In our newest column, Tell It Like It Is by Chris McGinty, our people2people Queensland Manager presents her thoughts on the market and shares the latest people2people Queensland news. Enjoy!

Christmas Recruits

It is scary how close we are now to Christmas – again! As soon as the Melbourne Cup is over, the recruitment sector goes into a frantic race to find people for hiring managers who can start work before Christmas. This is always a challenge, as many candidates stop looking for a new job in October/November, as they have their Christmas holidays booked. There is usually a new batch of candidates who come onto the market around February the following year. In fact, if you are needing to find someone for a permanent position, whether you outsource through an agency or recruit the role yourself, you are better off hiring a temp and waiting until the new year to recruit the position permanently. From about February/March, you will find you have a better pool of good applicants from which to choose.

Overall Market

The overall recruitment market has remained busy, up to and around the $120,000 mark. It is surprising to us that there is a shortage of good clerical people on the market at present, particularly accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll, given the fact that so many of our larger clients have offshored these duties and, quite often, not very successfully!! It's the same situation for more junior accounting and analyst roles. Many of the hiring managers we deal with regularly have attempted to fill jobs at the clerical and junior to mid-level accounting roles themselves. Some have fluked it and found a good candidate. Many have recruited a candidate we would not have considered (for various reasons), and then these same hiring managers wonder why they are not happy with the outcome long term.

Agency Fees

The reason our fees are the way they are is because of a number of factors.

Our success rate for placements (12 months) is 94% and is, we are told, substantially higher than most of our competitors. I will say, however, that at the moment, given the tough economic conditions, hiring managers are offering lower salaries at all levels. That is your prerogative, but remember you get what you pay for. If you pay below market (i.e. crappy) salaries, the person is probably either not going to stay long term and therefore are waiting for a better opportunity to come along, or they are a pretty ordinary candidate who most likely will struggle to do the job!

Observations of Males vs Females in the Workplace

I have seen substantial changes in recruitment since I commenced 26 years ago (some of you were probably still at school then!). My colleagues and I used to visit clients to take in a job and it was common to be told:

Yes, the hiring managers used to say this! It was always tricky having those conversations, particularly when you were a female of child rearing age yourself sitting there in front of them! Sexism is more covert now, but there are comments made regularly which indicate it is still there. We thought you might get a laugh out of these, if they weren't so real!

people2people News

We have a bright new face who has just started with us. Her name is Siobhan Reynolds, and she will be assisting Mel Hammond in sourcing the best business support candidates in Brisbane. This area has really taken off, with all sorts of business support roles coming in, e.g. marketing officers, EAs, and reception, HR managers, HR officers and customer service people. If you think anyone else in your company could use our assistance in these areas, please feel free to pass this newsletter onto them. We would be very grateful.

Christmas

If we don't talk to you before Christmas, we certainly hope you have a happy and safe one. Kind regards, Chris McGinty