INTERNATIONAL New Zealand: Earthquake re-build assessed
28 March 2012
As reported by recruiter.co.uk last month, the aftermath from Christchurch’s earthquakes is expected to drive major recruitment needs, but certain factors are complicating the picture.
Thurs, 8 March 2012
As reported by recruiter.co.uk last month, the aftermath from Christchurch’s earthquakes is expected to drive major recruitment needs, but certain factors are complicating the picture.
With ongoing tremors and resultant power cuts in the region, Jason Walker, managing director of recruiter Hays in New Zealand, points out: “Getting insurance to buy new property is proving difficult, and there is an influx of people looking to buy, with few houses available.“This is forcing people out of the area which is putting more demand on businesses looking to recruit to replace those individuals.”
In addition to this, talent was thin on the ground in the country pre-quake across industries, with Walker saying: “There are skill shortages across all areas we recruit for at present, particularly in IT, accountancy, insurance, engineering, civil and commercial construction and labour hire.”
Speaking to Recruiter, Kevin Everett, managing director of Auckland construction sector recruiter Building Recruitment is keen to stress this point that talent questions in the country are “not only about the Christchurch rebuild.. in other areas of the country we have potential shortfalls in skilled labour.”
Everett nonetheless sees the Christchurch rebuild as a “big opportunity” to find people for a variety of roles including project managers, quantity surveyors, estimators, and civil, electrical, mechanical and structural engineers, saying that “the amount of staff required would be in the thousands in my opinion”.
Already working closely with New Zealand’s immigration authorities, originally Glaswegian Everett adds that he is looking to partner with UK recruiters on a split commission basis to place UK workers in New Zealand roles.
This is something already being done by Hays, with Rachel Baldy occupying the role of manager in charge ofrecruiting for UK candidates on behalf of employers in New Zealand.
She says: “There has been a lot of interest in attracting talent from the UK market, and we have worked with two clients recently who have come to the UK to run targeted advertising to attract suitable candidates.”
Again, this comes both from post-earthquake and wider economic needs.
As reported by recruiter.co.uk last month, the aftermath from Christchurch’s earthquakes is expected to drive major recruitment needs, but certain factors are complicating the picture.
With ongoing tremors and resultant power cuts in the region, Jason Walker, managing director of recruiter Hays in New Zealand, points out: “Getting insurance to buy new property is proving difficult, and there is an influx of people looking to buy, with few houses available.“This is forcing people out of the area which is putting more demand on businesses looking to recruit to replace those individuals.”
In addition to this, talent was thin on the ground in the country pre-quake across industries, with Walker saying: “There are skill shortages across all areas we recruit for at present, particularly in IT, accountancy, insurance, engineering, civil and commercial construction and labour hire.”
Speaking to Recruiter, Kevin Everett, managing director of Auckland construction sector recruiter Building Recruitment is keen to stress this point that talent questions in the country are “not only about the Christchurch rebuild.. in other areas of the country we have potential shortfalls in skilled labour.”
Everett nonetheless sees the Christchurch rebuild as a “big opportunity” to find people for a variety of roles including project managers, quantity surveyors, estimators, and civil, electrical, mechanical and structural engineers, saying that “the amount of staff required would be in the thousands in my opinion”.
Already working closely with New Zealand’s immigration authorities, originally Glaswegian Everett adds that he is looking to partner with UK recruiters on a split commission basis to place UK workers in New Zealand roles.
This is something already being done by Hays, with Rachel Baldy occupying the role of manager in charge ofrecruiting for UK candidates on behalf of employers in New Zealand.
She says: “There has been a lot of interest in attracting talent from the UK market, and we have worked with two clients recently who have come to the UK to run targeted advertising to attract suitable candidates.”
Again, this comes both from post-earthquake and wider economic needs.
