• Video
• Podcasts
  • 2010 podcasts
  • 2009 podcasts
  • 2008 podcasts
  • 2007 podcasts
  • 2006 podcasts
• eNewsletters
• Media releases
• News & events
• Investor relations

Employees advised not to put their careers on hold in downturn

Ref. PR-01730

Download PDF of media release >>

While job security has seriously declined over the past four months, employees shouldn’t disregard job progression or put their careers on hold, according to recruitment firm Robert Half International.

Andrew Brushfield, Victorian Director of Robert Half, explains that while job confidence has been decreasing as a result of ongoing redundancies and steady declines in the number of jobs being advertised, it’s important for candidates to focus on the bigger picture and not lose sight of what they eventually want to achieve.

“The tendency is for people to go into lock-down and not seek out new opportunities, particularly when they’re reading negative stories in the media everyday. The facts are that more than 95 per cent of people are still employed and jobs will always be available to quality candidates, so I caution professionals against putting their careers on hold. This is especially pertinent for those employees who were considering moving on before the economy declined,” he said.

“People looking for new work or considering changing jobs need to change their focus. Rather than move for a better salary, candidates should look at positions that will develop specific skill sets and improve career progression, so that when the market picks up they have a greater competitive advantage.”

The past four months have seen a stark change in employee confidence levels. As recently as November 2008, a survey conducted by Robert Half revealed that while finance and accounting professionals in Australia were concerned about the national economy, two thirds (66%) were just as confident about their job security as they were a year earlier, before the onset of the credit crunch.

The Robert Half International Financial Directions survey also revealed that 76 per cent of finance and accounting professionals were either rather or very concerned about the health of the national economy. Despite this, job security was still the least concern for accounting professionals at the time, with only 13 per cent of people listing job security as their greatest concern. 

But recent statistics show that employees were overly optimistic in their outlooks. Employment indexes as recent as last month show a steady decline in the number of job ads being posted and reveal consumer anxiety has risen to record levels.

Mr Brushfield says the rapid change in sentiment is particular to the Asia Pacific region where the economy quickly nose-dived as opposed to the US and Europe where it was far more gradual.
He advises that while it may seem employees and candidates have good reason for high levels of anxiety, they should remain level headed and remember that there are still opportunities available to them, despite the current market.

In particular, he suggests a number of steps candidates can take to make themselves more attractive in a downturn.

“Candidates should aim to demonstrate their adaptability and the value they bring; this means articulating how they can improve the bottom-line and make cost savings for a business,” said Brushfield.

Mr Brushfield also recommends that candidates be proactive and in all job interviews discuss:

1. How they can save the business time, money and effort;
2. How they have made these savings for employers in the past; and
3. How they have researched the potential employer in order to hit the ground running.

Robert Half’s International Financial Directions Survey was developed by Robert Half, the world’s first and largest staffing services firm specialising in accounting and finance, and conducted by an independent research firm. The survey included responses from some 3556 accounting and finance professionals from 14 countries including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Dubai, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.  A total of 394 respondents were interviewed in Australia.

-ENDS-

Contact Us