>Six Degrees Connected - Articles by Portland Group, Interbrand and DDI

Welcome to the April 2011 issue of Six Degrees Connected - our quarterly e-newsletter, which forms part of our highly successful Thought Leadership Program.

In this issue, Suzie McInerney who joined us in 2010 to head up our new business unit, Six Degrees Retail reports on the increasing demand for inhouse digital talent in the retail sector, while Simon Coates, an associate director at Portland Group shares the results of their latest research into logistics procurement. Also in this issue, Bruce Watt, managing director of DDI Australia looks at the latest trends in leadership development and Damian Borchok, CEO at Interbrand Australia explains how linking marketing and HR can be good for your business.

The Australian economy has shown its resilience over the past year with a return to strong industry growth in all sectors. This trend looks set to continue in 2011 with Australia’s ongoing resources boom and the burgeoning Asian economies.

2010 was a big year for Six Degrees Executive with unprecedented growth in the supply chain and engineering arm of our business and the highly successful launch of our new retail business.

SDE Retail has so far been based out of our head office in Melbourne. It works with blue chip retailers across all sectors of the Australian marketplace to identify and source the best mid- to senior-level talent available. Specific roles include marketing managers, store operations managers, buyers, category heads, merchandise planners and analysts, franchise network development executives and visual merchandise managers.

During the year we saw increasing market demand for exceptional talent across the retail disciplines of marketing, operations, buying and merchandising.

Earlier this month we launched our new, improved website, which will allow for better interaction and communication with candidates and clients. We are also adding significant resources to our research function, so candidates and clients can expect to see more activity in this space in the coming year.

Last year we were delighted to be named by seek the SARA Legend for 2009/10, having been successful in the same award category for three years in a row. We also picked up the prestigious 2010 Fairfax Employment Marketing Award for ‘Recruitment Firm of the Year' for the second year running.

A big thank you to all our staff, clients, candidates and partners for helping us achieve such great results in 2010 and we look forward to working with you in the year ahead.


We hope you find this issue of Six Degrees Connected enlightening and inspiring. If you have any story ideas or would like to contribute an article yourself, please contact Lorrie Storey at: lorries@sixdegreesexecutive.com.au  

>Six Degrees Connected - July 2010

Welcome to the July issue of Six Degrees Connected - our quarterly e-newsletter, which forms part of our highly successful Thought Leadership Program.

In this issue, Tim Rose, Director of Consumer Research at Nielsen Australia looks at the benefits of neuromarketing, while Bill Lang, CEO of Bill Lang International shares his five simple steps for building a world-class team, and Christoph Goldenstern, Partner and Global Vice President of Service Excellence at Kepner-Tregoe offers a strategic approach to achieving service excellence.

As we move into the new financial year many businesses are saying farewell to the gloom and doom of the global financial crisis and adopting a much more optimistic outlook for the latter half of 2010 and beyond.

Many of our clients, particularly in the FMCG, consumer goods and manufacturing sectors, say they are feeling confident that the economy will grow stronger in the forthcoming financial year. With this resurgence of optimism, many say they are likely to increase staff salaries and take on new employees in the new financial year - a stark contrast to this time last year.

It seems their confidence is well justified. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) latest Economic Outlook (released in May), after a growth rate of 1.4% in 2009, the Australian economy is set to grow at 3.2% in 2010, increasing to 3.6% in 2011.

The OECD report also expects the unemployment rate to fall below 5% by the end of 2011, while inflation will be moderate.

One of the biggest challenges for businesses as they gain momentum this year will be the continuing short supply of skilled professionals. This situation seems to be getting more challenging as the year progresses and businesses are having to come up with new and innovative approaches to employment, retention and professional development in order to attract and retain quality staff.

Our Thought Leadership Breakfasts continue to be popular networking forums. In May, Damian Borchok, CEO of Interbrand led a Thought Leadership Breakfast in Melbourne on differentiating your brand in an increasingly commoditised market and in July the Portland Group led a discussion on structuring for success in Melbourne.

We were also excited to be a finalist for the prestigious Panasonic Australia Medium Business Award at the 2010 Telstra Business Awards. This is a great achievement and continues on from our success in 2009 when we were named the ‘Best Executive Recruitment Company' at the Seek SARA Awards and ‘Recruitment Firm of the Year' at the FEMA Awards.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated team for their continued enthusiasm and professionalism, and our valued clients and candidates for their ongoing support, without which such achievements would not be possible.

We hope you find this issue of Six Degrees Connected enlightening and inspiring. If you have any story ideas or would like to contribute an article yourself, please contact: lorries[at]sixdegreesexecutive.com.au.

>Six Degrees Connected - January 2010

Welcome to the first issue of Six Degrees Connected for 2010 - our quarterly e-newsletter, which forms part of our highly successful Thought Leadership Program.

While the past 18 months have been tough for the recruitment industry, 2010 is shaping up to be much more positive.

