Moir Recruitment News

Moir Group " Emerging Leaders" Series with Anna Lee, CFO of THE ICONIC by Janette Tam, Senior Consultant, Moir Group  

Earlier this month, Moir Group ran its inaugural event in our new “Emerging Leaders” series. This series provides a great opportunity for future leaders of Australian business to gain an insight not only on the successes, but also the challenges faced by current successful leaders.

Our first key note speaker in this series was Anna Lee, CFO of THE ICONIC. Anna has over 20 years corporate experience in the Australian, New Zealand and APAC corporate environments. 

I had the opportunity to meet with Anna prior to the event. She immediately impressed me with her dedication, passion and drive. These key traits were evident to all as Anna presented and shared with us many insights on the day, including her vision for The Iconic, key challenges facing online retailers and also shared her views of how to create and maintain a harmonious work-life balance.

Anna pointed out the continuous challenge of an online retailer, like The Iconic, where you are always competing against the traditional retailer in that "there will always be a physical shop!”.

In relation to her team, Anna points out that "attitude is everything", and then went onto explain that "I like to motivate my finance team by sharing my passion and vision on the company. I think the key to success is to ensure they are with me on the same journey and want to achieve the same goals"

In relation to work-life balance, my key takeaway was the importance she placed on nutrition and staying healthy in maintaining concentration and keeping those energy levels up - “I want to be alert whether its 8am or 8pm!”

Anna’ then left us with a parting message to all the budding future leaders - "One key message for any aspiring CFO is that Finance is an important function, its ok to take risks and try something out. If it doesn’t work just move on and don’t dwell on it. “

We thank all the future leaders that attended and especially thank Anna for taking the time to inspire and motivate this select group.

For details on our upcoming Moir Group events, please visit our Event Page, and please like us on Facebook and Twitter or follow our company page on LinkedIn.

"Where To Next In The Australian Retail Market And How Should You Respond?" A Post Event Summary on Trent Duvall's Presentation by Emma Walsh, Business Manager, Moir Group 

Moir Group recently had the pleasure of hosting Trent Duvall, National Leader of Consumer Products at KPMG on “Where To Next In The Australian Retail Market And How Should You Respond?”. Trent’s portfolio in Australia encompasses Food & Beverage, Consumer Products and Agribusiness.  Trent is also a member of the global Consumer Markets practice and provided us with robust commentary and insights into the rapidly changing retail marketplace. 

 Some key points from the day include;

• Growth within the retail market has been in the categories of electronics and hardware. Other categories performing well are furniture, takeaway foods, footwear and personal accessories.
• Compared with other western countries Australia has performed well due to growing levels of wealth and strong GDP growth. Australia is viewed internationally as a good place to do business and with an increased number of businesses starting in Australia.
• The consumer has fundamentally been changed through technology. The new consumer is a creator, critic, producer, spectator, and community manager, and is always on!
• The way we shop for good and services has rapidly changed as we embrace online shopping. Bricks and mortar is here to stay but will evolve and savvy retailers are embracing innovations to create an interactive and seamless shopping experience. Some very futuristic and innovative shopping experiences are being piloted each day.
• Retailers are focusing heavily on inventory and fulfilment management as well as data analytics and security. There is consumer demand for increased speed, service and delivery flexibility to enhance the whole retail experience.  We are seeing a lot more “click and collect” delivery options and with the emergence of in-home enablers such as Amazon Dash and Mobile Wallet, the future is coming! 

Thank you to everyone who came along to this event. If you would like a copy of presentation from the day, please click on this link, and for details on our upcoming Moir Group events, please visit our Event Page.

The Vinnies CEO Sleepout is a unique way for business leaders to raise awareness and important funds in support of essential homeless services across the country. There are more than 100,000 Australians who find themselves homeless each night of the year. 

