Moir Recruitment News

At our recent lunchtime event we were delighted to have guest speaker Sean Spence speak to our candidate community. Sean’s topic was “how do you stay positive when you are going through a career transition?” What things do you need to do every day that will keep you positive?

Asking yourself “How am I going?” is an important first step. Sean then uses a framework he calls FEROCITY, which is shorthand for considering 8 possible strategies that really can work for you.

Focused – You must have a target or targets, think about how you choose them and what works for you. For example, Sean will retreat to a coffee shop, where everything is taken care of for him and there is no interruptions from family or friends. This enables him to be in the moment and stay focused on his target for the day

Energised – What do you do about your energy? Think about your physical, mental, emotional and also spiritual energy. Reflect on what is your meaning and purpose in life, what is it about your whole being that keeps you on “song”

Respected – Respect yourself! What are you good at? Find the most influential person you know and catch up with them and ask their opinion and feedback of you. Be vulnerable, trust them and really listen to their feedback

Organised – It not about time management but more about rhythms and pacing yourself. Think about your circadian rhythms, what parts of the day do you work best? Are you a morning person or an evening person? Understand your own rhythm and make your day work according to this

Caring – Without caring about people and issues, you’ll have no followers and your leadership and impact will be diminished. On the flip side, you also need to be cared about and include your family, friends and colleagues in this. Empathy is a very powerful force to create engagement with others.

Innovate – To innovate you need a target, a process and a reason. You can only actually innovate on “something”. Know what you need in terms of the rate of change you can tolerate

Timeframe – When your timeframe is out of whack, when you are buried in fighting fires and seem to have no connection to your future and cannot look ahead. Are you trying to just exist and get through day to day?

Youthful Passion – When you are in touch with your youthful passion there is something very charismatic about this. People will follow you, your impact is enhanced and this makes your career more sustainable. When you are attached to your passions you are also a lot happier in yourself. During career transition you can tend to lose your passion and feel lost and adrift. As you are changing and going through this transition, allow the idea that your passion will return

You can also use the FEROCITY strategies to lead your team, monitor and sustain their focus and also re-energise them.

So when you are feeling fragile, flat and stale and wondering how to LIFT yourself. Then stop and RESET and use even just one of these buttons……..FEROCITY   

To find out more about Sean visit www.seanspence.com.au and head to our events page to see details about all our upcoming events. 

Whether you look at it from a humanitarian or commercial perspective, gender equality benefits the whole of society.  This was acknowledged at the G20 summit in Brisbane last year, with leaders committing to reducing the workforce participation gender gap by 25% (target date 2025)

They also acknowledged that there are a number of barriers to workplace participation, namely:

• A need for Social change – creating new social norms that see men sharing domestic and caring duties, and that change stereotypes around the types of work undertaken by men and women.
• A need for Policy change – establishing clear policy to break down barriers to female workforce participation, such as providing affordable childcare and reducing disincentives for women to work more hours and more days.
• A need for Workplace change – making sure employers are focusing on eliminating workplace inequalities such as wage gaps and under representation of women in leadership pipelines.

This week at our Moir Group event, Alex Coward, General Manager of Organisational Development at TAL Life will be discussing some of the ways that TAL are addressing these issues, including:

• How TAL has used measurement tools to prove the business case for investing in gender equality programs
• The reason why all roles at TAL are offered on a flexible basis
• A snap shot of the programs that have created the greatest impact; and
• How TAL’s own group of Male Champions of Change are challenging the status quo

For more information on Alex Coward’s presentation or any of our other events, please head to our Event Page. 

By Stephen Moir

2014 was a strong year at Moir Group and, looking forward, we think 2015 will also be a good year. We noted this strength across all the temporary/contracting and permanent accountancy/finance recruitment markets in which we operate, and from the more junior roles to the very senior level. 

Having said this, building through 2014 there was also an underlying sense that 'all is not quite right' with the Australian economy.  We believe this feeling will definitely flow into 2015. 

 It is hard to balance this "sense" with what we are seeing in terms of tangible results. It may be that this sense of unease and lack of confidence is just the new normal in which businesses and individuals operate, or it may be a sign of more fundamental issues in the Australian economy. We tend to think it is the former and that individuals in their job search and businesses generally are and will continue to adjust to these types of conditions. 

The single most important factor when looking at joining a new business is ensuring that you are aligned with the culture and values of the organisation. It should also be the case with the company you currently work for. If this is right everything else tends to follow. 

