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​Let’s face it, the market is tough out there right now. But there is still work to be done. Whether it’s getting through to year-end, budgeting for next year, implementing a restructure, or carrying out a new system implementation, there is always a need for skilled and experienced people. While full-time employees remain essential, when uncertainty enters the economic outlook, there is typically a trend towards engaging contractors for the flexibility and agility contractors can provide. In the Accounting and Finance space here at Beyond Recruitment, we are seeing more organisations look for ways to access talent while they carefully manage their resources. The benefits of hiring contractors are tangible and measurable – so we’ll explain in detail the difference they can make to your business. Ultimate FlexibilityOne of the most effective and simple ways to handle fluctuations in your workload is to hire temp staff. There will be times when your organisation needs to quickly build a team to meet demand during peak periods, audits, or new projects – or perhaps after a few resignations. Another underrated aspect of engaging contractors is that you can address issues arising from excess overtime. When your team is short-staffed, you run the risk of decreasing morale and productivity, as well as mental health and wellbeing issues. Adding a contractor to your team could significantly alleviate the workload and aid with the long-term retention of permanent employees.Reduce a Range of Business CostsStaffing expenses like holiday pay, sick leave and parental leave can add up fast – and put a damper on momentum during a critical growth (or survival) phase for your business. Paying temporary workers only for the hours they worked is a sensible way to keep costs under control, more so during periods of uncertainty. If you’re engaging a New Zealand agency to hire temp staff, costs like payroll tax, workcover insurance and administrative expenses will already be covered. Salaries aren’t the only area you can shave expenses from – there are other additional overheads associated with permanent employees in the form of office space, rent and utilities. With a flexible headcount, you can make easier decisions about office leases, equipment and other operational expenses.Access Vetted and Specialised SkillsGaining access to specialist skill sets is among the major benefits of hiring contractors in every industry. Virtually every organisation we encounter has skills gaps, which are often persistent and difficult to hire permanent employees for. Using contractors will bring well-developed skills to your teams and projects that may not be available within the company's full-time workforce.By hiring temp staff, you can bring in people who can work with minimal supervision. For example, a tech company developing a new software product might need a senior cybersecurity expert on board. The Contractor Hiring Process is FasterInstead of undergoing a lengthy hiring process and managing salary negotiations with an agency, you can quickly onboard a contractor at an hourly or day rate. The contractor hiring process has a much shorter lead time and is less likely to involve notice periods. As we carefully screen every contractor, you won’t need to spend time on background checks, such as criminal history, reference checks and work rights vetting.Risk MitigationContractors can help you reduce the risks associated with hiring full-time employees during leaner times when restructuring might be on the horizon. If your business experiences a downturn and redundancies become necessary, downsizing a temporary workforce will result in fewer financial obligations and the potential for legal claims. Additionally, temporary hires allow you to avoid the risks associated with a mistake hire. Hiring an unsuitable employee for a perm role can get quite expensive and time-consuming to rectify – not to mention the paying out of their leave entitlements. Innovation and Fresh PerspectivesContractors can bring fresh perspectives and ideas, having typically worked with multiple companies across different industries. With a fresh pair of eyes, they can identify areas for improvement, enhance process efficiency, and introduce new concepts that can drive innovation and growth. We’ve seen contractors act as catalysts for improved productivity in organisations. Their presence can encourage existing teams to engage in creative problem-solving. By sharing their experiences and knowledge, contractors can help build a more innovative and collaborative company culture.Find Contractors Now with a Premier New Zealand Recruitment AgencyHiring skilled temporary or contract professionals enables you to maintain a high-quality workforce and adapt swiftly to changing business needs, ensuring that you always have the right skills and talent on hand.I regularly work with exceptional contractors, and I'd love to discuss how they could benefit your organisation. Please feel free to reach out to me directly at 021 469 750 or contact the Beyond Recruitment team today.

