as an effective barometer of market conditions in New Zealand and we have noticed a significant upturn in hiring in the last quarter, in some cases on par with levels experienced pre-recession in 2007.” He continued

“Most New Zealand organisations were still in ‘survival’ mode for most of 2009, with restructures, redundancies and salary freezes commonplace. The recruitment tide began to turn, albeit tentatively, towards the end of the year, as confidence in the economy gradually returned but many organisations still erred on the side of caution, adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach to increasing headcount and giving the green light to large projects. Similarly, many candidates elected to stay put rather than seek new opportunities in those uncertain times.

However, as we enter the second half of 2010, a cautiously optimistic economic outlook with a budget offering business and personal tax cuts, coupled with increased employer and candidate confidence has heralded a seismic shift in recruitment activity.” He continued

“The New Zealand market is currently experiencing a rare ‘employment equilibrium’ whereby there are still sufficient numbers of candidates available in most disciplines to fill vacant roles caused through natural attrition and increased candidate movement. However, if conditions continue to improve, we do predict a return to an acutely candidate-short market by the beginning of 2011. We therefore strongly suggest that organisations concentrate on investing in staff training and development in the latter half of this year in order to retain their top performers and seek to increase their access to talent pipelines in both the domestic and overseas market. Robert Walters conducted a series of New Zealand information seminars in London last month for highly-skilled expatriates whose return home is imminent. The good news is that most returning New Zealanders have very realistic expectations about the salary levels they can command back here and they have skills which will readily transfer back into the New Zealand market.”

QUARTER TWO NEW ZEALAND TRENDS

Key trends emerging from these Employment Market Updates within specific disciplines include:

Secretarial & Business Support

• The non revenue-generating support functions of businesses were still being hit in the latter half of 2009 as companies streamlined this part of the business and ‘did less with more’ – i.e. personal assistants often supported larger teams instead of one person, resulting in a lot of redundancies. • As the market improved in quarter two of 2010 there has been a steady increase in available positions as companies have focused on strengthening office systems and processes by hiring new support staff.

• We have seen more market movement in the last quarter as candidates in stable roles have picked up the confidence to move on and are looking for stability and salary increases.

• Strong business support candidates have been moving quickly and with ease into new roles. They are still in a position to demand market rate salaries, although more intermediate level candidates have lowered their expectations with the hope that this will appeal to employers.

• Attractive pay and benefits, formal inductions and learning and development programmes are the top three retention strategies used by organisations. • Support staff were encouraged to work more efficiently by taking on more duties and responsibilities.

Information Technology

• In 2009 companies adopted a wait and see approach before spending money on big projects so a lot were put on hold and there was a surplus of IT candidates.

• However, as confidence in the economy grew in the second quarter of 2010, these projects started to go ahead, resulting in more permanent and contract roles created across the board.

• Client and candidate optimism in the economy grew so we saw candidates who may have put their travel plans on hold during the Global Financial Crisis resume these plans, plus candidates had more confidence to move jobs when they might have been trying to ‘sit tight’ during the recession, plus more natural attrition.

• With huge movement in the project space, we saw a strong requirement for financially savvy project coordinators who could ensure projects remained on track.

• As confidence in the market continues to grow and candidates become more scarce, salaries are back on par with what we saw 2 years ago, prior to the recession.

• Specialist ‘niche’ skills such Linux, Unix and ERP continue to be in demand but more so in this increasingly candidate-tight market.

Sales & Marketing

• There was a significant increase in recruitment activity in the sales & marketing areas in quarter two as clients become more focused on revenue than cutting costs and hence there has been increased demand for new business development ‘hunters’ who can affect the bottom line of a business.

• Candidates are now more realistic and focused more on long-term career progression, job security and company culture rather than significant salary increases.

• The FMCG sector held strong due to economic caution as many consumers elected to make purchases at the supermarket rather than dining out. There is a real shortage of FMCG brand and account managers in New Zealand at present and candidates with UK experience are viewed very favourably

• There has been a significant upturn in the financial services industry as key external and internal marketing communications projects started and budgets were allocated to this area, with a reassessment of traditional approaches and reinvigoration of existing offerings. There was a renewed focus on redesigning company culture and values.

• As companies look to optimise their online channels, there has been an increase in demand for candidates with specialist experience in e-marketing, social & online marketing.

• In the contract market, candidates are more flexible and are often prepared to take roles that don’t necessarily meet all their criteria as they wait for their preferred permanent role to become available.

Accounting & Finance

• The first half of 2010 showed a marked improvement on 2009 with companies who had held off recruiting in 2009 or who had cut deeply in their restructuring beginning to hire again. This was due to confidence returning to the market with most of our clients feeling cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. Quarter two of 2010 was the busiest recruitment period experienced in the last 3 years.

• Companies were still very cautious and had to go through several stages to get sign-off on a role hence the focus was on core recruitment rather than ‘nice to have’ roles.

• Organisations are still being strict on prerequisites for roles with respect to qualifications as well as specific industry and systems experience as they can still ‘pick and choose’.