At Moir Group we are very proud to support the St Vincent de Paul Society, and after participating in the CEO sleepout since 2012, our CEO, Stephen Moir, will once again participate this year. Since the 2012 sleepout, Moir Group have partnered with St Vincent de Paul/Matthew Talbot Homeless Services and we are now running monthly resume and interview workshops giving advice to their clients. This commenced in September 2012 and we have been committed to running monthly workshops since which have resulted in numerous people securing employment. We are therefore asking you to consider making a donation to this very worthwhile cause.

If you would like to donate, the link to Stephen's profile is https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/ceos/nsw-ceos/stephen-moir-moir-group/?dlsr=1874-xec-9029041341 

From Stephen and all the staff at Moir Group, thank you for your kind donation to this very worthwhile cause.

“Australian Property: Where to next?" Reflections on Steve Gatt's Presentation by Karen Ryan, Director, Moir Group

This week Moir Group was delighted to host an event where 80 plus of our clients and candidates joined us to listen to the wise words of Steve Gatt, a highly accredited and experienced Partner of the Real Estate and Construction Practice from KPMG.

Steve shared with us his many insights into the property market both locally and overseas, and spoke about international and local investors in both the retail and commercial property markets.

As Steve had spoken with us in 2014, he firstly re-capped on a few of his predictions.  Some had come to fruition, such as shopping centre tenancy becoming more focussed on service tenants, which is positive as the retail mix always changes. The recommendation that 2014 was a good time to renegotiate rents was also realised, as rents are starting to rise and vacancies  fall. There are still opportunities to re negotiate, however there are not as many offers and incentives from landlords. 

The economy does influence the property market and risk cycles  Whilst there is rising unemployment, consumer sentiment seems neutral and even though confidence  is slightly uncertain for businesses, it is a relatively good environment for property investment. 

The reserve bank  has a dilemma and juggling act where they want to influence the AUD so they can control imports and exports and manage the impact on the property industry.  They had to lower the rates recently and one reason was in reaction to Canada lowering their rates, so the dollar didn’t rise too much, even though this then fuelled the property industry.  This will always be an ongoing balance and a challenge.

Steve spoke a lot about foreign investment in Australian property both institutional and residential.  Institutional investment has gone from 18 billion to 28.2 billion in the last year.  1/3 of all this was foreign and 38% of that from China.  Chinese are investing in Australian property for many reasons including yields over 4 % compared to lower yields and more barriers in China, and rents are rising here too. Part of the reason Sydney international residential investment is increasing is due to special and premium investment visas, giving guaranteed residency to overseas investors if they invest $5-15 million.  In 2014 over 4 billion was invested in residential property by the Chinese and from 2009 – 2013 – the total was less than 4 billion, so this is a huge increase. 

Sydney is now the third least affordable place to live falling just under HK and Vancouver and not to scare us, but he said after Vancouver had all the foreign investment, no locals could afford to live there any more and there was a lot of out cry and unrest from locals towards the government.  However this is not too much of a worry for us as our population growth outpaces supply so we need new property and investment from overseas and will still have the capacity to fill all the places investment is creating.

If people talk too much about the increased prices, investments might slow down. This could go against us and “kill the golden goose”. To make us feel better, $1 million in Sydney buys you 41 square metres compared to 17 sqm in Monaco, 20 sqm in HK and 21 in London, and in Melbourne 117 sqm.

It seems Melbourne is likely to over take Sydney as a population centre by 2050, and Perth will take over Brisbane sooner than that. Melbourne is going to be the place to be for businesses and consumers in the future.

It was a great presentation with many more issues covered and interesting things to think about and focus on.  Whether you came to hear an institutional, commercial point of view or from a more personal residential property investment decision perspective, Steve definitely gave us all lots of information and things to think about and to watch out for over the coming year and into the future.   

Thanks everyone who came along. Steve's most important message of the day was a message from his mum.  When is the best time to buy property?  All the time! 

To find out more about our other upcoming events, visit our events page and to stay up to date, like us on Facebook and Twitter  or follow our company page on LinkedIn.

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. 