Given the "new normal" mentioned above, excellent leadership should also rank highly when looking at a new employer. The organisations that will continue to grow into the future and maximise the opportunities that these rapidly changing times afford, will be those with outstanding leaders. These leaders have a meaningful sense of purpose, strong values and a clear strategy all of which are linked. For ambitious individuals it is very important to be aligned with these types of leaders.

Strong leadership is one of the key components of a satisfying job.  It is also a vital element of a good cultural fit.  For this reason, at Moir Group we ensure this is a focus with all our candidates.

Fiona Bones, Google Regional APAC Finance Director.

Hosted by Gabriel Fernandes, Consultant, Moir Group

We had the pleasure of having Fiona Bones, Regional APAC Finance Director of Google, speak to our network of up-and-coming Technical or Commercial Finance professionals at our Sydney head office. Fiona spoke candidly about her diversified and somewhat unconventional career path to securing a senior finance role with Google.

Some key career learnings;

• The value of a diversified career and mind in today’s workplace
• Expect the best, prepare for the worst
• Success is about being savvy and ready to take good opportunities that come before you
• Your manager is a short part of your career and rarely a reason to leave your company or position you otherwise like
• In making career choices be sure that the value you give to the business is balanced with what value the business can give to you
• In driving your career - be thorough, pro-active and persistent

The session was highly enjoyable and we continue to receive positive feedback from those who came along. It’s worth mentioning that as a result of this networking event one of the attendees went on to interview with Google.

Gabriel Fernandes, Consultant, Moir Group

We are looking forward to Jeevan’s discussion around how corporations have adapted to the digital world, and in particular, whether HR have taken the journey adequately too.  You will be introduced to the subject of MOOCS (if you are not already familiar with it), and may consider online corporate learning in a whole new light.   Some may find this discussion confronting, and others may be in full support of the idea of digital HR. Jeevan is an experienced practitioner of this concept and I am sure you will find his presentation starts and interesting professional discussion.

The rapid development and adoption of technology is forcing organisations to adopt new business models and approaches .A week ago Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev talked about banks "needing to get comfortable with saying they don't know what technology will do to their business models, but be ready to change quickly when it shifts consumer behavior ". (full story).

The four trends that Ian highlighted were:

• the proliferation of fast mobile broadband;
• rapid innovation in devices that access broadband;
• fast changes in the applications being used on the internet, including search, social media, peer-to-peer lending and blogging;
• and a big reduction in the cost of storing and analysing data.

Some industries are such as Banking and  Healthcare have had the most visible change in business models. Remember the time when you had to go to the teller for most banking transactions. Now most transactions can be done via online banking. Going to the doctors practice may a thing in the past. Soon  you will be able to consult with your doctor over webcams.

All functions of the organisation have been impacted by this change to different degrees. Marketing is moving away from print advertisements and spending more time and money on social media. IT are moving from a in-house resourcing model to one that sources the best and cost effective talent from anywhere. Customer service is taking enquiries via social media.

HR needs to revisit its own business model to adapt to changing expectations of value add and delivery of HR service using approaches from the digital world including agile design, crowdsourcing and social networks.

The summary video of the Learning Cafe UnConference  reflects some of these digital themes impacting learning and performance at work including social media, crowdsourcing,

One example of such an opportunity is the use of Massively Online Open Courses (MOOCs) for employee learning. It challenges the way we think about delivering employee development. A working group of 22 organisations explored using MOOCs to deliver more employee learning at lower costs and developed a draft white paper which is available here.

One of the framework to understand business model is the Business Model Canvas. We will be discussing the current and future HR business model in the session. Watch this video for an quick overview of Business Model Canvas.

You can check Jeevan out on Knowledge Working also see details of our upcoming events  Moir Group Events.

We are delighted to have Paul Mitchell from The Human Enterprise, a trusted adviser to some of Asia-Pacific’s most senior leaders, speak at our upcoming event. In Paul’s own words:

Trust in our leaders is at an all-time low. Our political leaders, business leaders, even religious leaders are coming under attack. Yet with trust, business seems to go so much faster and easier, and is so much more enjoyable and rewarding. And at the heart of trust is being an authentic, no B.S. leader.

