Consultants thinking about leaving the UK for a new life in Australia may be disappointed as agencies down under start to tighten their belts in reaction to the global downturn.

Tracey Peacock, a recruitment consultant from the UK, was offered a position with Australian recruiter Ambition, only to find out they were withdrawing their offer after she arrived in the country

“Unfortunately three days before my agreed start date I was informed they would be withdrawing the offer due to poor market [conditions] and lack of business,” she said, adding a number of other recruiters were also making redundancies or had recruitment freezes in place. However, she has since found employment with Robert Walters in Australia.

Gavin Houchell, managing director of Ambition Finance, a subsidiary of Ambition, told Recruiter the firm had made around 25 redundancies in response to “dramatic market changes”.

Houchell added one major operational change has been a 60% reduction in the research team as it becomes easier to source candidates. However, there is evidence that Australia’s employment market may be more resilient than its international counterparts.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK’s unemployment rate in October had increased by 0.7% over the year to 6%. In comparison, Australian unemployment increased by 0.8% over the year, but remained below the UK at 4.3%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Debra Loveridge, chief executive of specialist recruitment group Randstad, was more optimistic. “The Australian employment markethas so far not mirrored that of its US and European counterparts, where companies have begun to make significant layoffs,” she told Recruiter, adding that there has been a noticeable shift from permanent to contract staff.

Research from Australian recruitment trade body, the Recruitment & Consulting Services Association, found the share of its members’ business coming from permanent placements had dropped by 4% in the last three months.

Loveridge said the company strategy for 2009 was to increase retention and maximise productivity, restructuring the business to take
advantage of an increasing demand for temporary staff.