Update from the City of Sails

Demand for Accounting Staff Up?

Recession makes it harder to find good staff

The global financial meltdown is having an unexpected effect on finance and accounting employers in New Zealand - it's making it more difficult to find skilled and qualified staff.

Despite widespread redundancies in countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, an international survey by global recruitment specialist Robert Half shows that in 10 countries, including New Zealand, companies now find it more difficult to hire good staff.

Last year, 28 per cent of New Zealand respondents said they were having difficulty finding skilled staff - this year that jumped to 42 per cent.

Employers in Canada, Dubai and several European countries - including the United Kingdom and Ireland - also reported it was now more difficult to find good finance and accounting staff.

But the proportion of American employers reporting difficulty has more than halved in the past year - just 32 per cent now compared with 72 per cent in 2008. The proportion of Australian employers reporting difficulty finding skilled staff remained steady at 54 per cent.

And the survey shows that New Zealand employers are having most difficulty finding suitable candidates for senior roles - with finance manager/head of finance/head of accounting vacancies the most difficult to fill.

Megan Alexander, senior manager with Robert Half, said the results were not that surprising to her team of consultants. Even though it was now common to get around 300 applications for each finance position advertised, only a handful of those applicants were suitable.

"This downturn has seen two types of redundancies in the finance and accounting sector," Alexander said. "Some companies that are closing down, moving roles offshore or making significant, company-wide redundancies do lose some star performers.

"But many other companies are simply tightening their belts, and targeting roles filled by less competent staff for any cutbacks."

Added to this, employers were under the impression that there was now a large pool of qualified candidates available, and so expected only to see top-notch candidates.

"While middle-of-the-road performers had no trouble finding a job when the finance and accounting skills shortage was acute, and many employers were prepared to accept them rather than leave positions vacant, employers now expect good candidates to be available and won't look at anyone with a less-than-perfect match," Alexander said.

Compounding this, skilled and qualified professionals were nervous about moving jobs because of the current environment, and so were staying put, rather than applying for advertised positions.

"There seems to be the feeling that it's safer to hunker down right now and wait for the upturn before thinking about changing jobs - but the reality is that if those highly skilled people started looking, they would be surprised by how many employers were interested in them."

Perhaps because of the difficulty employers were having attracting skilled senior staff, there was a more than 50 per cent increase in the proportion who said they were worried about losing top financial performers - 77 per cent this year compared with 51 per cent last year.

"Teams are leaner now, so if a star performer leaves, there is absolutely no capacity in the existing team to pick up some of that slack," Alexander said. "And because replacements are harder to find, employers know that losing a star performer now will hurt them even more than it would have last year."

The survey also showed that most of New Zealand's finance and accounting professionals did not believe the recession would end this year - just 26 per cent expected an upturn some time this year, 50 per cent expected it to come next year and 16 per cent believed it would not arrive until 2011. Four per cent did not believe we were experiencing a financial downturn.
* The Robert Half Global Financial Employment Monitor surveyed 4830 finance, human resource and senior management staff across 21 countries and was carried out in February and March this year.

Coldplay and Napier

Mum said I hardly update my blog anymore, so I was compelled to overcome my laziness + tiredness to share what has been happening in the last few months or so. Really can't believe it is already April, and I have been planted in my work so deep that it feels like I've been here for ages - but I have to say I am having a blast at work. I must say the laidback Kiwi-style has a positive effect on working attitudes; and when I put in the extra mile, it gives me the upper-edge as well. Anyway, what better way to tell a story than pictures:

Coldplay

Coldplay's Viva La Vida concert like I said was a real blast; definitely my highlight for March 09.

Playing 2 nights in Auckland, it totally sold out and justifiably so...the 100+ bucks was worth the experience

On the back of winning a couple of Grammy awards, Chris Martin shows why Coldplay is such a stellar performer and deserving of the awards.

The most awesome part of the show? These guys walked down from the stage towards the entry doors and I thought the show was over. But noooooooooooooooooooo...they walked up the stairs and HEADED STRAIGHT WHERE WE WERE SEATED......and performed at the terraces just next to ours. How awesome is that?

Needless to say, one great musical experience....some of their tunes, so simple yet breathtaking - check out Life in Technicolour, guaranteed satisfaction as your handphone-tune

Napier for the Easter Break

An ardous 6 hour drive from Auckland, Napier holds the key to a welcomed break from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Napier was an art deco city, with each building in town decorated with some form of art-inspired motive.
Even the banks looked pretty cool.

Well, not sure about this art, most probably inspired by Van de Toilette, VDT, the great artiste who drew with brown colours mostly

I absolutely love the Padini jacket from Malaysia, suits every occasion and still keeps me warm. I was so desperate to get it that I called Shen to find my size in Mid Valley to get it for me. You are awesome Shen - my colleagues are envious of it lol

Still love the romantic strolls down beaches, what more with a loved one :)

The 3 couples who went, minus one who had to take the picture for us...poor Hansen, maybe you will find Gretel soon...hmm, wait a minute, is that right?

A lovely picture just before the beautiful girl raged for sitting on bird poo

If only you can see the tiny object being held, it is actually the van we travelled in...quite a good ad for the rental company, shows how reliable the van can be bringing us all the way up Te Mata peak

Playing with the sun. Dragonball-style

See how Picolo holds the fireball? But Chun-Li is not impressed, that is why she made her own movie in Street Fighter

There, Chun-Li with her own Bu-kin

Ka-me-Ha-me.................

HAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Butts anonymous 

Shadows anonymous

Rudolfs for dinner and finally...

Osama's chicks joined us on the way home...and we survived

David

Coldplay, Best Concert, EVER!

Coldplay, arguably the world's best band.

They might not be the best singers but lyric-wise and music-wise,
I feel they are definitely one of the top of the list.

Their concert, two words - SUPER AWESOME.
Showmanship of the highest standard.
No surprise that they are Grammy holders.

Wait till you see some of the pictures from the concert, truly spectacular.
Colourful and inspiring, they really know how to interact with the crowd.
The most memorable part - they actually physically brought their performance to the crowd.

David

Stressful but Rewarding