The Market Report

This is the first of three newsletters you will receive this year. The communication aims to provide our view of how the executive recruitment market is faring, based on our daily interaction with clients and senior level professionals.

If you require more information about the content of this newsletter, please feel free to contact us.

Scott Mewing
Director
t 02 8292 2100

Matthew Hodder
t 02 8292 2120

CFO Market Overview

The corporate strategy of quarter one 2010 continued the theme of 2009, which is for corporates to position themselves for the new market conditions concentrating on;

1) Internal cost structures including headcount
2) Capital management
3) Veracity and quality of management information
4) Stakeholder/shareholder expectations
5) Readiness to take opportunity for top line growth

We are moving to stage 5 which will be welcome.

Australian listed companies have been most active in their CFO replacements/hires reflecting a number of scenarios. The foreign multinationals and privately owned companies have not been as active as the ASX listed companies. FMCs have been quieter as they resolve issues at home and have spent a disproportional amount of their balance sheet in Asia expecting to reap stronger returns than the mature markets such as Australia. Read more

Employment Trends Centre

The Michael Page Employment Trends Centre provides a forecast of hiring activity for the white-collar professional markets in Australia. The research is based on a monthly survey to a select group of senior HR professional across a dozen different industry sectors.

Some of the latest findings include:

	32% of all companies surveyed will be increasing their staff numbers

	78% of which are doing so on a full-time basis

	88% of companies surveyed are reviewing employee salary levels during the 2010 calendar year

	The most commonly anticipated salary increase was 3-4%

For more information on employment trends or to view media interviews on the subject, please visit our Employment Trends Centre

ASX 200 Major Moves
	Michael Kelly secured the CFO position at Adelaide Brighton following the move of Andrew Poulter into the CFO position at Boral. Michael was formally head of strategy and corporate development for Adelaide Brighton. Both Capral Aluminum and Blackmores hired their second CFO in less than 12 months with Michael Lamb going to Capral following the move of Ian Timms back to the UK and Chris Last moving into Blackmores from Unilever Read more...


Technology Executive Search
	The Executive Search team is pleased to welcome Emily Holman back to the business from maternity leave. Emily heads up Michael Page Technology Executive Search. She has specialised in the search and selection of senior level technology professionals since 1998. With a 12 year recruitment career, Emily is recognised for her market knowledge and has an extensive network within the CIO, CTO and Head of IT community. To meet the people you need to know…