Work opportunities still strong across Australia for Professional Engineers

Welcome to the 4th AAAI report.

Firstly, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support and your valued feedback. We have continued to receive an immensely positive response about our new website and the responses are still going strong. I would also like to thank all the new clients who have filled out our online vacancy form requesting staff on local and overseas projects. This has been of great benefit to AAAI as not only has it lifted our local profile but it has also increased our overseas market share of placements for engineering and management professionals. Many of our candidates have also expressed interest in signing up for the AAAI Report and this support is also appreciated.

I would like to encourage candidates at all levels who are considering a career move or want a new challenge in the workplace to contact me directly by email at mike.hayes@aaai.com.au or call (02) 9439 2977 for a confidential discussion.

Queensland proving to be a hot place to work and live!

The Queensland Government has recently announced that it will increase spending on major infrastructure projects to a total of $5 billion. This will enhance job prospects for candidates who wish to make a move to Queensland and take advantage of these new projects. Some of the benefits of living in Queensland include a slower-paced lifestyle and more affordable cost of living. Our Queensland office, headed by Director Ken Bidgood, has reported a particularly busy period of recruitment for the leading engineering consultancy groups in order to meet the increased demand for engineers. Engineers with experience in impact assessments, detailed design and documentation are in particular demand. We therefore welcome candidates from all around Australia and overseas, especially if your skills are in civil, structural, environmental, mining, infrastructure and rail sectors, to register your information on our website. If you would like further information about the government's projects or work opportunities in Queensland, please do not hesitate to contact Ken Bidgood on 0414 707 640 or click here to view his details.

Clients still have a choice:

The market place for candidates generally has been particularly strong across all of our industry sectors. From a young design engineer involved in a small local project, to a senior management professional responsible for running a business unit, we have had vacancies in all areas. Clients, however, are very conscious of the fact that they need to keep the salary versus candidate's experience in line with current team members when appointing new people, to ensure other issues, such as retention, motivation and performance related factors are managed. This means that managers today are far more aware of how their own team is being remunerated, the associated training and career development opportunities, plus any performance related KPI's that have to be monitored and addressed either 6 monthly or yearly.

Very rarely do we see a candidate that is underpaid in this market, unless the candidate has been operating out of a particular sector for a little while (say 8-24 months) and is trying to enter into the same sector again. The client is therefore in this delicate position of power. Our role as professional recruiters is to work closely with the client and the candidate to strike an achievable balance of money and career incentives that are realistic and fair for both parties. Having just been in this situation, I must admit it has been very challenging but I was secure in the knowledge that AAAI can contribute to a win-win solution for all involved.

If you would like to know more about our executive search process, or want to review some of our current work opportunities, then please either visit our website at www.aaai.com.au or call a consultant in your state for a general discussion.

Thank you again for taking the time to read the AAAI Report and please feel free to recommend this report to any friends and colleagues that you think might be interested.

Regards,

Mike Hayes.