In this issue, we talk to five key industry decision-makers about how they handled the challenges of the past 18 months, what lessons they have learnt, and what their outlook is for 2010.

Peter Brydon, Human Resources Director at Kraft Foods Ltd and Conor O'Malley, former Group Executive of Corporate Services and Logistics at National Foods Limited discuss challenges and opportunities facing the FMCG food industry, while Pat Freeland-Small, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at the University of Melbourne looks at specific issues facing the education sector. We also talk with Josie Holdstock, Director of Human Resources at PZ Cussons Australia Pty Ltd about challenges and future growth prospects for some of Australia's leading brands, while Meagan Reay, Marketing Director at Mattel shares her thoughts on how the toy giant navigated its way through the downturn and issues they will be facing in the year ahead.

The good news is, we have seen an upswing in the economy from the last half of 2009, and this positive trend is continuing. Our clients, particularly in the FMCG, consumer goods and manufacturing sectors are experiencing growth, and many large scale projects will be moving forward in the next 12 months.

The skills shortage will be the big issue for 2010, and as optimism about the economy continues to rise and candidates start exploring new horizons, companies will be challenged to develop more aggressive and more targeted strategies in order to retain exceptional staff and tap into the passive candidate market.

In the last three years there has been a big shift towards alternative sourcing strategies, with high level networking, referral programs and the use of social media playing a much bigger role. With approximately 80% of the candidate market made up of passive candidates, and with only a small proportion of this made up of ‘blue chip' candidates, innovative programs, or a business model to source this quality talent will be paramount to organisations' success.

As the economy has shifted up a gear, we are also starting to see more movement in senior and director level roles, in a variety of disciplines from marketing and sales to supply chain. Top candidates who bunkered down during the downturn are now more open to hearing about opportunities. The ‘time to fill roles' ratio is also reducing (compared with six months ago) as clients recognise the importance of securing talent quickly in today's competitive market.

Another challenge for organisations this year will be in managing the negative feelings that have been generated by past staff cuts. Organisations are already responding by looking at new and creative strategies to keep staff, not to mention having to review salaries which are likely to increase significantly in 2010.

So what will be the keys to success in 2010? Certainly success this year will be determined by organisations' ability to cut costs while simultaneously increasing talent, productivity and the bottom line, but companies will also have to think more creatively about a variety of issues, from how to retain top talent to how to foster leadership development.

In 2010 our Thought Leadership Breakfasts will continue to be a great forum for leaders to brainstorm and network. In Sydney in February we had Damian Borchok, Managing Director of Interbrand Australia, a leading international brand consultancy, discussing brand differentiation in today's competitive retail environment, and in March, Kepner Tregoe and Human Synergisitcs will lead a discussion on achieving manufacturing excellence by focusing on culture and driving the right behaviours in manufacturing teams. More breakfasts will be held throughout the year including the Portland Group who will be speaking on how to drive supply chain improvements.

We hope you find this issue of Six Degrees Connected enlightening and inspiring. If you have any story ideas or would like to contribute an article yourself, please contact Lorrie Storey at: lorries@sixdegreesexecutive.com.au.

>Six Degrees Connected - October 2009

Nick Hindhaugh, director, Six Degrees Executive

Welcome to the October issue of Six Degrees Connected - our quarterly e-newsletter, which forms part of our highly successful Thought Leadership Program.

In this issue, Neil Sangster, director of analytic consulting at Nielsen Pacific explains how to get the most from your shopper marketing strategy, while Steve Roger, managing director of Lauras International Pty Ltd and Jeremy Praud, partner of Lauras International Europe look at how organisations can become more ‘lean'. Also in this issue Maryanne Mooney, director at Full Circle Feedback looks at 360 degree feedback, while Melissa Rosenthal, a director at South View Consulting discusses the art of managing mistakes.

It's been a tough 12 months for the recruitment industry but there does appear to be renewed optimism among many Australian businesses. According to National Australia Bank's recent Monthly Business Survey, confidence has returned, with many companies reporting improved sales and profits. With businesses feeling more positive about the future, many are now actively hiring again and the race for securing the best talent is hotting up. Candidates are also starting to feel more confident about their longer-term prospects which is encouraging them to more actively pursue opportunities. Despite this sense of optimism however, many companies are still exercising caution as we approach the end of 2009, so we're not quite out of the woods just yet.

Our Thought Leadership Breakfasts continue to be popular, with Nielsen providing its top tips for maximising competitive advantage in today's retail environment at our breakfast in June. In July, Kepner Tregoe spoke on the future of operations improvement and integrated performance management systems. Both breakfasts were held in Sydney. In August, we hosted a successful breakfast in Melbourne, which was led by Ben Crowe, co-founder of Gemba, who spoke on sponsorship in a tight economic market. Coming up in November in Melbourne, Portland Group will discuss the latest trends and challenges in procurement.

