May 25, 2020 – We are just “waiting to see what happens”. This is a comment being made by around 85% of our clients right now – and it’s completely understandable considering the environment we all find ourselves in.

Over the past week our national approach has been to touch base and show support to our clients. Overall most are just sitting nervously waiting, some are about to or still going through redundancies, most have cut out the recruitment budget until 2021, a large number are working from home and saying they will even stay put until early 2021.

It’s a surreal and unnerving feeling having little control over anything right now. Our local world is also very different with main streets feeling more empty, with the smaller cities like Tauranga showing a bit more hustle and getting back into business.

With a strong candidate market, clients are going directly to market with the roles they do need to fill. But with the volume of applicants applying to everything and anything, it’s time consuming to filter through.

Rate wars have already begun between agencies, seeing who can go the lowest while still having some skin on the bone. Temps are lowering hourly rate expectations, they just want a job right now. It is a complex situation with constant change.

We will have a far better feel of what’s happening within the market as the weeks pass. For now it’s about having a determined, focused and driven purpose to get through this thing and keep talking to those you’ve turned to in the past.  This is more about listening and lending a ear than any business right now.  We are all in this together.