Posts by Ross Clennett

Recruiting for global accounting and consulting giant PwC (formerly known as PriceWaterhouseCoopers) is difficult at the best of times. As one of the ‘Big 4” accounting and consulting firms, it is perenially in competition for the same pool of candidates as its rivals, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG. PwC’s job listings in Australia currently number in…

Two months ago Microsoft announced it was bringing the power of next-generation AI to its workplace productivity tools with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Currently in testing with an initial wave of 600 invitation-only enterprise customers worldwide, Copilot combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with business data and the Microsoft 365 apps, to unlock the…

The landscape for recruiters and consultancies servicing the labour force requirements of the Federal Government is set to change dramatically after the Audit of Employment within the Australian Public Service was released late last week by the Department of Finance. The audit examined the 2021-22 financial year, to analyse how the APS was outsourcing work,…

Earlier this week I gave a 15-minute presentation on jobs and careers to the year 12 cohort of my youngest son’s school. To open the presentation I shared three true stories. The first was about my cousin’s eldest son, Gabe, who was raised, and lives, in Canada. At the age of 12 Gabe and his…

Nearly three decades ago I was recruiting for the Australian head office of an Asian international airline. The hiring manager, a white Australian, told me he didn’t want any Asian candidates for a junior accounting vacancy as “…they all just go back home if there are any family issues in their home country”. Thankfully, it…

Do you know the highest-ranked keyword search on SEEK over the past seven months? After the lockdowns finished in Australia in the second half of 2021 what do you think happened to the proportion of jobs that included “work from home”, within the job ad? They continued to climb to now where there are around…

Despite the many recent headlines highlighting large-scale job losses in huge global companies, predominantly in the technology and consulting sectors, the employment outlook in Australia remains positive. Last Thursday’s job vacancy data for February showed both total vacancies (438,500 – see graph, above) and the proportion of businesses reporting at least one vacancy (24.3%), exceeding…

From time to time, as an FRCSA, I am asked to be part of a Professional Conduct Review Committee to help RCSA members resolve professional conduct grievances that have been made against them by stakeholders. Almost always the conduct under investigation is conduct that could not reasonably be described as reckless or intentionally illegal. Frequently…

Illustration by Matt Kenyon / Ikon Images The worker and skills shortages in developed countries all around the world have quickly elevated the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics as a way of minimising the reliance on human skills and availability. Management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, in their white paper of three months…

What is there left for me to say about the clown car show that is Ignite? Garry Sladden, who has been a board member since September 2013 and Chairman since November 2013 has just announced the appointment of the fifth CEO of his tenure, after the announcement of incumbent CEO, Tim Moran’s departure. The company’s…