Recruiter Robert Half says competition for finance professionals is heating up.

With unemployment hitting 6% plenty of New Zealanders are now looking for work but they’re not necessarily the ones employers want, recruiters have warned.

Yesterday’s Statistics New Zealand Household Labour Force Survey showed a significant increase in the unemployment rate in the June quarter, from 5% to 6%.

But according to Link Recruitment general manager Brien Keegan, this growing number of unemployed would not necessarily translate to better availability of talent.

Women need to be more confident about promoting their skills and negotiating for what they’re worth if they’re to overcome the gender pay gap, a senior recruitment consultant says.

In a recent international survey by recruitment agency Robert Half 65% of New Zealand women respondents said they think men are paid more than women for doing the same job.

But in the latest Robert Half podcast senior manager Megan Alexander said she does not see employers discriminating against women this way.

The recession is increasing demand for contractors and making public sector jobs more appealing for professionals, according to two newly released surveys by recruitment companies.

The Robert Half 2009 Workplace Survey asked finance, HR and senior level executives in 20 countries whether the economic downturn was likely to affect the number of contractors or temporary staff their department hired.

One in four meetings are a waste of time, according to a new survey, and during the economic downturn this is damaging both company performance and staff morale.

But while a lack of focus is mainly to blame, there are plenty of other reasons for so much productivity being sucked up in worthless talk-fests that take up valuable work time.

The Robert Half 2009 Workplace Survey found that New Zealand’s finance, accounting and HR managers think more than one quarter – 25.7% - of their meetings are a waste of time.

Credit and collections specialists are in hot demand for contract work as companies struggle to pay their bills on time, according to Robert Half Finance and Accounting.

They top the financial recruitment firm’s list of the most in-demand temporary and contract roles in the finance sector during the current economic turmoil.

According to the recruiter, “When businesses go through a slump, ensuring timely payment becomes even more important than usual.