“The best time to recruit the next champion may be now” writes Brian Briscoe

Well, the last quarter of a challenging year is upon us and I’m sure many are happy to see the end of 2009! 13 months on from the Lehman Brothers collapse and all that entailed, there is a definite growth in confidence around the market; a sentiment widely publicized lately in most media (the very media that were talking it down 12 months ago – beware of the drama!). Gladly, unlike earlier in the year, we are no longer alone in our positive outlook on the market as some major projects, a brighter financial outlook and the result of excellent pre-emptive action taken by the Australian government has most of our nation feeling a little less frightened of 2010.

The current talk of increased demand should be a real warning to organisation’s to ask themselves the question of when is the best time to buy an investment, be it property or shares? At the end of a downturn, right? Yet, predicting the exact timing of the turn is the almost impossible skill to master as everyone knows. Well, it’s no different in the labour market. The best time to strengthen the team in an organisation is at the end of a labour-demand downturn, when there are great candidates on the market and there is an increased willingness of “passive jobseekers” (i.e. those in employment not actively seeking a move) to entertain opportunities. Bear in mind that availability of passive candidates is very low going into a downturn as the perceived risk of moving at such a time is too high to top candidates.

When is the end of the downturn in labour-demand? All the stats are suggesting NOW!

Several respected labour market indices are suggesting that we have now experienced the low-point of labour demand in Australia, with recent advertisement growth strong, particularly in Australia.

I have been advising many of our clients in the last month that if they are planning on expanding their team or “trading up” existing team strengths, the next 2-3 months represents a fantastic time to do so. Considering the amount of key projects taking off in WA, the massively frustrating candidate shortage we experienced between 2006 and late 2008 may return quicker that we think. My guess is the ability to get your hands on high quality candidates without suffering salary push and long fill times (which can cost a company up to $10k a week in lost revenue or opportunity cost) will only last for until end of Quarter 1, 2010.

Our Humble Advice? Beat the market by acting now and use an intelligent candidate attraction approach to find the best performers in your market or you may have a lot to lose by missing the great opportunity that the end of a labour-demand downturn presents.