Joanne and I would like to thank you for your support in 2011.  We are passionate about assisting our candidates with their careers in the fashion industry, and about helping our clients to build strong capable teams.  We also really appreciate all your referrals to friends when they are wanting or needing to make a career change.  It has been a tough year for those seeking work and we are hoping for a much more positive job market in 2012.  We wish you all a safe and stress free festive season and look forward to working with you again soon.  Take care – Donna and Joanne.

For the first time, we have decided to enter the specialist small recruiter cetegory of the SEEK SARA (SEEK Annual Recruitment Awards) Awards.  We get consistently positive feedback from our wonderful candidates that we are doing a good job, so we decided to see whether we had enough support to make it count officially.  So if you like what we do, how we operate, how we treat you – vote for us so that we can let everyone know about it.  You’ve got until Friday the 30th of September to make your vote count.  www.seek.co.nz/sara

Let’s not concentrate on what hasn’t changed this month, because that doesn’t make for interesting reading – let’s talk about what is new and interesting.  It feels like there is a thawing of sorts starting to happen and by that I mean that we are having enquiries from candidates who are putting their feelers out – not desperate to move – just keeping an eye on the market.  This hasn’t happened for quite some time – mostly our candidates have been people who have been made redundant or are returning to New Zealand or immigrating here.  You need to feel secure in a job market to apply for a job when there is nothing wrong with the one you are in – prior to now, if people were in a secure job, they’ve hung onto it!  We are also getting little pockets of activity – we get one role for a graphic designer and a few days later we have three, likewise with Garment Technicians or Production co-ordinators.  It’s not quite musical chairs, but clearly the industry has certain needs at certain times of the season.  This month we’ve got a little pocket of activity in the education sector.  If you have ever felt the need to pass on your knowledge, now it seems, is the time.  We have roles in both private and public education, in Auckland and in the Waikato (Hamilton).  If you have a reasonable level of industry experience you may not even need special qualifications to teach – the training providers are very good at upskilling you with the teaching skills. 

We are also desperate for Production Controllers (offshore, especially intermediate to senior $45,000-65,000), Garment Technicians ($50-60,000), and Merchandise Assistants (Production focused $50-60,000).

“Out of recession but still not free of the fear of it.”

This is a quote I heard at the recent FINZ conference, which I thought pretty much summed up the state of the industry at the moment.  We are still experiencing a great deal of nervousness from our clients, who are unsure whether to increase their staff levels, or whether to replace individuals when they leave.  Many of our clients are waiting on orders, or waiting out the season to see what the next one brings before they make any permanent decisions.  We are moving into a busier recruitment period now (historically) and we have seen a few more vacancies becoming available – the lead up to the Christmas period is generally a time of movement as people line up new opportunities to start the New Year – so whilst the future isn’t looking rosy just yet, there is a decidedly pink tinge to it – we’ll call it blush!