January 21, 2025 • 5 mins
It's a tough market for people on the job hunt in today's climate.
Seek data shows job ads fell 2 percent in December - and were down 22 percent compared to December 2023.
Recent surveys also indicated at least 64 percent of employees are also hoping for a pay rise this year.
Robert Half Managing Director Megan Alexander says applicants need to demonstrate proactivity and initiative - and follow through on the promises made in interviews.
"You have to definitely have the full package in today's climate. You've got to have experience that is relevant for the job, you've got to articulate it really well, you have to demonstrate proactivity... all those people-skill elements."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But first, it is fair to say it is a
tough time if you're looking for a job at the moment.
Seek report of this morning the job ads fell two
percent in December and we're down twenty two percent compared
to December twenty twenty three, so there's not many jobs.
At the same time, a survey by recruitment agency Robert
Half has found sixty four percent of employees want to
(00:22):
pay rise this year. So Meghan Alexander works for Robert Half.
In fact, Meghan and Alexander is the managing director of
Robert Half and joins me right now, good morning, so
not good morning, good evening, Mega, Hi Andrew. So people
are looking for jobs, how do you stand out?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Look, you have to definitely have the full package in
today's climate, So you've got to have an experience that
is relevant for the job. You've got to articulate it
really well. You have to demonstrate proactivity using initiative and
all those people school elements are being able to communicate,
and so you really have to turn up and make
(01:02):
it count when you go to interview and then be
able to follow it through. Obviously, your past will catch
up with you. So if you haven't been demonstrating that
in the workplace. Now it's a very difficult time to
start turning up to an interview without having that behind you,
because people are going to reference you, and so it
is a case of actually really selling yourself well.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And obviously we don't have to know every minutia of
your life lived.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
No, you have to think about the relevance to the
job that you're applying for, and thinking about the receiver,
the interviewer. What information do they think is pertinent that
you can relay good examples of how you've ad avalage
to an organization or done something similar so that they
can see why they would want you on their team.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Portrait pictures on cvs is this a thing?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It shouldn't be, right, So in cvs to me, are
a sales document that should portray your skill sets. But
you certainly don't want people making preconceived ideas about the
way you look. And so I think portraits are things
that shouldn't be on the CV.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
But what if you look awesome?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You look awesome. It's always in the eyes of the beholder.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
That's true. Okay, So it's a punt where you have
to say it's a punt. What about flexibility because many people,
especially over the COVID period and after that, started asking
for flexibility more and more demanding it at some stages,
but at this moment in our economic cycle, other times
of working from home and asking for heaps of flexibility
over Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
We definitely saw a significant change at Robert haff come
through all the different industries last year. So certainly office
workers have been called back to offices. You know, ETMI
New Zealand was never really a huge fan of hybrid
working and so they sort of call back people earlier.
(03:00):
But some of the big corporates were slower to adapt,
and we've seen a lot of big corporates go from
a three to two three days in the office to
at home or by versa back into a four to
one model being four days in the office and one
at home. So some companies have still got a little
bit of it, but it's a lot of it went
last year. What the employees I'm looking for is a
lot more flexibility. So if I've got to drop the
(03:22):
kids or pick up the kids, or if I've got
the plumber coming today, can I work from home on
that one day Versus I want a set day every week,
So that world has already changed. It changed significantly in
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Now your company, Robert Half to the survey. I found
that sixty four percent of employees want to pay rise
this year. I mean every year, almost one hundred percent
of employees. I would have thought, we'll want to pay rise.
But the thing is it's hard times. So for those
employees wanting a pay rise this year, how do you
get that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
If you really perhaps of worked very effectively and showed
that you've been at the top of the bird chain,
that you've really added value to the organization, gone over
and beyond. So if you're going to ask for a
pay rise, you've actually got to demonstrate that you've been
able to deliver value to that company. I mean, salaries
are not moving it significant rates anymore, and so some
(04:17):
people are asking for pay rises because they were sort
of used to them over the last three or four years,
although they started to drop away last year. So that
was there was normal years, right, and so if you
go back in time, salaries used to rise at say
three or four percent. So what we saw last year
(04:37):
was high performing people would get pay rises at maybe
six percent, and lower performing people weren't getting them, and
so we've got this disparity that crept in last year.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
All right, But you can't really suggest that to a
future employer, though, can. You just have to hope that
they realize us as well. So this is a message
you're sitting out to employers too.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, Look, you have to you have to back up
with the goods of your performance. Right, So if you're
going to ask, you need to have you need to
come to places like Robert Half and get market information,
because there's no point in asking for a salary rise
if the market is not doing that for your skill sets.
