The global and local economic outlook.....it doesn't look good!

This was the summary from Su-Lin Ong, Managing Director, Chief Economist and Head of Australian Research, RBC Capital Markets who spoke at an event for us recently. The questions from the audience were probing for some glimmer of hope, however her answers were also not very optimistic.

From a global perspective Su-Lin spoke about the challenges facing Continental Europe and the U.K. in the wake of Brexit. US has had a relatively strong 7-8 year period and their economy tends to go in cycles of this length and with China also slowing. The combination of all these was worrying. In addition, locally the close federal election result and the difficulty going forward for the Government in developing and passing the strong reform that is needed and how it will deal with the challenges facing Australia. I don't think it helped that on the day Su-Lin spoke, Australia had its AAA credit rating put on watch by one of the large rating agencies.

Su-Lin has spoken at one of our events each year for many years now and this was I think her most negative outlook over these years.Interestingly when I look at Australia from an employment perspective I remain positive and upbeat about the outlook now and into the medium term. I have outlined the reasons why in our latest quarterly market update.

I am always keen to hear others views and thoughts, please feel free to contact me on 02 9262 4836 or stephenmoir@moirgroup.com.au

Whether it’s true or not, the belief held by anyone over 50 is that they are unemployable and it’s impossible for them to change their job. Of course there are many who have proved that this isn’t the case but the myth remains. Many people are unfortunately made redundant and find themselves having to look for work. Others are seriously unhappy in their work but are too scared to move. At 50, if you retire at the present pensionable age, you still have 17 years left to work, and that’s a long time to be miserable. 

The workplace that the baby-boomer entered was radically different and has changed dramatically since then. Most of us have done pretty well at adapting to fast-paced change, technology and globalisation. Unfortunately, others in the work place are less sure about this and ageism is rife in many organisations. 

It’s easy in the light of this to lose our motivation. But now more than ever is the time we need it! With life expectancy into the 80s, there is still plenty of time for people to forge new ventures. It’s really important that we go on having aspirations and creating goals for ourselves.

Keren will explore these issues with you and how to make your age work for you not against. 

For more details head to our Events Page

Many Australian industries are doing it tough and Australian retail is no exception.

Imagine, however, we could fast forward and retail had become one of Australia’s defining industries - a significant number and variety of local organisations were thriving, the industry had regained its old entrepreneurial courage, and new tools and tricks were helping Australian companies and their leaders to navigate and shape the global industry.

Anita’s presentation will consider the gap between where we stand today and the future we want for the industry.  She will explore the challenges for leaders to reduce the gap at both an organisational and industry level.  Her presentation will draw from and compare her work and experience in both retail and in high growth organisations, and intend to leave leaders with practical solutions as well as more to consider. 

For more details head to our Events Page

It was a delight to introduce Helen Wiseman, non-executive director and professional mentor, once again to speak for our Moir Group client and candidate community.  Helen’s presentation entitled “From Tax To The Boardroom…What Prisons, Aged Care and Frozen Food Has Taught Me about How to Manage Your Career” certainly raised some curiosity and a full house!

Helen has both sought out and been sought for diverse roles throughout her corporate, not for profit and boardroom career to date and we thoroughly appreciate her candidly sharing this journey. 

Key points:

Thank you to everyone who came along to this event, if you would like more information on upcoming events please head to our Events Page and join our community by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and connect with us on LinkedIn to stay up to date

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

This question gets asked a lot in your younger years, but people stop asking because they think you’ve got it all figured out.

Not necessarily.

Alison Harrop, CFO of DEXUS Property Group, will talk us through her personal experiences of the career path to CFO and the many twists and turns along the way. She will talk to the benefits of a broad skillset, of offshore experience, of mentors and mentoring and of taking a risk.

When is the right time to narrow down the choices in your career? When do you decide that the CFO path is the right one for you? Alison will explain how she approached these and other questions during the first 25 years of her career.

And having been in the CFO role at two very different organisations she will give her perspectives on the make-up of the modern CFO, the most important areas of focus, and how to allocate time where it’s needed most.

Finally she will explore the challenges associated with holding it all together when the inevitable crises and setbacks occur.

Prepare to hear the many and varied confessions of the self-proclaimed ‘Accidental CFO’!

It was a pleasure to welcome back Trent Duvall, National Leader - Consumer Products from KPMG Australia for a second year to discuss trends and review the performance of the retail market over the past year. Its no doubt an extremely challenging and complex time for retail leaders due to so much change, social media input, diversification and interruptions.

Key points:

Consumer sentiment showed an uplift since July 2015 but still remains volatile.

Hardware, gardening, clothing, recreational goods, Take away food, liquor all remain relatively strong. Department stores face the greatest challenges.

In the last 3 months recreational goods have had the strongest growth, whilst department stores are showing negative growth.