Published Date: 13th March 2024​Welcome to the world of performance reporting, talented teams of Planning and Reporting Advisors, Performance Analysts, Corporate or Organisational Strategic Planners play pivotal public sector roles.In a time when transparency and trust in government are a growing challenge, public sector accountability reporting plays a crucial part in upholding the principles of good governance in New Zealand.Let’s delve into this category of public sector jobs, its importance, challenges, and the career opportunities it presents for those ready to make a meaningful impact.What Do Performance Reporting Roles Involve?Performance reporting positions often contain ‘performance and planning’ in their job title. Performance and planning advisors are tasked with analysing the inner workings and performance of public service functions and creating reports based on their findings. They are responsible for identifying how an organisation is meeting its objectives, what services are being delivered and how, and the outcomes of public service activities. Unlike the finance department, performance reporting is responsible for evaluating the entire performance of a government organisation, not just the balance sheet. It is a performance and planning advisor’s job to inform department leaders where things are going well and what isn’t going well, and make recommendations accordingly. The work is cyclical, with quarterly milestones in place to produce major annual reports.As performance reporting is mandatory for most organisations within the public service, OP&P jobs are typically in the domain of a Planning and Performance team within a government department. The Auditor-General (OAG), Audit New Zealand and the Treasury are examples of departments that provide guidance and manage performance reporting for a range of government entities, although most organisations have an internal performance reporting function as well. Critical Skills for Performance Reporting JobsA performance and planning advisor’s job description might sound somewhat mild on paper, but it is in fact a role that requires the highest level of communication and soft skills – relationship building, diplomacy, tact, discretion, and ultimately, the power of persuasion. As a performance reporting professional, you are both an analyst and someone who has the mana to positively influence leaders. You're extracting information out of organisational departments, and then weaving it all together to tell the story of the organisation’s performance.It’s a role for critical thinkers who can build trust and credibility in their relationships throughout an organisation. Your ability to look at the micro and macro is essential for identifying trends, challenges and opportunities. OP&P differs from the traditional career pathway you might expect for other public sector jobs. With a strong emphasis on soft skills, we find professionals who excel in these positions come from a variety of backgrounds. ​The Opportunities and Benefits of a Performance Reporting Career In a time when concerns are growing about job security, performance and planning jobs make for a stable and fulfilling career within New Zealand’s public sector. These positions, which are mostly offered on a permanent basis, provide unique opportunities for individuals with the right skill set to make a meaningful impact. They are critical government jobs for upholding transparency, integrity, and ethical standards within the public service. ​By ensuring accurate and timely reporting on organisations’ activities and performance, these public sector jobs are vital for maintaining public trust and confidence in government institutions. As a performance and planning advisor, you’re a source of reliable data and insights to government officials and stakeholders. Additionally, you get to work on a diverse range of projects and engage with leaders and stakeholders across the organisation. Your role typically involves various tasks related to improving organisational effectiveness, efficiency, and strategic decision-making.A role that promotes good governance and accountability can provide you with a strong sense of purpose and fulfilment in your work. If you’re passionate about making a positive impact on society, knowing that your efforts contribute to upholding democratic principles, fostering transparency, and ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly can be deeply rewarding.Recruitment Challenges in the Public SectorDespite performance reporting being a key public sector job, government departments do struggle to hire talent for these roles. Perhaps the opportunity presented by these jobs is underappreciated. Another challenge is retaining staff long-term and growing them through roles of different levels on this career path. As performance reporting follows a strict cyclical timeline, professionals in these positions cite that repetition as a reason they become disengaged after a while, leading to retention issues for some departments. Talk to New Zealand Recruitment Experts in Planning and PerformancePerformance reporting expertise is a hot commodity for New Zealand government jobs right now. For those with the right skill set and a desire to make a difference, these roles can be immensely rewarding and fulfilling career paths. We expect demand for these professionals to remain robust in the coming years. If you’re searching for a government career path that aligns with your values, uses your communication skills effectively, and contributes to the greater good for Aotearoa’s citizens, look no further. Contact us today for more information on how we can connect you with performance reporting jobs or help build your planning and performance team.

