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By Liza | Categories: Consulting | No Comments
Here’s a common scenario we face in consulting, particularly where we are recruiting in close-knit industries where everyone “knows” everyone else.
A candidate comes to see us. We build trust with them. We interview them at length. We understand their strengths, weaknesses, reasons for leaving or wanting to leave their current role. We talk about where they would like to work next. Then we reference check them.
Throughout this process we are not naïve.
We know red flags or where candidates provide fuzzy answers. We know answers that simply do not “make sense” based on our knowledge of the players and personalities in the industry, or from our many years of recruiting people. We know when there is a problem which we need to explore. We cover this in our questions and in our references. If we receive a poor reference or an issue about the candidate emerges, we keep referencing until we uncover the truth.
Only when we are satisfied that our candidate is suitable, will we present them to a client.
Unfortunately there have been numerous times where we have done this, where our client, the prospective employer, will get on the phone to someone who has worked with this applicant’s employer for a “reference check” – then refused to meet with our candidate. They might have heard something about someone from someone else.
If you are referencing someone informally, stop and consider this:
What you do not get from an informal reference check is context. You will probably never know whether the issue was a one off, or a continuing part of that candidate’s history.
The candidate has no right of reply. If there’s been a problem, you’ll never understand how that candidate has dealt with it. You may never get to understand their side of the story. There will definitely be another side – there always is.
We know we cannot stop informal reference checking.
But if you do reference check like this, you do lose the right to complain about lack of talent in your industry.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
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By Liza | Categories: Accounting Jobs Sydney, All Categories | 1 Comment
Accounting jobs in Sydney – the demand is still strong
In a jobs economy that is increasingly dominated by growth in temporary, part time, contract and casual roles, if you’re an accountant you can count yourself more fortunate than others.
What is the long term outlook for accounting jobs?
Job prospects in accounting continue to defy national trends. There are more Accountants working in full time positions than the national average and workers in accounting jobs earn more than other sectors. If you’re interested in where we get our numbers check out the government’s Job Outlook site.
Where are accounting jobs in Sydney?
We’re in Sydney. We recruit jobs for CA and CPA qualified accountants for professional services across a variety of roles and for all levels beyond graduate.
For people employed in this sector in Sydney, job prospects continue to be relatively solid, although we’ve found employers are taking longer to make decisions and are demanding top quality applicants.
During 2010/2011 we saw steady demand for jobs for Senior Level Accountants. This seems to be a trigger point for career decisions and decisions about exiting this profession. Once someone becomes CA qualified, they have the option of leaving the profession. Many head into commercial jobs within organisations.
As part of the hiring conservatism we mention we are seeing less demand for Supervisors jobs as many firms promote from within.
Demand for insolvency jobs in Sydney
Over the past decade, consistently in demand is insolvency professionals and business services professionals.
Insolvency professionals tend to be in demand when business is going backwards, or people are going bankrupt. While we have not seen a spike in demand for these jobs of late, there is definitely nervousness in the economy.
Demand for Business Services professionals in Sydney
The demand for business services professionals is a by product of the mining boom and the economic recovery. This has had the spin off benefits for business consulting, taxation and auditing type services. This growth in jobs in Sydney has been primarily for qualified or part qualified professionals who have very strong relationship management and interpersonal skills, and outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
Interestingly we’ve seen clients revisit the incentives offered for staff who are able to bring new clients in the firm. We’ve not seen performance incentives for client retention, which should be present. This would be an added carrot for attracting well rounded professionals.
Why do we say this?
Accounting candidates focus on the portfolio of clients they are given and the diverse nature of the work they do for these clients. Gone are the days when firms should expect their staff to do the same thing for the same clients over an extended period of time.
If you would like to discuss your staffing requirements or your next career move please give us a call – (02) 8221 0553. We’re experts in this field!
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
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By Liza | Categories: All Categories, Insurance Jobs Sydney | No Comments
Insurance jobs in Sydney – demand is still strong!
The start of the employment year (that’s anytime after Australia Day) is always a good time to reflect on the year that was, and put our thinking caps on about where the demand exists for insurance jobs.
If you read the economics headlines you would assume that disaster predicted for Europe spells doom and gloom in our employment market overall. However we all know that headlines are written as extreme attention grabbers and the real employment picture is far more nuanced than that.
In our assessment of the employment market for insurance jobs, the forecast is not all gloomy. We’d say it’s patchy with a few rain showers over the coming year. Here’s why.
What is the long term outlook for insurance jobs?
For insurance jobs over the long term the Australian government’s Job Outlook provides some solid information. This website presents data from various industry sources including the Australian Bureau of Statistics. (Insurance is grouped as a profession in with money market and statistical clerks.) So the picture for just insurance jobs is probably slightly rosier than what they state.
Turnover in these occupations (that’s people leaving the occupation) is about par with other professions. Unemployment is on par with other professions. While they rate prospects for growth for the next five years to be slight, the better news is that the industry is expected to grow at 24.8% over the next 20 years.
Where are insurance jobs in Sydney?
We’d agree with the long term outlook we’ve talked about above.
We recruit mainly in Sydney. Compared to 2010 last year we saw strong growth in insurance claims roles at intermediate level across the general insurance sector and across all product lines with a focus on personal lines and personal injury insurance. By intermediate level we mean the claims decision makers. So that’s the people who accept, evaluate and manage the insurance claims processes for a portfolio of clients.
With climate change predicted to increase the frequency of extreme weather events such as bushfires and floods, we see the demand for insurance claims roles increasing moderately.
Why do we say moderately and not dramatically?
With the recent spate of natural disasters, the cost to the industry has been huge. While companies may not feel the impact immediately as they have reinsurance, the longer term cost as reinsurance arrangements are renegotiated will be in increased premiums. The insurance industry is looking to reduce costs so we are now seeing some large insurers outsourcing administration and claims roles off shore, and some staff freezes.