So first and foremost, you need to look credible with
market knowledge, and then you have to have examples of
(05:22):
how why you believe that you should be getting that
pay rise based on your performance?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Good?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Ever, justify that good?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Sef Meghan Alexander and Meghan is the managing director of
Robert Half.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live
to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
But first, it is fair to say it is a
tough time if you're looking for a job at the moment.
Seek report of this morning the job ads fell two
percent in December and we're down twenty two percent compared
to December twenty twenty three, so there's not many jobs.
At the same time, a survey by recruitment agency Robert
Half has found sixty four percent of employees want to
(00:22):
pay rise this year. So Meghan Alexander works for Robert Half.
In fact, Meghan and Alexander is the managing director of
Robert Half and joins me right now, good morning, so
not good morning, good evening, Mega, Hi Andrew. So people
are looking for jobs, how do you stand out?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Look, you have to definitely have the full package in
today's climate, So you've got to have an experience that
is relevant for the job. You've got to articulate it
really well. You have to demonstrate proactivity using initiative and
all those people school elements are being able to communicate,
and so you really have to turn up and make
(01:02):
it count when you go to interview and then be
able to follow it through. Obviously, your past will catch
up with you. So if you haven't been demonstrating that
in the workplace. Now it's a very difficult time to
start turning up to an interview without having that behind you,
because people are going to reference you, and so it
is a case of actually really selling yourself well.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And obviously we don't have to know every minutia of
your life lived.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
No, you have to think about the relevance to the
job that you're applying for, and thinking about the receiver,
the interviewer. What information do they think is pertinent that
you can relay good examples of how you've ad avalage
to an organization or done something similar so that they
can see why they would want you on their team.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Portrait pictures on cvs is this a thing?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It shouldn't be, right, So in cvs to me, are
a sales document that should portray your skill sets. But
you certainly don't want people making preconceived ideas about the
way you look. And so I think portraits are things
that shouldn't be on the CV.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
But what if you look awesome?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You look awesome. It's always in the eyes of the beholder.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
That's true. Okay, So it's a punt where you have
to say it's a punt. What about flexibility because many people,
especially over the COVID period and after that, started asking
for flexibility more and more demanding it at some stages,
but at this moment in our economic cycle, other times
of working from home and asking for heaps of flexibility
over Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
We definitely saw a significant change at Robert haff come
through all the different industries last year. So certainly office
workers have been called back to offices. You know, ETMI
New Zealand was never really a huge fan of hybrid
working and so they sort of call back people earlier.
(03:00):
But some of the big corporates were slower to adapt,
and we've seen a lot of big corporates go from
a three to two three days in the office to
at home or by versa back into a four to
one model being four days in the office and one
at home. So some companies have still got a little
bit of it, but it's a lot of it went
last year. What the employees I'm looking for is a
lot more flexibility. So if I've got to drop the
(03:22):
kids or pick up the kids, or if I've got
the plumber coming today, can I work from home on
that one day Versus I want a set day every week,
So that world has already changed. It changed significantly in
twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Now your company, Robert Half to the survey. I found
that sixty four percent of employees want to pay rise
this year. I mean every year, almost one hundred percent
of employees. I would have thought, we'll want to pay rise.
But the thing is it's hard times. So for those
employees wanting a pay rise this year, how do you
get that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
If you really perhaps of worked very effectively and showed
that you've been at the top of the bird chain,
that you've really added value to the organization, gone over
and beyond. So if you're going to ask for a
pay rise, you've actually got to demonstrate that you've been
able to deliver value to that company. I mean, salaries
are not moving it significant rates anymore, and so some
(04:17):
people are asking for pay rises because they were sort
of used to them over the last three or four years,
although they started to drop away last year. So that
was there was normal years, right, and so if you
go back in time, salaries used to rise at say
three or four percent. So what we saw last year
(04:37):
was high performing people would get pay rises at maybe
six percent, and lower performing people weren't getting them, and
so we've got this disparity that crept in last year.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
All right, But you can't really suggest that to a
future employer, though, can. You just have to hope that
they realize us as well. So this is a message
you're sitting out to employers too.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, Look, you have to you have to back up
with the goods of your performance. Right, So if you're
going to ask, you need to have you need to
come to places like Robert Half and get market information,
because there's no point in asking for a salary rise
if the market is not doing that for your skill sets.
So first and foremost, you need to look credible with
market knowledge, and then you have to have examples of
(05:22):
how why you believe that you should be getting that
pay rise based on your performance?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Good?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Ever, justify that good?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Sef Meghan Alexander and Meghan is the managing director of
Robert Half.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live
to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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