Hays Accountancy & Finance - January 2010
Commerce & Industry
Hotspots
Mounting workloads have seen companies lift recruitment freezes and begin to rebuild their teams following the internal restructures and redundancies of 2009. Accounts payable, accounts receivable and credit control candidates are sought. Candidates with exposure to certain systems such as CHRIS 21, SAP and ADP are still in demand. So are candidates with financial services industry experience. We are rapidly moving from a candidate saturated market to a market where exceptional candidates are harder to find, and are likely to receive several job offers.
Payroll officers and payroll managers are areas of general demand as well as system specific demand. These job functions have traditionally been affected by skills shortages, but an insistence from employers that a candidate add value in not only their job function but in other areas of the business has further reduced the pool of suitable talent. In late 2009, many companies greatly improved their processes and streamlined practices, resulting in a more highly skilled and cross-trained workforce.
Employers have demonstrated a recent tendency to merge roles, which necessitates candidates with all-round skill sets. Assistant Accountants in particular are sought for their all-round abilities.
Business analysts and management accountants with commercial business partnering experience within the manufacturing and FMCG industries are in demand. Businesses that postponed new initiatives and new product launches are now proactively approaching candidates. Many of these candidates put their job search on hold 12 months ago and now that demand has improved sharply, they are re-entering the job market and employers are expressing interest in meeting them.
Management accountants with a costing focus will have an advantage. As companies grow once more, they require candidates with a diverse skill set to analyse and provide information about market demands.
Senior accountants with a good mix of management and financial accounting skills are sought by smaller businesses.
Regulatory accountants with knowledge of local requirements and international standards such as Basel II are sought. The increased need for banks to prove the liquidity in their balance sheets and the increased scrutiny from regulators has fuelled the need for candidates with this type of experience.
Candidates with mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and investment appraisal experience are also sought. Project accountants are needed in the resourcing and mining sector, where a buoyant world commodity market has resulted in a number of high-profile projects.
The coming quarter
Employers are expected to actively recruit in the first quarter of 2010 for several reasons. Firstly, there are many instances of employers opting to recruit now in an attempt to gain competitive advantage and secure the best of the available talent. In particular, the banking community is driving the market in terms of job flow. This will no doubt have a knock-on effect into other sectors.
Secondly, those organisations that delayed filling their vacancies in 2009 are now receiving headcount approval. Departing staff in 2009 were rarely replaced, with their duties absorbed by remaining staff members. Now that business confidence is rising, employers are reassessing and re-creating vacancies where required. They are repopulating accounts teams. Again, employers want to secure the best of the available talent before the candidate pool diminishes. They usually seek candidates with similar industry and organisational structure background.
Thirdly, candidates already in permanent roles are re-entering the job market, looking for their next career step. This momentum will also generate opportunities as positions become vacant, further fuelling the jobs market.
We expect a trend towards permanent recruiting this quarter as businesses become much more comfortable making long-term decisions.
Executive trends
Vacancy activity at the $150,000 and above level is gaining momentum as employers recruit to fill gaps in their structure. Since many high calibre candidates put their job search on hold in 2009, the competition to secure these roles is great. Demand at present is centred upon commercial all-rounders with industry-related skills.
Employer trends
Employers are demanding a more highly skilled candidate. They believe that increased candidate levels equates to increased candidate quality. Many also believe that while they are now expanding and recruiting, other businesses are not. Yet the market is active. While there was a strong flow of candidates at the start of 2009, the market is now candidate tight. There are many areas of skills shortages, as detailed above.
Consequently, employers with such expectations have had to extend the length of their recruiting process in order to find the specific skill sets sought. They are registering their vacancies early in order to allow a comprehensive search. They have also increased their use of temporary staff while they wait for the right calibre of permanent candidate.
In contrast, those employers that maintain realistic and flexible expectations regarding candidates, and who consider transferrable skills, are able to fill their vacancies quickly, often in under a week. Those businesses that do not act quickly are starting to miss out on the best quality candidates, since multiple offers are again starting to occur.
Employers are also demonstrating an increased preference for multi-skilled candidates that can add value in not only their primary function but to other areas of the business. For example, a candidate with specialist accounts experience plus all-round skills to support another area. In order to secure such a candidate, employers are providing benefits such as flexible working hours. Some even offer a KPI bonus for those candidates that do go above and beyond.
Salaries stabilised towards the end of 2009. Employers began to realise they are competing for the top talent once more, which helped bring an end to the downward trend. Salaries have not yet started to increase however as demand increases further throughout 2010, this is likely to change. In the meantime, employers are focusing on offering additional benefits.
Candidate trends
Candidate confidence is rising, although before moving from their current position they want an offer from an employer that can demonstrate stability and growth forecasts. The increase of permanently employed candidates is a positive sign of market improvement. These candidates waited out the financial crisis, and are now more confident in the economy to consider changing roles once more. This candidate movement will, of course, increase overall recruiting activity.
With the exception of these permanently employed candidates, the overall calibre and volume of available candidates has decreased compared to 12 months ago.
There has been an increase in candidates returning from overseas working holidays. These candidates are viewed positively by employers.