Published Date: 21st June 2023.​Specially created for our own ABCs - (Amazing Beyond Recruitment Contractors)​Being a contractor, you may miss out on corporate wellness initiatives and support in your organisation. Also, if you tend to work from home a lot, which can be great for the most part, missing out on workplace wellness opportunities can be a downside. For these reasons, many of the contractors I have spoken with so far have been interested in discussing options for improving their physical and mental wellbeing.With a potentially overflowing to-do list, incorporating new wellness habits into your schedule can feel overwhelming. To help you with this, I created the ABCs of work wellness that are easy and quick to implement. The secret to implementing positive change that sticks is to start super small and keep it consistent. Let’s take a look!A for Awareness, Not AutopilotFirstly, the ‘A’ you don't want here is autopilot. While doing some things on autopilot is essential, it can hold you back professionally and personally if being on autopilot is your default position. Don’t worry if this is you; we all do it to varying degrees! Your brain aims for habit creation and being able to do things without too much thought in order to protect its precious, limited energy reserve. There is absolutely a time and place for this, like getting to work, brushing your teeth and likely some elements of your job. However, this becomes a problem in your life when too many things are habitual, preventing you from making progress and creating the new habits you desire. These habits can be hard to change because our environment contains triggers that cause us to react quickly without thinking.Being aware of your habits and behaviour is crucial for making positive changes. Prioritising awareness allows you to start making new choices and do things differently. Another name for a similar process, that you might have heard is mindfulness, but that doesn’t start with A! In addition, mindfulness is more focused on being in the present moment and what's going on around you, while awareness is more guided towards your behaviour and how you personally engage with your environment. Practicing awareness then allows you to recognise when your responses are not in alignment with who you want to be and allows your brain’s CEO – the prefrontal cortex – to be more intentional about decision-making moving forward.Throughout your working day, start to become aware of how you do things. Take a pause before reacting and consider ways that you could respond differently. Over time, this will shift your neurology, increasing your awareness. Recording your observations of how you do things can be beneficial too.B for BreatheNext is breathe! I know you breathe already, but most of us don’t breathe properly and may actually be doing more damage to our wellbeing than we realise. This is honestly the first suggestion I make to anyone wanting to feel better.When you breathe under 'stress', in a shallow manner without awareness, physiologically your body responds in a way that it feels threatened or unsafe. This affects many things in relation to your health, such as sluggish digestion, heart problems, storing fat (because your body thinks it is trying to 'survive'), low energy, moodiness and more. Your brain also doesn’t get enough oxygen, so cannot function optimally – which is a big problem if you need to use your brain during the day. Learning to breathe in a healthy way will have so many incredible benefits to your mood, energy, health and, in turn, how you perform and feel in your work. You don’t need to take up meditation to get the benefits. Deep breathing, while it sounds super simple, actually creates a significant change in your physiology – altering your state from a sympathetic stressed state (fight or flight) to parasympathetic (rest and digest) and informing (tricks) your brain that you are ‘safe’ and well. Here are just a couple of tips to get you started:Use the 5-5-7 breathe technique. Breathe in deep (right down into your stomach) for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, then let out slower for 7 seconds. A slower exhale is another great way for you to release stress and remind your brain you are safe. Repeat a few times.Use this technique anytime you feel stressed or overwhelmed and at regular intervals throughout the day. You can even set a timer until you become more aware of when to use this. On the way to work or before an important meeting or presentation is also a great time.Taking deep breaths before eating lunch – to remind your brain you are safe and that switching on your digestive system is ok. Once you’ve taken some breaths, eat slowly and mindfully. Your food will be processed more effectively, and you’ll feel less sluggish in the afternoon – despite your choice of food. Improving the quality of your food can come later when you’ve nailed your ABCs.C for CelebrateAnd finally - Celebrate! Being aware of the good things that happen in your day can really change your whole perspective and feeling around how things are going. As contractors, you especially need to give attention to this as you may not have anyone around you letting you know what’s going well.Our brain, annoyingly, is wired to look for the negative and threats, in case there is a tiger in the bush nearby. But in this modern world, having the negative things outweigh the positive is not so helpful, especially for our mental state.The good news is that our brains can be changed. It takes a little work and a lot of awareness, but you can change your overall perspective and soon you’ll start to notice more positivity. In your brain there is a filter system called the Reticular Activating system (RAS) that filters out approximately 90% of your environment, to protect your brain from overload. The RAS is why when you are looking for a new car, suddenly you see that car everywhere, even in the colour you were looking