Some increases in recruitment

Businesses are beginning to actively recruit staff rather than only replace them, says Robert Walters New Zealand managing director Richard Manthel.

But while these increases appear to signal the end of the recession, the increase is not steady across all areas, and aspects of recession psychology still remain.

The just-released Robert Walters second quarter employment market survey suggests growth is still uneven across employment sectors.

The accounting and finance sector found the first quarter of 2011 one of the busiest periods for recruitment activity in over four years. But in quarter two, recruitment demand dropped off significantly. The banking and finance sector found recruitment in both sectors slowed after a strong start to the year.

Mr Manthel said the conservative approach businesses have adopted in the last few years is understandably still quite ingrained – especially after the tragic events in Christchurch.

He said companies needed to look after their existing staff and employers who didn’t place significant focus on internal culture risked losing key employees.

“As conditions improve, we are speaking to an awful lot of candidates out in the market who are seeking some form of reparation for the increased workloads and the salary cuts they endured during the downturn and they will not hesitate to move for a better opportunity now.”

While there has been a increased number of people leaving New Zealand to undertake their OE in recent months, there has also been a strong flow of high calibre candidates returning to New Zealand from overseas, particularly at the senior end of the market.

Mr Manthel said the increased departures were a good indicator of improving economic confidence.

The return flow is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year, prompted in part by the Rugby World Cup in September.

He said public sector cost-cutting measures, pre-election jitters and the rebuilding of Christchurch would cause peaks and troughs in the market for the remainder of the year. 

“Ultimately, shortages will continue to increase across all of our disciplines and that this will drive up market rates if not by the end of the year then certainly heading into 2012.”