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Credit Crunch Creates Business Opportunity

29 January, 2009

Global recruiter Hays latest quarterly report reveals that some Australian companies are using the credit crunch as an opportunity to expand.

Nigel Heap, Managing Director of Hays in Asia Pacific, said that while some businesses had "suffered" over the last four months, others were turning the financial squeeze to their advantage.

"In some cases, recruitment freezes have been implemented in a knee-jerk reaction to economic pressure, however at the same time companies who take a long term view are pursuing aggressive plans of growth to steal market share from their competitors. For these companies, it is a time of enormous opportunity, with quality candidates in greater supply and less competition to secure top talent."

Mr Heap said that there were good opportunities available for candidates with skills in risk management, profit maximisation, process improvement, and business development.

He also added that the public sector was also proving attractive to job hunters looking for "job security and career progression."

"This is likely to be the case as public funding, particularly in infrastructure, continues," he explained.

The report revealed the most active skills in demand to be:

* Accountancy: Analysts of all types, management, systems and financial accountants, and quality payroll officers.
* The Accounting Profession: Insolvency candidates, especially those who can demonstrate a commitment to a career in insolvency.
* Accountancy - public sector: APS4 payroll officers and APS5 candidates with government budgeting experience, APS6 & EL1 management accountants with Commonwealth budgeting experience, and APS6 & EL1 financial accountants with CA/CPA qualifications.
* Architecture: architectural candidates with experience in areas such as healthcare and education.
* Banking: Candidates with strong business development and relationship management experience such as senior relationship managers and business development managers.
* Construction: Business development and bid management candidates, water industry engineers experienced in both construction and maintenance, project managers, and electrical and mechanical designers.
* Construction & Property - public sector: Statutory and strategic planners and civil engineers, particularly within housing authorities and local councils, traffic engineers, planners, and employer side project managers with a trade or architectural background and experience in a government setting.
* Contact Centres: Candidates with industry-specific skills, particularly those with IT skills and inbound SAP experience.
* Education: Teachers in rural areas, experienced and high quality teachers within the private school sector, qualified early childhood candidates, senior high school design and technology teachers, and teachers within mathematics, ICT, and the sciences, as well as qualified teacher librarians.
* Energy: Power infrastructure and substation design engineers.
* Engineering: Mechanical, electrical and civil design engineers, environmental engineers, scientists and managers for infrastructure projects, as well as experienced design engineers with additional skills such as drafting, and project/site supervision.
* Facilities Management: Technical staff, particularly at the entry to mid-level, trades staff for permanent roles, and technical facility and building managers with people skills.
* Healthcare: Midwives outside of the major capital cities and registered nurses in mental health.
* Human Resources: Generalist human resources candidates.
* Human Resources - public sector: Occupational health and safety, learning and development, injury management, workers compensation, and change and organisational development experts, as well as remuneration and benefits candidates.
* Information Technology: Project managers within the telecommunications sector.
* Information Technology - public sector: Systems administration and server support candidates, project managers, and .Net analyst programmers.
* Legal: Lawyers with skills in insolvency and restructuring, and lawyers in the construction area.
* Logistics: Candidates for lower management positions in key operational roles such as team leaders and supervisors in warehousing, business savvy operational managers, candidates with export experience, and qualified customs brokers.
* Office Support: Candidates at the entry to mid-level, particularly administration assistants with intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office products, candidates with MYOB and SAP experience, and experienced temporary high volume switchboard and reception candidates.
* Office Support - public sector: entry-level and experienced candidates with reception, personal and executive assistance skills, and mid-high level administrative support skills.
* Oil & Gas: Senior level exploration and production facilities engineers, as well as subsurface and subsea candidates.
* Pharma: Clinical research associates within the CRO environment, and senior clinical research associates with project management experience within pharmaceuticals, regulatory affairs associates and senior regulatory associates, drug safety professionals, and medical affairs candidates.
* Policy & Strategy: Strategy, planning and research, executive, and environmental project candidates as well as association policy, health policy, and candidates for project-based roles.
* Procurement: Demand planning and forecasting analysts, and business transformation and change management specialists, as well as consultants with experience in setting up Greenfield sites.
* Property: Candidates with experience in large corporate organisations during times of restructure, plant machinery and insolvency general valuers, property management, asset management, asset recover, and acquisition management candidates.
* Sales & Marketing: Business development managers, internal sales staff , fundraising specialists, and tender and bid writers.
Resources & Mining: Mining engineers.