at – they were always there, but now you are more aware of them. Let’s train your RAS to look for what you want to see or experience more. I’m sure you can now see how beneficial this can be for your mental wellbeing and seeing your experience at work from a more positive perspective.Now You Know Your ABCsHopefully you can see how all three ABCs work really well in tandem.Notice that none of the ABCs discusses actual diet and exercise habits. Firstly, you’re probably already so busy and potentially overwhelmed that adding something like that may take a little too much brain and willpower right now.Secondly, simply focusing on improving your energy and outlook with the ABCs will allow more space to up the ante a bit later on. The secret to implementing positive change that sticks is to start super small and keep it consistent. Laying the right foundation when initiating change helps those new habits to stick. You may also find that just focusing on this will elevate your mood to a point where you feel more ready and inspired to add some new healthy habits to your life.A Quick Review:Awareness: Being mindful of your current behaviours and habits that are on autopilot. Once you start using your more advanced prefrontal cortex part of the brain, you will be better able to make more conscious decisions.Breathe: Deep breathing allows your body and brain to feel safe and so all the things you need to be working effectively will be activated. Find time throughout your day to add this in for significant health benefits. It only takes a minute!Celebrate: Being conscious of looking for the good in your day and sitting with it for a bit will rewire your brain to allow it to be open to finding more of it every day.Ask yourself, what steps can you take right now to start incorporating the ABCs of work wellness into your day and ensure that it is consistent so that it becomes a habit?The team at Beyond Recruitment want you to be feeling your best. If you would like help with implementing your ABCs or anything else relating to your wellbeing or contract please get in touch. 

Published Date: 30th March 2023.​​As we near the end of Q1 2023, we have witnessed some extreme shifts in the recruitment market. Having gone from a job drought in March 2020, to an extreme candidate shortage in 2022 continuing into 2023. With this change in market conditions, we have seen Candidates, Contractors and Clients look at various ways they can plug the skills gap, find balance in life and maximise their earning potential.Plugging the Skills Gaps One of the key strategies that has arisen has been clients hoping to fill the skill gaps by looking to bring on Contractors, which is a highly credible way of reducing your risk, bringing capability into the business unit whilst buying time until, either the market changes or a more permanent resource is secured. Whilst this in principle sounds like a strong strategy, we have seen some recurring misconceptions that need to be addressed. Clients that are not accustomed to using contract resources seem to be looking to secure the skillset at the same budget as a permanent individual would have cost. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. The Demand for Contractors​Clients have been forced to look at hourly rate resources as the typical working holiday visas and returning Kiwis have failed to materialise. A number of employers have been looking to minimise their costs using fixed-term assignments with a pro-rata salary. This is not a bad strategy in a talent-rich market but we are in 2023, one of the most talent-short markets we have seen, at least in my lifetime. This strategy unfortunately fails to attract quality Contractors. They understand the reason behind the fixed-term proposal but in this market where there are so many hourly rate contract opportunities out there, many employers are having to make a number of sacrifices in talent, availability and suitability for positions by using this strategy. Skilled Contractors make a career out of Contracting. Some like the variety, some like the freedom, and some like the opportunity to run their own business. Contracting is a business. Contractors can be GST registered, make tax returns, and must provide insurance (Beyond Recruitment does provide that on behalf of Contractors). In fact, there are several expenses and costs Contractors take on board to provide their services that you must factor in. Factoring the Costs What this means is that when you are looking to secure the services of a Contractor, you must consider and factor these costs into their rate. Merely dividing the salary into an hourly rate doesn’t work. You are securing a professional individual for a specific task or purpose. You are not offering a long-term commitment. The contract may be extended, but the Contractor is only guaranteed the length of each contract. Other things to consider are; who is payrolling the Contractor, and how will this be financed? How do you secure the services of a contractor, through your network, direct advertising, or via an Agency? What is the cost of securing a short-term resource with no guarantee of ongoing work? Contractors do not accrue annual leave, sick pay, KiwiSaver, bereavement leave, birthdays off, etc. When you factor all these into account, you can now begin to see the additional costs that need to be factored into the budget to secure a reliable, skilled and effective Contractor. Contractors: A Business EssentialContractors are an essential part of the employment market, but we need to start to manage them as our business partners, as a skilled specialist that is solving problems and who will depart when the assignment has been completed, with little fuss, allowing you to get on with your business.If you would like to learn more about contracting opportunities or employing contractors for your business project, your next step should be to contact the specialist team at Beyond Recruitment today.​