Archive for January, 2010
January 5, 2010 at 7:52 am · Filed under Public Relations, Australia
Australian employers are coming back from holidays to find the return of high employment. In December job advertisements spiked – in a trend unseen before. Traditionally job ads over Christmas are dominated by casual and seasonal roles (gift wrapping at the mall, anyone?). Yet this past December recruitment advertisements increased 2.5% with an 18.5% increase in advertising and media. (See The Sydney Morning Herald.)
Dial back three years and you’ll recall the pre-crisis period. At that stage I was in a similar role at another firm (they who shall not be mentioned). I received a CV from a recruiter who enthusiastically recommended this bright candidate. She was unique and very qualified. And with 18 months experience she wanted a base salary of $75,000.
Now recruiters are human so I called and suggested the 4 key is right below the 7 key on the numeric keypad. Wasn’t this a typo?
Turns out the young candidate wasn’t the only enthusiastic one. No, the recruiter assured me, that was the salary expectation and once I met the young woman I would understand. On principle I refused the meeting.
In public relations we walk a razor-thin line. We have an obligation to provide a fair and equitable salary to our professionals. Yet clients are demanding the best services for the most reasonable fees. And after the horror year of 2008-09, we need to re-build and re-invest in technology, training and more.
Australia is also a talent pool where Asian companies love to swim. Singapore for three years? Seoul for a posting? Hong Kong for a change? With the growth in Mandarin classes even an in-land China posting is attractive to new professionals.
2010 will be a competitive year as the economic growth of Australia is compounded by the increased demand for talented people. I plan to play and play hard – but it’s never going to be a place where I’ll over-pay for 18 months experience!
January 4, 2010 at 11:12 am · Filed under Learning to Blog, more on me
I’ve learned to live with ongoing computer problems. It’s like walking with a stone in your shoe. At first you limp but then you learn to bear the pain and soldier on. It’s so much easier than calling the IT Guy.
Why is it long-term PC problems disappear the moment you call an IT person? It’s humiliating to try and re-create the annoying problem. Because the minute the IT Guy (or Gal) is over my shoulder it suddenly disappears. (And no, I don’t call them just to annoy them!)
Today I had John Cuthbertson of The Website Clinic on the phone. I’d looked everywhere to find how to edit my home page. (See that funny sidebar with my photo just to the right? Couldn’t edit that to save my life!)
John called back in under 10 minutes and directed me to the widgets page on Wordpress. Naturally. Don’t we all edit text in our widgets?
Perhaps it’s the technology link that keeps so many professionals off blogging. After all, we can afford flat-screen plasma televisions even if we can’t operate the remote. Whatever you do - don’t call the IT Guy. More than likely the date and time will stop flashing and your favourite recordings will be all lined up. Darn!
PS: Ignore this logo. It’s for my job and I couldn’t figure out how to get it over there (look right) without first uploading it here. Damned if I was going to call John back!
January 4, 2010 at 9:37 am · Filed under America, Australia
The Global Financial Crisis touched down in Sydney – and promptly left. In 2009 one quarter of economic activity experienced contraction – followed by a robust rebound. Already the Reserve Bank of Australia has increased interest rates to slow growth. Australia is faring well.
In the USA, signs of life are emerging. Yet the “green shoots” of economic growth promised by President Obama appear to be weeds in the lawns of foreclosed homes. The New York Times contains an exposé on real estate in Cape Coral Florida. There houses that once sold for $850,000 are available for under $300k. Of the 64,000 single family homes, more than 18,000 have been foreclosed. Today an entrepreneur drives an air conditioned van around with potential investors. The tour is of foreclosed homes.
Most striking in the article is the human element.
Kevin Jarrett seems a lot like me. He’d relocated for work and initially found selling real estate a good profession. (Change the name, change the city and change the profession and pretty soon you might relate, too.) He and his wife and daughter settled into a good life with a nice home and a few investment properties. But when the bottom fell out he was hit. Hard. After the three investment properties were taken by the bank, his wife left – taking their daughter. He tried to maintain his home. One day when washing his face the water was turned off. He lost his home and is on the move.
The Grapes of Wrath 2010.
Looking at the level of hardship in previously well-off communities like Cape Coral makes it apparent this recession will take a decade to heal – so long as a double dip doesn’t occur. The “floor” of this drop is a long, long way from the heights before the plunge. The way back up takes a lot longer than the drop.
Australia (again) was well sheltered. Even housing prices retained their gusto. Some outer-west suburbs in Sydney dropped by double digits. Yet by the September quarter 2009 housing starts had increased 10% nationally. Prices have increased in most Sydney suburbs. Of the major global economies, Australia was one of three to record growth (alongside Singapore and South Korea).
All that said, Australia has seen pockets of hardship – and for every Kevin Jarrett of Cape Coral there’s a similar hard luck story Down Under. Thankfully strong economic leadership and underlying demand for Australian products and services mean there are fewer of them.
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