It won’t be a quick fix – it simply can’t be - but if this Government is smart, they will precipitate fast learning programmes to provide the “local” resource to fast-track the reconstruction.

It won’t be a quick fix – it simply can’t be - but if this Government is smart, they will precipitate fast learning programmes to provide the “local” resource to fast-track the reconstruction.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that rocking up in a tee-shirt and jandals (I exaggerate for media effect) and knowing diddley-squat about the company wouldn’t stand you in good stead to sweep the job from the other 500 applicants.

"How you think becomes how you operate within your company, and ultimately how the organisation stands in the market in the eyes of your customers. And the combined “thinking” of your people is imperative to be aligned with your company objectives, otherwise it simply won’t work."

"We’ll often spend more time deciding on where we’ll live, what car we’ll buy, or the clothes we wear, rather than on our job or career direction. And we’ll tolerate jobs we don’t like, whereas if we don’t like our house, we move."

2010 is shaping up as an "interesting" year.

In 2010, securing the right talent will be crucial. It could be worthwhile to start looking now.

Have you wondered why some in our sector make some of the most fundamental mistakes?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about doing things differently in all spheres of our life to comply and align with the “new order” that we are faced with every corner we turn. I don’t need to list these as the list will be almost endless and because everyone is affected differently in their own way.

I think you will agree that events in the world over the last six to twelve months have created a new paradigm for business. Amongst other things, what people seem to be reacting to the most is real or perceived unfair business practice. This has manifested in many ways. Take some common examples such as banks and their high mortgage break fees, supermarkets and their resistance to lowering food prices, the likes of an "iconic New Zealand company" seeking to be propped up, and migrant workers being given preference over resident New Zealanders. This is not even mentioning the dodgy and sometimes illegal business practices that have been exposed and made headlines recently.

Whilst I don't want to down-play the seriousness of the world recession and its impact on the New Zealand economy going forward, the media has certainly painted a picture of a blanket "doom and gloom". My view is that like in "boom times" people go out of business, just as much as some prosper during "gloom times". Not wanting to sound a bit cliched, but it's about turning adversity into opportunity, and some people are good at that.

Having been through many downturns over the last 25-30 years and observed from a recruitment perspective, all I can say is that this time the market is quite different. What precursed the previous situations or indeed followed the "crash", was the job market tumbling and unemployment climbing rapidly. The experts predict rising unemployment, but from a base of around 3%, we have a lot of "slop" to take up. I don't believe it will be the same this time and unemployment in general will be the preserve of the blue-collar and unskilled labour markets more so than the professional levels.

The result of the election has given the new Government a resounding mandate for change. This is not unusual in these very unusual times. We saw it in the US Elections and we all knew that it would happen here. We now await to see how fast and how effective that change will be. And whether some of the change promised will or can happen.

I always try and think of a silver lining out of any negative situation, and the employment market is probably the one of the few aspects of the market that is currently holding up - certainly in our category. Whilst we are certain to have casualties to the world-wide "meltdown", "credit crunch" (or any other euphemism you want to call it…), especially those reliant on the local market, the world-wide shortage of talent will continue, and in fact, those with the proven skills to manage through these situations will be in even greater demand.