NZ Finance Sector Still Suffering Skills Shortage

NZ Finance Sector Still Suffering Skills Shortage

Three-quarters of NZ finance and accounting professionals, who have some responsibility for hiring, say there is a shortage of skills in the domestic marketplace, according to a new survey from global recruiters Robert Half International.

Forty-nine percent of New Zealand respondents in the Robert Half 2010 Workplace Survey said there was a minor skills shortage in finance and accounting professionals, with 23% saying that it was a major problem. This may surprise those hiring managers who expect there only to be a skills shortage in times of economic plenty, said Megan Alexander, general manager of Robert Half New Zealand.

“In good times and bad, New Zealand companies struggle to locate the people with the skills they need, purely because of the small size of our market,” said Alexander. “And if they do exist, they’re probably in secure jobs being looked after. Businesses here are ramping up activity and finding that it’s difficult to find the skilled people to support that expansion.

“A lot of people that have been hiring are surprised because they assume the market is awash in good people in the aftermath of recession and that’s just not the case.”

Of those Kiwi respondents saying there is a skills shortage, the biggest reason for it cited is candidates moving overseas (23% compared with just 10% in Australia), closely followed by companies not providing development opportunities for staff (22%) and insufficient talent retention measures (21%).

“We are seeing candidates taking off on their OE, which they had put off when the outlook was so bad in places like the UK and Australia,” said Alexander. “Companies really need to step up and reinstate those development opportunities for staff that they cut back on during the recession.”

Still, NZ was the lowest result of the four countries surveyed for saying there’s a skills shortage (74% saying there is a shortage to some extent, versus the Asia-Pacific average of 82%) and the highest for saying there is no skills shortage (17% versus the 12% regional average).

New Zealand suffers a less pronounced skills shortage than the other countries surveyed -- Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore -- as our economy is not growing as strongly as our Asia-Pacific peers, leaving a little more slack in the job market, Alexander said.

“New Zealand was in recession longer than places like Australia, and tended to suffer more,” said Alexander. “A lot of those other Asia-Pacific countries are looking to hire quite aggressively as the global economy recovers. That means Kiwi companies need to work even harder to keep hold of their stars through retention measures such as promotions, staff development and training and recognition of a job well done.”

The Robert Half 2010 Workplace Survey questioned more than 1,600 finance, accounting, HR and executive-level managers from four countries, including 521 from New Zealand. It was carried out in August this year.

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