Enjoy some of the key ideas from one of the world’s most sought after leadership development experiences: BlessingWhite (in conjunction with Professors Goffee and Jones, from the London Business School): “Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? What It Takes To Be An Authentic Leader”. See why dynamic organisations such as Red Bull, Rolls Royce, Microsoft and Fujitsu are insisting their leaders lead by being themselves.

Our speaker, Paul Mitchell, is a trusted adviser to some of Asia-Pacific’s most senior leaders. His clear memorable messages, sense of fun and exuberance, will ensure you leave with a new resolve to be the best leader you can be.”

You can check Paul out on http://www.thehumanenterprise.com.au/ and also see details of our upcoming event, Thursday 20th March http://www.moirgroup.com.au/events_media.htm.

Successful job sharing is just that, an art form.  You must get all the right components aligned; the people, the job, the organisation, the attitude and you can create a work of art.  It is more Picasso than Rembrandt, in that things at first may appear disjointed yet once it works, it is a masterpiece: you end up with seamless, professional delivery and individual and organisational success.

Let’s start with the odd maths behind the concept.  That is, 1 +1 = 1.   Job sharing is about two people doing the one job. It can’t just be any two people.  This is one of the main keys to success. 

The people that do job share have to be real partners.  They have to complement each other, trust one another and have the same work ethic and passion for success.  It is not the same as part time work and only works for the internal and external clients, if it is seamless and the partners always work as one person. 

Job sharing allows an organisation access to an untapped market.  Highly experienced people who enjoy working, are highly experienced in the role so they know how to do the job, have a very high degree of work efficiency and have proven ability to get results.

Do they need to share all parts of the job? Operationally and day to day yes, projects sometimes, management not necessarily.  Again it is about the people and the attitude and combinations of more senior and less experienced people or one being a manager of the team and the other a team member, can all work, with the right combination of personalities

Can it be in any role, discipline and company? If you get it right, yes it can.  So how do you get it right and what makes it a success?  Using the Moir Group values, I will demonstrate this: 

Partnership and Persistence 

• The right people who have the same work ethic and trust each other is the key.   Competition between job share partnerships is a big no and a similar persistence to succeed is a must. 
• You must have access to each others emails to partner properly and you only need to worry about the emails on your working days. 
• Best to have a cross over day if possible and challenge is to optimise this day with your partner.

Rigour

• It is essential that all days of the week are covered.  It is important no one else in the organisation feels they have to cover for any gaps. 
• Communication is the key and everything needs to be detailed in a hand over email and you must use the database properly and record everything, so nothing is missed.
• Must have remote access so, even if you have to leave early, you can finish things off and be responsible for completion on your days. 

Care and Passion:

• Must share successes and disappointments no matter who starts and finishes the sale, project or task. 
• Can still be an individual as far as professional development and internal and external projects go.  
• Must share the same care and passion for your clients, candidates and internal business partners. 

All this has been proven in the Contracting and Temporary division at Moir Group.  Here we have built up a team of highly experienced and successful consultants and six of our team members job share with each other.   They have over 70 years of recruitment experience between them and contribute extensively to the growing success of the Moir Group. 

The job share experience for Moir started in 2009.  The goal was to build our interim business from a starting point of one contractor we had on the books in Brisbane to the highly successful and diverse national contracting and temporary business Moir Group has today.

Seamless delivery is the key as well as team work internally and high work ethic of the partners.  The team is made up of focussed consultants, some of whom have young families and can only work short days, who use remote office access and their strong desire to succeed, to make it work.

The overall attitude of the business executive team and the other consultants at Moir, who work full time, is also essential to success. The team at Moir support the model because it has proven success.  It allows the whole organisation to partner with experienced colleagues and have a great diversity of experience to work with and learn from.

I hope this has helped paint the picture for you and I’m happy to share the experience and answer any questions about how to make the most of job sharing within your organisation and profession.  I believe if done properly, job sharing can work no matter what the discipline, the organisation or the level of role you have and the benefits to all concerned are endless.  

This may be within your current organisation or considering a whole new career path.  A career plan is a key factor and should reflect you and your personal preference. 

 Things to consider as part of your career plan would be:

• what parts of my current role or organisation do I like
• what parts don’t I like
• what is important to me
• In what cultures do I fit best

Identify what roles and organisations you are most interested in.  Reflect upon previous jobs where you have felt most comfortable.  Which boss brought the best out in you and why?   Many people find they are most comfortable in a job where there is a balance between challenge and feeling on top of their role.