Where It’s At
March 2, 2010 by Damian
‘Where it’s at’ is not just one of my favourite songs (by Beck incidentally) but is also a variation of a question that I get asked at least once a day. Everyone wants to know what the job market is looking like now and what it will be looking like over the coming weeks and months. So here is my two cents (or 50 cents to continue the musical theme) worth on where it’s at.
A very unscientific analysis of last week’s activity on the various job sites indicates that there are a lot more vacancies around at the moment than there have been for at least the last 12 months. From Monday 22nd – Friday 26th, there were 125 jobs added to Seek. Obviously, quite a number of these are duplicates and others are for vacancies that have been around for a while but it does contain a significant number of new vacancies across private practice, public sector and to a lesser extent, in-house. For the first time in a long time, the roles also traverse a wide range of practice areas including corporate, finance, litigation, RM, employment, family and so on.
So it should be easy to get a job now? No. Easier? Yes. Even though there are now more vacancies around, employers are not going to drop their standards and take someone for the sake of it. The advantage for the job seeker now is that there is not as much competition around so their CV will be more closely scrutinised than it was previously but if your background is not good enough, you will not make it across the line.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the great unknown in the debate is when the overseas markets will return to some degree of normality. It is a question of ‘when’ not ‘if’ and when it happens, we will see even more vacancies here with even fewer candidates applying. The majority of these vacancies will be in the traditional 2-5 year bracket but I suspect that we will also see a number of senior lawyers leaving to either return to the UK or there are some who will be going for the first time. Either way, employers should be bracing themselves for some serious going away parties over the next 6-9 months.
So where is it at? In summary, my view is that the outlook is definitely improving (from a job seekers point of view) and will continue to gradually improve throughout the rest of the year. However, I would refer to the point that I make earlier that even though there may be more opportunities does not mean that it will be easy to get a job. It is never easy to secure a new position and nor should it ever be. You still need to have a good CV, good grades and present well at interview. If you can manage that, then you can be confident that something suitable will come along in 2010.
To specialise or not to specialise?
December 11, 2009 by Damian
From years of experience in overseas recruitment, the main feedback that clients give me about NZ (and Australian) lawyers is that one of the main reasons that they are so employable is because of their versatility.
Due to the nature of the market down here, few practitioners are what UK lawyers would call ’specialists’. For example, there would not be one finance lawyer in NZ who would be dedicated to only doing aviation finance. My own legal career in the UK (for what it was) was purely in tobacco litigation – I did nothing else. This degree of specialisation just does not exist in NZ firms.
Until now, allowing practitioners to specialise in London has worked. The deals are huge, sophisticated and specific so people with detailed knowledge of the subject matter are necessary. One unforeseen consequence of the GFC, if the Linklaters’ plan as laid out in The Lawyer article below works, may be that the specialist lawyer may be a thing of the past in London -
http://www.thelawyer.com/1002837.article?nl=TL-LND.
If the way of the future for London lawyers is to become generalists rather than specialists, this could have some effect on the employability of NZ lawyers in the future. If that point of difference is taken away, it will be up to NZ lawyers to come up with another selling point to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market.
Any ideas?
Employers Beware – This May Be As Good As It Gets
November 27, 2009 by Damian
As I have said in other posts, 2009 has been a funny old year in many respects. One of the biggest differences from previous years is that employers now hold the upper hand in recruitment matters for the first time in a long time. Contrast this to the state of affairs a few years ago when HR people spent the majority of their time on recruitment, fending off partners who desperately needed staff but were unable to find them.
I am sure that employers are enjoying the current situation. When they need someone, they can be very confident that they will be able to find someone with relative ease. As an example, the HR Manager of a very desirable employer told me that when they put out a vacancy recently, they had 29 applicants. 18 months ago, for the same vacancy, they received 1 and that person was unsuitable!
However, I think that employers should make the most of the current situation. At present, even though more and more vacancies are coming on to the market, there are still relatively few new roles around. Coupled with this, there are some very talented people around who are looking for a change and thus, some employers are managing to secure the services of top quality candidates who they would never get in a more crowded job market.