At our recent Moir Group event held in North Ryde, JP Morgan’s Chief Economist Stephen Walters gave his perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing the Australian and the global economy in 2015. Despite how he was quoted in the media during the previous week, Stephen was positive about the outlook for the Australian economy for the coming year. 

In particular Stephen Walters highlighted

• Australia’s low level of government gross debt as a % of GDP, relative to OECD average (significantly higher)
• Australia’s benign inflation forecasts and cooling wages growth
• Ongoing low interest rates
• Domestic tourism sector’s likely growth, benefiting from the lower AUD
• Continued rising house prices, leading to higher construction rates

Stephen did note the following areas of caution for the year ahead

• The lack of consumer and business confidence
• The lack of productivity growth
• Rising unemployment rates (Australia is now slightly higher than the US in this measure)

From a global perspective, Stephen noted some ongoing uncertainties, especially in Greece, and noted that in 2015 the Australian economy may be impacted by changes in US interest rates.  

Concluding on a positive note, Stephen felt that if Australia is able to address the challenges of  productivity growth, consumer and business confidence, the economy will be well positioned for growth in the coming 12 months.

If you are interested in hearing another view on the nation’s economic outlook for 2015, see our short interview with David McDonald, Chief Investment Strategist, Australia  - Credit Suisse

To find out more about our other upcoming events, visit our events page

Interview with David McDonald (Chief Investment Strategist, Australia - Credit Suisse) and Stephen Moir (Director - Moir Group)

 Hear David's thoughts on the two main factors facing Australian businesses in 2015.

If you are interested in finding out more about the challenges and opportunities facing the Australian and Global economy in 2015 and beyond, please come along to hear Stephen Walters (Chief Economist- JP Morgan) speak at our next event, in North Ryde, on the 19th February. 

Please go to our events page to see our other upcoming events.

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

Thanks again to all the fabulous ladies who attended our recent Moir Group Women in Business Event at the QVB Tearooms on Thursday 21^st August. We have been overwhelmed by all the amazing feedback from everyone, and are delighted that you all enjoyed the afternoon. Looking forward to doing it all again in 2015….!

This is a selection of some of the feedback and also a few photos from the day.

“Thank you very much for inviting me along to the session yesterday.  I thoroughly enjoyed.  Interesting and engaging speakers and great table of ladies to chat with.

"It has certainly made me pause and think about my career path and what I want to do.  Lots of thought provoking ideas and mantras…”

“I wanted to thank you for inviting me to yesterday's event, the presenters were very inspiring and networking was of great value. Please extend my congratulations and special thanks to the organising team.”

“Thank you for such a wonderful event yesterday. It was well organized, enjoyable, interesting and motivational. I’m already looking forward to next year’s!”

“Everything worked so well – from the venue to the setup and catering, to the format of the afternoon and to the actual speakers.  I really enjoyed the content of all the speakers, and also thoroughly enjoyed making some new connections as well as catching up with old ones. 

"Congratulations, and can’t wait till next year’s event now!”

“Just wanted to thank you for inviting me to the event this afternoon. It was beautifully put together - stunning room, delicious treats, thought provoking and inspiring speakers - a great afternoon!!”

“And thank you for a most enjoyable afternoon! Inspiring.”

“It was such a fantastic event, thank you so much for inviting me! It is so lovely to attend an event and leave really feeling inspired.  There was a lovely group of ladies there, best Thursday I have spent in quite a while!

"The hosting, attention to detail, etiquette, venue – all just bang on!”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the talks and filled my 'thought bubbles' which was a splendid idea and which I will refer to as I take up many if the tips shared.”

“Thank you for the invite! As result of the meeting I have reignited my networking activities and organised some meetings with possible mentors and/or create some opportunities to do something different”

“What a wonderful event last Thursday! Thank you so much for inviting me. It was fantastic to finally see a Moir event in action, what a wonderful venue and such great speakers (such a good mix of styles and personalities)”

“Many thanks for including me on the guest list. Thoroughly enjoyed the speakers and the event.

"Loving my speech bubbles which I have since shared!”