Hiring advice

• eBook 1: How to keep your best people provides useful information and advice on how to improve your staff retention.
• eBook 2: How to maximise employee productivity covers six steps to ensure your staff remain focused, enthusiastic and loyal.
• eBook 3: How to hire cost effectively gives tips on how you can use strategic staffing to get you through the lean times and expand when the market improves.
• eBook 4: How to check references  provides advice and insight to help you make the right hire.
• eBook 5: How to conduct successful interviews provides employers with all the information they need to make the right hire.

Looking to recruit but don't know how much to pay? We produce two salary guides annually - one specific to the Auckland market and the other comparing salaries for finance positions globally.

Make sure you're keeping up with the market rates and learn what employees want with our detailed benefits information.

• Auckland Salary Guide - our Auckland Salary Guide outlines the latest salaries, trends and views in the finance and accounting industry in Auckland. It also delves into issues affecting business through the eyes of the finance professional and looks at the state of the current job market.  Order salary guide here >> 

• Global Financial Salary Guide - we are pleased to present our 2009/2010 Global Financial Salary Guide . The guide provides comprehensive data on average starting salaries for accounting and finance professionals in 21 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States. Download our Global Financial Salary Guide >> 

Without a doubt, the economic climate is challenging businesses in unprecedented ways but opportunities are emerging as companies and consumers redefine their priorities. In fact, this downturn may be just the right time to introduce beneficial changes to your organisation.

The 7 hidden business opportunities in a challenging economy highlights how smart businesses can reinvent themselves and better address the shifting needs of businesses today - and their customers. Through real-life examples, you'll learn how creative organisations such as Microsoft and FedEx are positioning themselves for growth in the short and long term and how your business can do the same.

The third annual Robert Half Global Financial Employment Monitor gauges international hiring trends in accounting and finance.

Survey results are used to gather insight on the current employment environment worldwide and focus on topics such as:

• Challenges of finding and retaining skilled professionals
• Time to hire
• Identifying important attributes when hiring executive-level staff

More than 4,800 finance and human resource managers were surveyed in 21 countries. Respondents represented Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Download our Global Financial Employment Monitor >>

The job description is the most important place to start when recruiting for an employee and, if it’s well written, it can indeed mean that you recruit the right candidate. By being precise when describing the job’s requirements, you will avoid making mistakes.

To improve this process even more, here are a few guidelines:

Analyse the job before you start writing

By putting the description down on paper, you may discover that a certain position does not actually need to be filled by someone on a full-time basis. Is it possible to share the tasks amongst employees already working at the company? If you have decided that you really do need someone for the job, identify the essential tasks and responsibilities.

Avoid the most common mistakes

One of the most frequent missteps that managers make is simply drawing up a shopping list of tasks without actually looking at the position in detail.
To avoid this, ask yourself some questions:

• What are the most important tasks for the employee?
• What takes priority amongst the range of duties?
• What lines of reporting are there, and to whom?
• What results should the employee actually deliver?
• If your employee has a managerial role, ask yourself: what is the extent of his/her authority?

Employment criteria

Based on your answers to the above questions, determine the criteria for the job – the mixture of functional qualifications, skills and character traits that the candidate must have to successfully fulfil the position.
Try not to confuse qualifications, skills and personal characteristics with one another, because there are subtle differences to each:

• Qualifications relate to what the candidate needs in order to do the job: experience, education and any other references.
• Skills relate to what the candidate can do, for example working with different computer programmes.
• Personal characteristics are not as easy to measure or define, such as a pro-active attitude and a strong personality.

The employment criteria are especially important if there are several candidates for the position. These will allow you to remove a large number of ‘unsuitable’ candidates from the list.

Defining the job description

You can now start to write the job description. Don’t forget that the job description is not merely used to attract the best candidate, but also to evaluate other candidates for the job. In general, the job description should be practical, functional and clear.

It should include:

• Job title, the department and the person to whom the employee will report.
• The person’s responsibilities: what does the position involve and what is the aim of the position?
• The most important tasks and responsibilities – list the most important first and the least important last.
• Skills and characteristics that a good candidate should possess. For example: ‘a good organiser’, ‘suited to leading a team’ or ‘capable of working independently’.
• Other requirements and desired level of education.

Salary

The salary is an important part of the job description and you should be prepared to establish a salary on the basis of the employee’s education and experience, along with the general salary level within your branch, organisation, department or area. In any case, there is a variety of sources you can use to assist you, such as job exchange or governmental agencies, salary research like the Robert Half Salary Guides, careers centres and the Internet. 

Finally, don’t be under the impression that the position needs to be filled quickly. Take more time to determine a clear job description and to find a candidate that fits that description. This is a much better approach than finding yourself with a candidate who does not fit your requirements.

79 percent* of finance professionals globally claim that their company is planning special projects in the next year.

The top five most common are:

1. Electronic invoicing
2. Development of risk management policies
3. Implementation/upgrade of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
4. Changes to internal audit function
5. Outsourcing of IT processes/services.
   

Independent project consultants can help you to deliver these projects as planned.
The main advantages of working with project consultants are:

1. They are objective and independent
2. They bring experience from other companies and industries
3. They have specialist knowedge
4. They are a flexible, cost effective alternative to a consulting firm.

Our independent project consultants have assisted companies across the region with a number of financial projects.

Find out more by downloading our Asia Pacific Case Study booklet >>

We produce a number of white papers to provide our clients with the insight and advice they need day-to-day. Our annual roundtable events, supported by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, provide a platform for top CFOs to discuss and debate the issues of the day and these opinions are outlined in the below white papers.

• Where will technology take accounting and finance in the next five years? - This white paper was produced following our 2008 CFO/CIO roundtable event featuring senior finance and IT representatives from New Zealand's top companies such as Turners and Growers, AUT University, Ports of Auckland and Zeacom. The main discussion focused on the relationship between CIO and CFO and IT and finance, and how these relationships will affect future business strategy.Click here to download >>
• The global war for talent and its affects on the finance & accounting industry in New Zealand - This white paper presents the findings of a CFO roundtable discussion held in Auckland in 2005. The paper addresses the skills shortage in New Zealand and the drivers and potential solutions to the problem based on the opinions of some of New Zealand's top CFOs. Click here to download >>

In this report – Working Hours: A Global Comparison – we examine the findings of an international workplace survey commissioned in spring 2007 by Robert Half.

The poll shows the varying levels of what is acceptable, and what can be expected, when it comes to the amount of time financial professionals spend at work across different countries and cultures. This report also examines the impact of technology on our working lives and the blurring line between work and personal time.

The survey, conducted between March and April 2007 by specialist research firm Heliview, solicited the responses and opinions of 2,283 financial professionals across four continents, representing 17 countries. The responses are broken down by both country and continent. The countries included within North America are Canada and the United States. For Asia-Pacific they include Australia, Hong Kong (SAR), Japan and New Zealand; and for Europe they include Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Download Working Hours Report now >>