• Overall, salaries have remained steady with any increases being in line with CPI. In some circumstances outstanding performers or core staff received increments above standard CPI or were compensated by way of bonuses. Hourly rates on the other hand in general did reduce due to the number of immediately available candidates competing for roles.

• As confidence improves we expect to see an increase in the number of commercially focussed roles.

• There is heavy demand for candidates with experience within industry as opposed to candidates straight out of a CA environment so they can hit the ground running.

Banking & Financial Services

• The first two quarters of 2010 showed positive signs of recovery as headcount freezes and cost restraints lessened and new budgets came into play in quarter two.

• Candidates are more willing to move now than any time in the last 18 months. • Despite favourable candidate supply, there is a steady demand for quality experienced candidates but companies are very selective and willing to put in the time to source the ideal employee.

• There has been a greater demand for ‘traditional’ roles such as financial accountants, fund accountants, treasury accountants, business analysts and finance managers.

• At the more junior end of the market, more opportunities exist for accounts payable, credit control, accounts assistants and investment administrators.

Procurement & Supply Chain

• There is strong demand for experienced procurement professionals with information, communication and technology (ICT) spend experience as projects that had been put on hold in 2009 due to the Global Financial Crisis have been resurrected in 2010 as conditions stabilise. As the projects start to build momentum, the focus on extracting commercial value from the spend in these projects is becoming increasingly important, and the demands for procurement support are mirroring this.

• More company stakeholders are proactively approaching procurement to get help as they realise the value it can add. As a result, procurement resources are being stretched ever more thinly to accommodate these demands and we are starting to see more needs for junior level/developing candidates who can add analytical support to the teams.

INTERNATIONAL TRENDS

Trends noted by Robert Walters’ offices around the globe in the last quarter include the following:

Hong Kong

• Salary levels are beginning to rise again as top-tier candidates demand bigger increments to consider moving, particularly during this period of market upturn where they may receive multiple opportunities at the same time • Skills in demand continue to focus on roles such as senior accountants/analysts, as well as finance managers and controllers with niche industry experience

Singapore

• Alongside the steady demand for tax professionals across all industries, the telecommunication sector has been particularly active in terms of looking to bring in new talents in 2010. In this sector, there is the highest demand for roles such as pricing managers, business analysts, bid and commercial managers as well as risk management professionals

• The pharmaceutical and medical device sectors have continued to hire into 2010, predominantly for junior to mid level FP&A roles

Japan

• The upturn in demand for accounting talent has led to a noticeable increase in the average salaries that candidates can command, with increments sometimes varying as much as 10 to 15%

• An increased emphasis in “value-added” positions has seen a greater demand for FP&A, BP&A and strategic/corporate planning candidates with bilingual abilities

China

• Various multinational companies have begun shifting their regional or global headquarters into China, thus significantly boosting demand for candidates who are experienced in operating regional and global businesses

• Candidates with regional and global exposure continued to be highly sought after, especially those with tax and FP&A experience

Malaysia

• Salary packages have increased by up to 15%, especially for high-demand professionals dealing with costing, credit control and tax

• Recruitment needs have increased across all industries, but more so in the manufacturing as well as the oil and gas sectors

Australia

• Employers added 194,600 jobs in the first five months of 2010, the highest figure in more than three years, cutting the unemployment rate to an 11- month low of 5.4 percent, almost half the level experienced in Europe and U.S. economies

• The resources boom has underpinned Australia’s recovery (Project Gorgon – 5yr $43 billion between Chevron Australia and its Joint Venture Participants, ExxonMobil and Shell)

• Unemployment currently at 5.4% (ABS April 2010)

United Kingdom

• Job volumes are increasing across the board – especially across financial services where hiring through quarter one was approaching 2007 levels • Multiple job offers, buy backs and counter offers return in banking and financial services as demand for professionals grows

• Risk and compliance professionals are still in high demand as the weight of regulation grows

• There is greater confidence across the market and a switch to hiring value add roles rather than cost cutting roles

• However, there is still some caution in certain quarters of a ‘double dip’ Recession

• Salaries are starting to see some upward pressure and candidate expectations are starting to grow

• Demand for newly qualified accountants returns

• Across HR, learning and development specialists and in-house recruitment specialists in demand – a positive sign for the market as organisations focus on retaining their best people and hiring new staff

• Events professionals are in demand again as banks and corporates focus on client entertainment and new business growth, digital marketers also in demand

• Projects specialists in demand as projects put on hold during the recession are pushed forward

VIDEO INTERVIEWS: ROBERT WALTERS’ MANAGERS DISCUSS THE NEW ZEALAND EMPLOYMENT MARKET.

Click on the following link to view in-depth video interviews as Robert Walters Managers discuss current market conditions

http://www.robertwalters.com/en-nz/employers/marketupdate_nz.do

VIEW ROBERT WALTERS’ Q2 MARKET UPDATES ONLINE

Click on the following link to view Robert Walters’ Market Updates on our website:

http://www.robertwalters.com/en-nz/employment-trends.do

ENDS

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