April 2017 Newsletter

Welcome to the April edition of the CGC Newsletter with the new and improved CGC HQ commissioned and operational it is all systems go in the Sydney Construction & Engineering sector with all consultants as busy as they have ever been on their respective desks. This month’s newsletter will include a detailed insight into the vibrancy of the NSW infrastructure market from CGC Director/Pilates guru Nick Curtis as well as low down on CGC Social events from Hollie Burt. Finally, with the end of the financially year rapidly approaching both Sydney and Brisbane offices are eagerly awaiting the announcement where, when and what the CGC annual ‘big bash’ will involve!!

“Happy Days” by Nick Curtis

The opening gambit from Minister Andrew Constance at this month’s Metro industry briefing nicely surmises the sentiment in the Sydney infrastructure market. With a plethora of projects in delivery phase and a strong pipeline of future works, the NSW market is experiencing its strongest period of investment in the last 20 years.

With the excitement and confidence this work brings it is important that all participants remain focused on delivering successful outcomes and not become fixated by short-term wins. This is the responsibility of candidates, clients and us as recruiters. Ultimately history will judge this period based on successful project and commercial outcomes for the people of NSW.

What does this mean from a recruitment, retention and professional development perspective?

Firstly, resources are stretched. The demand for skilled candidates far outweighs availability and we are seeing a significant increase in demand and salaries are growing accordingly. Lucrative contract offers, multiple offers and counter offers are now a daily occurrence in our office. Whilst this is good news for salaries ultimately it will have a significant impact on the commercial outcomes and budgets for projects.

How can this be managed? Well there is no silver bullet to solving these problems. Skilled candidates are in short supply, upskilling is timely and bringing in overseas resources is expensive. In a market where demand is outstripping supply market forces will dictate that costs will increase. It is important however to stay focused on deliverables and look beyond pure financials when recruiting and more importantly training staff.

From a client perspective, it is important that you can convey the non-financial benefits of working within your organisation. Be clear on the professional development opportunities, work-life balance, unique project exposure and long-term career opportunities.

For a candidate perspective ask yourself where do you want to be in 5 years time? Do you want to have the gravitas of working on mega projects which comes with long-hours and high pressure?
Do you want to have more input into strategic direction or are you happy being a small cog in a big wheel?
Are short-term financial rewards more important than medium term professional development?

There are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions and each individual must balance their own unique situations before making any decisions. As recruiters we have a key role to play when advising and assisting candidates and clients. It is important that we present a balanced viewpoint to ensure that all the options are presented rather than focusing on quick wins. Offering market overviews, salary guidance, long-term career advice, guidance on training and retention strategies are just a few examples.

There are significant opportunities for all participants in NSW’s infrastructure bonanza. The key is we do not get fixated with short-term gains at the expense of delivering quality projects for the state of NSW. If we stay focused on these objectives there is no reason the pipeline will continue and we can move away from the boom and bust investment patterns of the last decade and more.

For a confidential discussion with Nick Curtis, please call on 0410 193 446 or email: Nick@cgcrecruitment.com

CGC Social

To start with, there are some work anniversaries we have celebrated this month at CGC. First, congratulations to Evan Morgans who celebrated 5 years (some say it feels like longer) also Steve Morris hit the 4-year mark and finally Trevor Brown turned 2 this month. All 3 Team members have played a big part in the growth of their respective markets and CGC as a whole. Very well done guys!

After the successful office move last month at CGC HQ we have really settled into our new surroundings and are enjoying the new space (nobody mention Telstra). The social scene has been fairly quiet this month, with the majority of the team focussing on Health and Fitness: “summer bodies are made in winter” (and Autumn) apparently.

The main focus of the fitness and training has been around the Oxfam 50km Trail Walk in August.

CGC has 3 teams entering this year, and have started strong with raising money for such a great Charity. There has been plenty of training walks happening in preparation including dawn walks in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, treks through the Queensland Outback and last but not least, the most recent training session saw the “Backpackers” (George and Stewart) complete a mammoth 30k walk on Anzac Day which was an unbelievable effort, especially as it was their first training walk since signing up-and they managed to come through without any major injuries or incidents. However there have been whispers that as they approached the end of the walk the scenes were reminiscent of Jonathan Brownlee at the end of the World Triathlon Series only this time Alistair was in a similar state and so they stumbled to the end together.

I think everyone will agree that this will be an extremely challenging event, really testing the endurance of the teams involved and all in aid of a fantastic charity. If you want to show your support and spur the lads on then please check out the teams below and feel free to donate, every little bit counts! The teams and links to their donations pages are as follows:
Pains, Sprains and Oxfam Appeals: James Grantham, Jaymie Ryde, George Hvid and Stewart Armstrong
CGC 1:
Rory Todd, Trevor Brown, Matt Weighill and Billy Versey
CGC Brisbane:
David Hope, Evan Morgans, Lee Hayward