What a difference a year can make!

Whilst it’s only just turned November one starts to feel the year wrapping up! Christmas decorations are in the shops, the air is getting stickier and the ‘where are you going for Christmas break’ starts to be water cooler conversation. And of course, once the Melbourne Cup has been called we are rounding out on the last bend into the home straight of Summer!

And then there’s the election! Well that race may pick up in pace but definitely will slow the rest of us up! Given the state government is the biggest employer the government jobs market will fall to the back of the field. From the stands, it will be interesting to watch who gets out of the gates cleanly and can last the distance. Will it be neck and neck or a photo finish? We’ve got some distance to run so place your bets! Thankfully, the election will be well out of the way before the new year, and we can go into 2018 without an election looming – a definite positive for business.

So, perhaps now is a good a time as any for a pre-emptive recap on the year! From our perspective at Zelda Recruitment we would like to think that we saw the bottom (and it wasn’t pretty) in 2016. Many candidates reported their frustrations at the market limitations through last year and were hoping (trusting?) it couldn’t be repeated this year. What a difference a year makes!

Happily, we can report that for the majority of our job seekers, they are gainfully employed in some capacity. Certainly, they have taken a pay cut and are not necessarily in the job of their dreams. But they know it could be worse.
It could have been like 2016 all over again.

The market feels like it is gaining momentum (election announcement timing aside) and businesses are looking to the future with some eager anticipation of growth prospects. The demands for temps are increasing and many of these are converting to permanent. Well, when most businesses cut to the bone, a real need for beefing up head count is acknowledged. Certainly, corporate recruitment freezes are thawing and as the weather warms up, so has the job market.

We are hearing definite rumblings from up north. The resource sector is starting to show clear signs of returning to better days. Large scale projects, such as Adani, create jobs and have a multiplier effect in the economy and create demand. We hope this and other projects progress. Zelda’s Project Resourcing division is ramping up and we envisage a greater demand in this area. We note with interest various Queensland based engineering services currently make up our top five clients.

So, let’s hope the election delivers a clear result and we get out of the New Year gates with a leap and a bound! 2018 is looking good.