Is this a long term trend? Who knows!
While there is an immediate cost off the bottom line for staffing costs, companies that have outsourced large scale services have often found that their clients complain. Given that clients who make claims are very often stressed we could reasonably expect that they may receive more complaints. Insurance is a grudge purchase. The only time people evaluate the service they have purchased is when they use it. So a poor experience at claims time could well translate into a higher rate of customer attrition.
While the relationship between customers that insurance companies have and the customers that they want is complicated, any large scale outsourcing may actually backfire and insurance jobs may return to Australia at some point in the future.
Jobs in Workers Compensation insurance claims have increased.
In other insurance sectors we see steady demand in Workers Compensation roles as a statutory insurance class. There has been an increase in the volume of Workers Compensation claims. While insurers are doing their best to provide a manageable caseload for their staff, most candidates are ready to gravitate to another line of insurance, and are prepared to compromise on salary to get the right role.
With the strong demand for outstanding claims professionals and a shortage of candidate supply we suggest that insurers and claims management companies look at both their salary bands and retention strategies to prevent attrition. There is still a demand for insurance underwriters, but the higher demand is for insurance claims staff. Quality claims professionals are finally receiving the attention they deserve in the employment market.
If you would like to discuss your staffing requirements or your next career move please give us a call – (02) 8221 0553. We don’t mind saying it – we’re experts in this field!
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
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By Karalyn | Categories: Career advice | No Comments
1) Do nothing. Turn off the iPhone, bury the iPad, give Facebook the flick. Catch up on sleep.
We call Christmas the cranky season, as it is one of the most stressful times of the year. If you’re worried about your career direction, put it on hold during this period. Take a break and give up worrying for a while. – or find something bigger than yourself to worry about. Try volunteering. You’d be surprised at how much perspective the size of other people’s problems can give you about your own.
2) Develop some self-awareness. Do you actually know your strengths, weaknesses, motivations and values?
Most people spend more money on their holidays than they do in evaluating and marketing themselves for their career. Yet your career is where you’ll spend most of your time. You do know the saying, don’t you? “Do something you love and you’ll always feel like you’re on holiday.”
3) Develop some clarity about what you can offer your employer. This comes from the self-awareness we describe in point 1), plus understanding where you sit in your market.
4) Write down a few goals. Make them measurable. Put a time frame to them. This sounds so basic, but you’d be amazed at how well it works. It must be the process of articulating your goals that keeps you accountable.
5) Break down your goals into smaller steps. One huge goal can seem insurmountable. You may find yourself giving up if you feel overwhelmed if you ask yourself to climb the career mountain all at the one time.
6) This next bit is going to sound like dating advice.
Put yourself out there. Make sure people can find you. Put your profile up online. Linkedin is a treasure trove for headhunters. A passive way of being active in your job hunt is to have a very good profile.
7) Look for help. One thing that works for people is an accountability coach. Ask a person to ask you once a week how your job search is progressing. Think of them like your professional nag. They’ll soon irritate you if you have done nothing.
Speaking of professional nagging, if you do find yourself thinking about your next career move, give us a call (02) 8221 0553. We don’t mind doing it. That’s what we’re here for!
By Karalyn | Categories: Insurance and accounting job market | No Comments
By all accounts, if you’ll pardon the pun – jobs in accounting appear to be off to a big start in 2011 – according to the Advantage Job Index at least.
In February they say advertisements for accounting rose by 9.89% compared to the overall market which rose by 6.8%. On an annualised basis, accounting jobs are now 35.37% higher than this time last February. According to Advantage, that is good news in particular for professionals in payroll, payable, commercial and company accounting.
The ANZ job survey showed a similar trend for jobs overall. According to them, total job advertisements grew 1.2% in February. This is 19.3% higher than at the same time last year – and the 10th straight monthly increase. Behind this boom are jobs in Queensland, where advertising has surged by 30.5% suggesting the floods have created clean-up jobs.
Is this all that it seems? Here’s what we’ve noticed at the career coal face.
We’ve certainly seen a hike in demand in insurance roles, in NSW – where companies have been deploying staff up north to help with assessing claims. We’ve also noticed that the big freeze on permanent staff, a hangover from the GFC, is over.
For accounting roles in February we’ve noticed a big pick up in permanent jobs, compared to this time last year. Our clients are all telling us that they have plans to expand even further and wanting to take on more permanent staff in the sectors of business services, taxation and accounting.
Is it sustainable? That’s the global multi-billion dollar question. We hope so! In this article the Australian’s Economics Editor, Mike Stutchbury suggests that if we in Australia manage our luck well, we will continue to prosper from a bigger mining sector. Jobs for city based professional services will grow as ancillary services such as accountants, lawyers, engineers, project managers are required.
But there are clouds on the economic horizon with the fall out from floods in Queensland, the earthquake in Japan and the impact of Cyclone Yasi. The Treasurer Wayne Swan has been priming us to not expect too many presents in the up coming budget suggesting that the disaster in Japan, Australia’s second biggest trading partner, could wound our exports such as coal and iron ore.
Politcal spin….possibly?
For the medium term at least, if you’re looking for a job, the market is healthy. In boom times when you have skills in demand, it’s easy to get greedy around money. We saw that a lot in the past, prior GFC. So we’d like to remind people that while financial security is important, there are bigger things than money to consider when you’re looking for a job.
For our employers wanting to retain staff, the same caveat applies. It’s been our experience that throwing money at people to keep them, may work in the short term. But if you’re not fixing the underlying issue that prompts your team to leave, you’re creating an expensive and bigger problem.
We’ll cover more of this in posts coming up.
