Workout: girls gear up

THE G(irls) 20 Summit at Sydney Opera House during the week discussed how mental health can affect productivity in the workplace.

THE G(irls) 20 Summit held at the Sydney Opera House during the week has discussed how mental health can affect productivity in the workplace, along with other issues regarding women, leadership, economics, education and business.

President Farah Mohamed oversaw the event involving delegates from the G20 countries. This follows the agenda of the world leaders meeting in the host country each year. “There was a heavy emphasis on entrepreneurship, these are 18 to 20-year-old delegates that understand that the jobs market they’re going to face is much different to even five years ago,” Mohamed says.

“You’ve got a lot of young people that are going to come out of school with a mismatch between their education and the jobs market.”

Mohamed says most international education sectors need to be reformed to move with the changing jobs market and world economy. Young people need to be trained to be more entrepreneurial and learn technology-intensive trades.

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Data deluge

THE international president of US-based recruitment and consultancy company SHL says that as technology changes, more pressure is being placed on management organisations.

Robert Morgan, who was in Australia as the general manager of umbrella company CEB earlier this month, says organisations are struggling to deal with great volumes of data which can be difficult to manage.

“Providers are giving organisations more data and there’s more data in the workplace,” Morgan says. “If you apply for a job, how many jobs do you have access to in 15 minutes, compared to 15 years ago. Organisations are getting real-time data all the time.”

He says another big change in the human resources industry across the world is how boards are being run and how they are increasingly thinking about succession. “They’re holding chief executives accountable for talent. Boards are thinking about not just succession as someone ready for now but do we have potential that fits with our strategic plan for the future. Someone who is ready for now is somewhat useless with so much change happening.”

Morgan also praised Australia’s hiring practices, saying more effort and competition goes into selecting the right people for graduate programs because they are unlikely to be terminated given Australia’s strict employment regulations compared with the US hire and fire system.

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EAs’ rising profile

RECRUITMENT company Hays Office Support has found that effective executive assistants are not Mad Men-style secretaries who make coffee or collect dry cleaning, and today’s EA needs to operate as a partner with extensive responsibilities.

Regional director Alex Jones says their study of 536 executives found top EAs are more likely to hold a certificate or higher qualification, have advanced computer software skills, quickly grasp the latest technology, have advanced written and verbal communication skills and accountancy knowledge.

Jones says a top EA is a professional and collaborative gatekeeper who has their executive’s confidence and trust, they are an efficient problem solver, resilient, highly organised, calm under pressure, listen, flexible and know when people need access to their executive. The survey found 63 per cent of EAs held a diploma or certificate, 67 per cent said communication skills were among the top three skills needed and 71 per cent found their organisational skills helped maximise their executive’s productivity.

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Youth jobs crisis

GLOBAL recruitment and technology services specialist Talent International has launched a foundation called Talent RISE to combat the nation’s youth unemployment crisis. Managing director Richard Earl said with the unemployment rate for 15 to 24-year-olds on 14.1 per cent and 20.4 per cent for 15 to 19 year olds, it was clear Australia was in the middle of a youth unemployment crisis and the government was not future-proofing the nation despite the impact on gross domestic product, the standard of living and crime rates. “Viable employment and development opportunities should be available to our young people,” Earl says.

The program aims to help 10,000 young people by 2018 through an education and employment program with the tech sector and partnering with existing not-for-profit youth support organisations.