Is a recovery heading our way?

Even if there are no immediate proof, as a nation we are becoming more optimistic about the economy. ANU quarterly study found more Australians think the worse is behind us (Full report here). A similar theme is echoed by Nielsen’s Global Confidence Survey which found Australians are one of the most positive about economic recovery. Unemployment stands at 6.8%, but we are way ahead of other developed economies (spare a thought for Zimbabwe where the unemployment rate is 94%)

Meanwhile, SEEK share price stands at a healthy $4.4, whereas it was hovering around $2.02 only a few months back. While job vacancies dropped, the rate of decline has actually diminished (ANZ survey). In fact, Olivier’s version reported a steady rise in contracting roles. Aquent’s Market Eye also suggested increasing optimism amongst employers, with permanent hiring set to increase in the next six months.

The fact is a recovery will come. But the real question is when the recovery does comes, will we be ready?

State of the industry
Are things looking better? IMF expects the Australian economy to recover and grow by 1.5% next year. Hudson’s latest report seems to suggest a positive shift in employers’ attitude. Hiring is likely to pick up for the first time in 18 months. Greg Savage have a more tepid view of the situation.  Unemployment rate hovers at 5.7%, it is likely that the hard times will continue for a while longer.

20 rules for recruiting in the Creative age
“ Cost per hire is a worthless statistic. It measures neither the contribution of good recruiting nor the cost of bad recruiting. This is why recruiting must be a P&L function.” and other nuggets on recruitment from Jeff Hunter.

Social Recruiting
There’s lot of noise around ‘social recruitment’, what works and doesn’t work in recruitment is slowly taking shape. Check out the presentations from the recent Social Recruiting Summit.