FIREFIGHTING: Anyone who has ever thought about becoming a career firefighter will get their chance to find out if they have what it takes when physical and theory tests are held at recruitment open days around New Zealand this month. The Open Days will be staged in Christchurch on 20 July, Auckland, Napier, Palmerston North and Dunedin on 26 July, Rotorua on 27 July and Wellington on 2 August. Anyone who would like to see what is needed to join New Zealand’s 1700 career fire-fighters... more>

EMPLOYMENT: Half the employers in a survey of businesses north of Taupo say they will not be replacing staff when they leave. At the same time, the inaugural online survey of employment plans conducted by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) last month found only 11 percent of the 932 respondents were making definite plans to put off staff. Another 20 percent were uncertain or fairly sure they would be, while 52 percent were definite they would not be making redundancies... more>

LONDON: Australasian Recruitment Company is delighted to announce the celebration of its 5th year in business, having been co-founded and organically built, by its two directors – Samantha Webster and Jeremy Nicholls. Samantha is a New Zealander with 18 year’s recruitment experience, and Jeremy is English (but is married to an Australian!), with 12 year’s recruitment experience. The company has been grown with one objective in mind: "To provide the highest quality temporary,... more>

EMPLOYMENT: The number of New Zealanders concerned about their job security due to the economic outlook is just outnumbered by those who remain unconcerned, reveals a survey by specialist recruiter Hays. When asked if the economic outlook had any impact on how secure they feel in their job, 48.03% of New Zealanders said `yes I am concerned’, 32.28 said `No change as yet’ and 19.69% chose `No difference’. "The demand for specialists across many sectors, such as... more>

EDUCATION: The number of people applying for teaching jobs in the secondary sector has dropped to worrying levels, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association says. Secondary Principals’ Council chair Graeme Macaan (crrct) said a recent survey completed by 44 percent of the country’s schools showed three quarters of the advertised jobs allowed no choice of candidate with either none or just one person applying for the position. Mr Macaan said the sector had no problem... more>

EMPLOYMENT: An employment confidence survey has taken its biggest tumble in the four years it has been running, although confidence remains firmly in optimistic territory. The Westpac McDermott Miller employment confidence index fell 8 points to 120.8 in the June quarter. An index above 100 indicates there are more optimists than pessimists, while a number below 100 indicates that pessimists outnumber optimists. The tight labour market has provided critical support to the consumer in the... more>

POLICE: Police are on target to have 1000 extra recruits join the force over a three year period. Since July 1 2006, an extra 600 staff have joined the thin blue line -- a growth of 10.5 percent. Latest figures show that after the second year of a three year recruitment drive there were 8196 officers, not including recruits at Police College. The target was to have 8192 staff. Police general manager of human resources Wayne Annan was pleased with the growth and was looking forward to... more>

WORKERS: The majority of New Zealand employers think Government and businesses are not doing enough to slow the brain drain, according to a Manpower survey today. And New Zealand did not feature among the top-10 countries to work in, or the top-10 sources of talented workers, according to respondents from the Asia-Pacific region in the Borderless Workforce survey of 27 countries. Twelve percent of New Zealand employers surveyed thought there was not enough done to slow the outward... more>

EMPLOYMENT: The Government said today it would strengthen employment protections for temporary and casual workers. Business New Zealand warned this could blow out costs for the Rugby World Cup and other events. But the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) said the changes would help the army of casual employees who did not know enough about their rights. Labour Minister Trevor Mallard said the Government would change the Employment Relations Act to strengthen employment protections for... more>

RECRUITMENT: The New Year is upon us, but what does it hold for the recruitment market? Here specialist recruiter Hays identifies the top ten trends it expects to influence the recruitment market in the year ahead: Tug-of-war: "It is not uncommon for candidates in areas where the skills shortage is most acute to receive multiple offers of employment," said Jason Walker, regional director of Hays in New Zealand. "In these cases organisations across the country find they are competing for... more>