The Australian arm of recruitment advertising firm TMP Worldwide was placed into voluntary administration on Wednesday after falling victim to the global financial crisis.

According to a report in The Australian newspaper, around 200 jobs are at risk at six locations around the country.

The Australian reported that TMP Worldwide Australia’s chief executive Alex Walker, who led a buyout of the agency in 2006, told staff it had become impossible to sustain the company

“Ultimately we were overwhelmed by the impact of the global financial crisis, which cut our revenue in half,” Walker said.        

“As a private company (with bank debt) in the marginally profitable industry of job advertising, TMP was a challenging place to be at the best of times.”

TMP Australia is operated independently of TMP Worldwide in the UK, says Andrew Wilkinson, chief executive officer of TMP worldwide, “structurally, financially and in terms of its shareholders it’s a completely separate business,”

Wilkinson adds that it has been “a long 20 months for the recruitment indsutry” in the UK but there are some signs of improvement particularly in the private sector.