We are also delighted to announce that Six Degrees Executive has won the coveted 2009 FEMA Award for ‘Recruitment Firm of the Year'. In just over five years Six Degrees Executive has become Australia's premium specialist recruitment firm in sales, marketing, supply chain and engineering and we'd like to thank all our staff, clients, candidates and partners for helping us win this prestigious award. We were also very pleased to be named ‘Best Executive Recruitment Company' for the third year running at the Seek SARA Awards 2009 and wish to extend a warm thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for us.

We hope you find this issue of Six Degrees Connected enlightening and inspiring. If you have any story ideas or would like to contribute an article yourself, please contact Lorrie Storey at: lorries@sixdegreesexecutive.com.au.

>Six Degrees Connected - July 2009

Welcome to the July issue of Six Degrees Connected - our quarterly e-newsletter, which forms part of our highly successful Thought Leadership Program.

In this issue, Peter Metcalfe, a partner at Oliver Wight Asia Pacific looks at ways to keep your cash flow healthy and Maria Robbins, CEO of Robbins Group discusses how businesses can manage the changes to workplace relations as a result of the Fair Work Act, which came into effect on 1 July. Kevin Duffy and David Byrum from Kepner Tregoe explore how manufacturers can stay fit in the current economic climate, while Tim Riches from FutureBrand looks at what the economic downturn means for brand owners.

Over the past six months many of the government’s stimulus programs have been rolled out. It remains to be seen if the measures taken by the government have helped lessen the pain of the GFC for businesses. What is pleasing to see however, is that many of our clients, especially in the FMCG and healthcare spaces have been experiencing profitable growth in the first half of this year and are actively recruiting.

While some of our clients are sitting tight through the global economic downturn and not making any key decisions, many are recognising the importance of having great people to help grow their businesses, especially during such tough economic times.

For those looking to change jobs, the prevailing feeling is still one of caution as we enter the second half of the calendar year, thus making it a very tight candidate market. Positions where there are still skill shortages include engineers, planners, brand marketers and national business managers, making our job more challenging at the moment.

The recruitment industry has faced a tough 12 months but we’re delighted to say that we are continuing to grow and have maintained our employee levels in both Sydney and Melbourne. Whilst the duration and magnitude of the global recession is far from certain, we are seeing that corporate profits in the USA are above expectations. The Australian experience seems to confirm that in tough times, quality people make decisions that are mitigating the broader economic affects on corporate earnings. This further emphasises the need to hmailto:aire the best talent, even in difficult times.

Our Thought Leadership Breakfasts have also continued to be a great success and we will be holding more breakfasts in the coming months. At our breakfast in June, Nielsen discussed how to maximise competitive advantage in today’s retail environment and at our breakfast in July we had Kepner Tregoe speak on the future of operations improvement and integrated performance management systems – both breakfasts were held in Sydney. At our next breakfast in Melbourne in August, Ben Crowe, co-founder of Gemba will speak on sponsorship in a tight economic market, and in November, Portland Group will discuss the latest trends and challenges in procurement.  

We hope you find this issue of Six Degrees Connected enlightening and inspiring. If you have any story ideas or would like to contribute an article yourself please contact Lorrie Storey at: lorries@sixdegreesexecutive.com.au.

>Six Degrees Connected - January 2009

Nick Hindhaugh, Director, Six Degrees Executive

Welcome to the first issue of Six Degrees Connected - our new, quarterly e-newsletter which has evolved from our highly successful Thought Leadership Breakfasts. Attendees at the Breakfasts were enthusiastic in their requests for more thought provoking and informative content in our key areas of recruitment specialisation; Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and Engineering.

In this issue we have some interesting articles by industry leaders to help you stay positive, focussed and connected. For example, Melissa Rosenthal shares her best tips for improving both your leadership style and your team’s leadership capability whilst Chris Bulford explains how you can translate sustainability into new business opportunities.

With the impact of the global financial crisis now hitting Australia, it’s a good time to refocus on your business strategy and your team. We are all witnessing changes such as restructuring, downsizing and organisations applying caution when hiring new talent.

Despite this, there is still good reason to remain optimistic about 2009. We can take some comfort that whilst economists are tipping Australia's jobless rate is likely to rise to 7% by the end of the year, this is nowhere near as severe as it was in 1991 when unemployment figures climbed from 5.6% to 10.1%. We have witnessed a number of our key clients, particularly in the FMCG sector, experiencing positive growth over the last quarter which is certainly encouraging. Beyond this, the tight candidate market we have seen over the last few years should free up, providing excellent opportunities in 2009 to find the type of quality candidates that have been elusive for years.

At Six Degrees Executive we were delighted to be named “Best Executive Recruitment Company” for the second year in a row at the Seek SARA Awards 2008. We are also very pleased to have moved into new, larger premises in Bligh Street to accommodate our continued growth in the Sydney market and to complement our Melbourne operation.

We hope you find the first issue of Six Degrees Connected enlightening and inspiring. If you have any story ideas, general thoughts or would like to contribute an article yourself, please contact Lorrie Storey at: lorries@sixdegreesexecutive.com.au