Fashion Personnel

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: May 2012

donna — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:45:23 +0000

There’s a lot happening this month – it feels like the industry has finally awoken from it’s slumber of the last few years. Change is in the air and companies are emerging from their sleep with thoughts of growth and expansion. We are experiencing a surge in new roles coming in and the opportunities are exciting and varied. It’s never been a better time to be an ‘engine room’ person – garment techs, production controllers, and merchandise assistants are in demand and finally being given the recognition these positions deserve – and the salary’s to go with this recognition. These are positions that have maintained salary levels throughout the recession and look to set record highs as companies vie for the best candidates. If you’re thinking it’s time to bed down for the winter, think again – there are great career moves to be made before the cold weather really sets in!

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: April 2012

donna — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:08:39 +0000

This month we are getting behind part-timers and trying really hard to encourage our clients to look at what they can do to tap into this incredible resource. We are becoming increasingly aware of the number of fantastic candidates that we have, who for whatever reason, can only work part-time. Conversely there is a real lack of suitable part-time or job share options for them in the industry. Unless you are prepared to do spec overflow work or contract patternmaking there is very little else on offer. As an example, there are many Mums who were at a senior level before they left the industry who would love to sink their teeth into something again, but are restricted to school hours, and put off working by the lack of stimulating options and poor pay for the part-timers performing them. We’ve been thinking about this issue a lot and we would love to see the idea of job-sharing explored to a greater degree. Most Mothers could work around their children for half a week, and job-sharing would also work around school holiday time, where they could take turns working a full week each to cover the other. And if one is sick, there is potentially a back up there too – someone who knows exactly what is going on in the role. Worth pursuing? Let us know your thoughts.

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: March 2012

donna — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:13:36 +0000

Something new and interesting this month – new jobs in the Fashion Industry! And when we say new jobs we don’t mean actual jobs, we mean types of jobs. Let me explain; when we first started recruiting in the Fashion industry our time was spent filling roles in local production and patternmaking. Times have changed – local production has morphed into offshore production and patternmakers have morphed into garment techs and spec makers. What we are seeing now is the emergence of brand new positions – positions that just didn’t exist in our industry a few years ago. It’s very exciting to see these positions emerging as it proves our industry is evolving in the changing business environment – no longer a sunset industry?

These new roles centre around websites, e-commerce and social media. And PR it seems is also set to keep growing, becoming integral to fashion businesses rather than an unaffordable luxury. I can hear what you are thinking – websites aren’t new! However the functionality of websites is changing rapidly – it’s the on-line hub that supports social media and e-commerce and it’s not good enough to update the content on your website once a month anymore. Driven by consumers who seek regular conversation, content must be up to the minute, changed weekly if not daily and discussed via blog or facebook posts. An e-commerce site must be consumer-friendly, garments must be easy to see – preferably photographed on models and ideally live on a runway! So the new roles emerging are – on-line store managers, bloggers, website managers, content designers and social media marketing specialists. Maybe there is a need for a new qualification – a degree that combines fashion with marketing, communications and graphic design? Just a thought.

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: February 2012

donna — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:34:26 +0000

Wow, what a great start to 2012. Raining today but for the most part the start of the working year has been bouyed along by fine weather and high spirits. We don’t know about you, but here at Fashion Personnel, we are over this recession, so this year we are going to act like it’s 2005 – when there were jobs for everyone! Are you with us?

After much kicking and screaming we are making ourselves get up to speed with social networking, so you can now ‘like us’ as a company on Facebook. Be gentle with us 40+ ‘girls’ and do let us know if we make any embarassing mistakes! Also let us know what you want to know from us – We have over 20years experience finding people jobs in the fashion industry, so we know lots of tips and tricks. If it’s something you think others would want to know as well, ask us via Facebook and we’ll let all our friends know too, otherwise send us a private e-mail and we’ll tell you confidentially. Above all, lets be positive and party like it’s 2005!

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: December 2011

donna — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:08:25 +0000

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.

Fashion Personnel Month Pulse: October 2011

joanne — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:15:43 +0000

October always signals the start of the ‘countdown’ to Christmas and more importantly, the end of another year. With that, often comes a rush of new roles as companies prepare for the start of a new and busy year ahead, and this year has proven to be no exception.

Currently we have some great roles on our books across a wide cross section of the industry which is very exciting after what has been another relatively slow year in the job market.

On our website at the moment is a ‘taste’ of some of the opportunities currently available. If any of these take your fancy call us today – if not, contact us anyway as we have more roles on our books. We look forward to talking to you soon!

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: September 2011

donna — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:17:37 +0000

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

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: August 2011

donna — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:20:01 +0000

A New Look for the New Season – the Fashion industry is defined by seasonal change so why not us as well? And to go with our new look, lots of other changes which we will keep you posted with over the next couple of months. Look out for our new Facebook Page, which will enable us to communicate more effectively with you all – and you with us of course. We will be tweeting when new roles come in, so that you can get job information first, wherever you are. We update our website at least once a week, but often daily at the moment, as and when new positions come through. How about you – is there a new job on the horizon? Do you feel the need for change, something new, something fresh, a bigger or smaller challenge? We’d love to look out for this for you, so let us know what you’re looking for and we can do the hard work for you!

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: June 2011

donna — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:57:46 +0000

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).

Fashion Personnel Monthly Pulse: March 2011

joanne — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:25:30 +0000

Well this year seems to be no exception, already the months are flying by and Autumn is now well and truly upon us again. It’s time to start updating our wardrobes with some exciting new winter fashion in anticipation of the colder weather coming.

This year has also seen a steady increase in job opportunities again, but let’s not kid ourselves – it is still tough out there. However, we do have some exciting roles coming through, but companies are moving quickly when they do have a role available and opportunities are placing fast. So make sure you have emailed us your C.V so we can contact you when the perfect role comes in – some roles never get to advertising stage before they are filled.

We look forward to hearing from you soon….Regards Donna and Joanne