The grocery market will continue to grow but its competitive and the likes of Aldi are now moving into fresh foods so it will be interesting to see what happens in this space.

We shop 24/7 and are always connected. We need to tap into all the generations and provide a strong service directed and targeted to the way they work and live. It's a real shifting market, gone are the days of “going shopping”. 

The 5 trends consumers are drawn to are imperfection and authenticity, creativity, mindfulness, accessibility and convenience.

Innovation and technology are driving so much change and transformation. Many retailers are striving to provide a seamless experience across channels. He gave some good examples of UK companies that are achieving in this area.

Retailers are using analytics wisely and reacting to change immediately and pricing goods according to these changes.

Analytics can deliver customer data on buying habits, allowing staff to make smarter product recommendations.

There is always some interesting slides on the future look of supermarkets, retailers are embracing innovation, technology to create interactive and seamless shopping experiences. 

It will of much interest to see how the landscape changes over the next year.

Thank you to everyone who came along to this event, if you would like more information on upcoming events please head to our Events Page and join our community by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and connect with us on LinkedIn to stay up to date.

Last month, Moir Group hosted Richard Grupetta, Partner for the Asia Practice at Grant Thornton Australia.  Richard addressed the very popular question many businesses are currently asking “How To Successfully Expand Into The Asia Region” and the steps you need to take to best ensure a positive result.

Richard addressed the reasons for the attraction to Asia and how the global economic “centre of gravity is “irresistibly” shifting to the Asian region. This dramatic acceleration of growth is predicted to continue well into the future seeing a significant decrease in business interest in Europe occurring at the same time.

Richard focussed predominantly on Japan, China, Korea, India and Indonesia with the most attention based on China as it is:-

• Australia’s largest export market

• Has a population of 1,368 million people

• GDP growth rate around 6.8%

• It is a transitioning market – growth in consumer, manufacturing and services markets

• Growing online business

• ChAFTA (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement)

• Growth in Food/Beverages, consumer goods and education sectors

Richard then explained his 5 step approach when approaching the Asian market.

1. The best fit approach – Are you Asia ready?? Define your product/service, who are your competitors etc

2. Market review and ‘What if’ development – what is the market? Research!

3. Best options to decision

4. Budgeting and preparing for success

5. Roadmap development

Moir Group is proud to present to you our next video in our new series "Corridor Catch Ups" 

“From Tax To The Boardroom”

What Prisons, Aged Care and Frozen Food Has Taught Me about How to Manage Your Career

Experience on Tap! by Karen Ryan, Director Temporary and Contract Recruitment 

At Moir Group we see great value in experience.   Even internally, we have many mature, experienced people working across all areas of our business.  Our team all work well together, we add value to each other no matter what their age or the stage of their careers and we all learn from each other. This is one of our secrets to success. 

Recently we have placed a candidate who offered a wealth of experience in activity based costing, project and change management, stakeholder engagement and who was a qualified and highly experienced finance professional.  He was easy to help because he was flexible on location, rate and the length of contract and came with excellent references.  He was also extremely grateful for the opportunity to work and he promised to deliver and add value to the client.  His attitude was extremely positive and he offered many years of experience.  He will be highly successful in helping our client understand the changes needed in their organisation and then he will easily gain their respect internally and externally to implement these changes. We didn’t ask his age or even know it until we had to do a police check as part to the client’s HR policy and only then we discovered that our candidate was 72.  He has the attitude and passion and energy and experience to perform and deliver and that is all that matters to our client and us.

Our candidates come in all ages and stages!

Another candidate we placed in a highly specialised Procure to Pay Project was in her late 60’s.  Again we only knew her age when the client needed a date of birth for internal system log on. They actually thought we had made a typo! Her references were strong and showed someone with a no-nonsense approach who gets on with people in a direct and effective way and gets results.  There is no time wasted on Facebook, chatting, or on office gossip. She simply does a good job, with a strong work ethic and years of experience in the area our client needed.

You are well aware the population in Australia is ageing.  Retirement age has been stagged to increase to 67 by 2023.  There are talented people available that you can tap into.  By not noticing or using these skills, your company is missing out on valuable resources.  Everyone reading this, will be part of this pool of candidates either now or in the future. I hate to be the one to point it out, but if you aren’t already, you too will be in the over 40 age bracket at some stage.  Chances are when you are in your 50’s, you may find yourself out of work yet still willing and able to contribute.  So hiring managers of today, HR professionals and recruiters, you need to be open to this source of candidate because one day soon, it could be you who are offering your experience to the market.

Politicians, judges, scientist and professors; they often do their best work in their senior years.  Think of Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein and even Barack Obama born in 1961, and then there is Charles Darwin who was in his 50’s when his “Origin of Species” work changed science forever back in 1859!  Think of famous musicians who never stop, Pavarotti and Tom Jones just to name two!