My view is that this state of affairs is not going to last much longer. The overseas markets are starting to bounce back, salary reviews and bonuses will be negligible this year and some people will just have had enough of their current situation. The consequence of this is that regardless of whether the NZ economy improves or not, there will be a lot more movement in the market early in 2010 than there has been in all of 2009.
Employers need to be aware of this and be planning for it. Those that are will continue to attract good talent but those who are putting their head in the sand and thinking that their staff will stay relatively loyal next year and if they need someone, they will be able to easily find them, are going to be in for a shock.
As an aside, some employers seem to have become complacent in their recruitment and are taking far too long to shortlist, interview and make decisions. In a different market, it will not be possible to take so long. If they do, the best candidates will have already gone to someone who has a more streamlined and candidate focussed approach.
So for any employers out there reading this, my view is that if you are thinking about taking someone on, do it now before it is too late. If you wait too long, you may find that the problems that you faced 18-24 months ago in attracting good staff will be back on your doorstep again. Now may be as good as it is going to get.
It’s A Funny Old Time
November 2, 2009 by Damian
It’s a funny old time in the world of recruitment at the moment. There is definitely more of a sense of optimism around and for the first time in quite a while, there have even been a number of options for junior lawyers. I have recently met quite a few younger lawyers who, after sticking things out for the annus horribilus that has been 2009, have said ’stuff this, I’m off to London’.
Whether it is the onset of summer, the prospect of a new year which will hopefully bring a new beginning or just people being fed up with being pessimistic about things, it seems that the tide has turned and to borrow a phrase from one of Ireland’s most over-rated performers D:REAM – “things can only get better.”
So with this in mind, I opened up the latest edition of (the very good) NZ Lawyer magazine to see who was advertising, only to find a total of 3 job advertisements in the whole edition. Back in the heady days of 2006 and 2007, there probably would have been 20-30 and it seemed as if the whole publication was one big recruitment fest with some articles thrown in to break up the ads.
Historically, Seek would have 300-400 legal jobs. As I sit here now, it has 223 legal jobs in NZ, quite a number of which are different agencies advertising the same job. (Yes, we do do that!)
So where is the truth? Is it getting better or worse?
My opinion, which I’ve outlined in earlier posts, is that the worst is behind us. I believe that people will start moving jobs, if only because they are sick, sore and tired of what they are currently doing. This will create some fluidity in the market which will result in the current stagnant market unraveling somewhat. Hopefully in conjunction with this, the law firms will feel confident enough to start making some positive hiring decisions and will be considering how they should be staffing up in anticipation of the wave of people who will leave these shores when the overseas markets pick up.
However, it will be a slow process. Employers will (and should) exercise caution for the foreseeable future and it will take a long time until the NZ Lawyer carries 20/30 job ads and Seek carries 400 jobs. The reality of the situation is that it will be the candidates from the larger firms or those with the broadest experience or best academic records who will secure the first number of jobs that come on to the market. It is only when these people are comfortably ensconced in new roles, should the the rest of the profession be confident of finding something new.
The first 3 months of 2010 will probably still be pretty quiet. The second quarter, I feel, will set the tone for the rest of the year, one way or the other.
It is a funny old time indeed!
“No Employment Market Recovery For Lawyers Until 2010″
September 23, 2009 by Damian
Have a look at this link to a very interesting article on the issue of how long it might take for the legal recuitment market to return to ‘normal’ again – http://au.legalbusinessonline.com/news/analysis/no-employment-market-recovery-for-lawyers-until-2010/36880
To be honest, the tenor of the article makes a lot of sense to me and if it is correct, then we are looking at around March/April next year before things can confidently be seen to be ‘normal’.
Much as I would like to disagree with this assessment, I think that it is probably reasonably close to the mark. Although there is an increasing amount of optimism around and a few more vacancies coming on, the market is nowhere near showing any real fluidity or new activity. To add into the mix, remember that we have the traditional Christmas/January slowdown to come as well which always puts the brakes on things.
So although the worst may be behind us, it could be another 6 months or so until we are completely out of the woods.