In this episode, Factor executives David Watson and Neil Hathway explain why there’s been massive layoffs in the federal government, including ICT roles, and what you can do to stay ahead and remain competitive.

 

Timestamps

 

[00:00:38] Introducing David Watson and Neil Hathway

[00:04:16] What is the landscape of work in relation to Federal government agencies at the moment?

[00:05:29] Why are specialists (including ICT) being made redundant within the government?

[00:06:44] What does this trend in redundancies mean for IT workers as a whole?

[00:09:09] Why would someone want to partner up with Factor on their job hunt?

[00:10:26] Neil’s perspective of Factor’s culture as the newest executive hire

[00:11:46] What are the benefits to joining Factor a permanent employee?

[00:12:30] What are the benefits to joining Factor as a contractor?

[00:14:12] How did Neil find Factor’s application process?

[00:14:32] What drew Neil to Factor?

[00:14:12]What can listeners do today to greatly enhance their chances of finding or retaining work during these times?

[00:15:24] Candice’s tips for a “Punchy CV” – available for download

[00:19:23]  Final thoughts

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Transcript

 

[00:00:00] Juvi Rivera: ​Welcome to the second episode of Factors Podcast.

Today we are sitting with David Watson and Neil Hathaway for a very interesting topic that is probably on a lot of people’s minds at the moment. So before we get into what that topic is, let me introduce you to our two interviewees.

So They’re both executives of factor.

David is in charge of business growth. He has over 20 years of experience in business strategy and development management consulting within both government and private sectors. His passion is people and solving problems that enable people to achieve more. His special interests include cooking, health, and improving patient outcomes, education and sports. He follows Cricket, AFL, and football. So if you follow those things, he is the one to go to.

Neil leads our consulting function. So he has worked across federal government and commercial business, both in Australia and the UK. Neil is passionate about providing exceptional consulting services for clients to enable them to deliver real business value. Outside of work, Neil enjoys supporting the Canberra Raiders and wrangling his three small. So that’s a little bit about them.

[00:01:39] David Watson: Just to be clear, when I say football, I mean real football.

[00:01:43] Juvi Rivera: Ooh, those are fighting words. So what do you mean by, what do you mean by real football?

[00:01:49] David Watson: Some people refer to it as soccer, I guess.

[00:01:52] Juvi Rivera: I’m an American. So, I have a very different view on what footy is versus football versus soccer.

So the reason why we’re sitting together and talking in this podcast is because we’ve seen a lot of government layoffs and tech layoffs and for Factor, we’re at that intersection between government and tech.

A lot of the people that we hire are very concerned about the layoffs that both sides are seeing at the moment. According to Riot Act an article published last November, more than a thousand contractors were laid off at Service Australia with many losing their jobs with little notice right before Christmas.

Notice of termination have already been issued to hundreds contractors, mostly highly paid ICT specialists as federal government begins to roll out its cost cutting on the massive consultancy spending in the Australian public sector. And similarly we’ve seen this massive tech layoff happening globally and Australia is not an exception.

Tech companies have laid off like 101,000 plus workers in the first six weeks of of the year, which is equivalent to 64% of the total tech company layoffs for all of last year, for all of 2022. Yeah, a lot of people are concerned at the moment. Computer World Australia gave that statistic out. It’s pretty concerning. And from our conversations colloquially, David, you’ve mentioned that, amongst your peer group or just the people in your network in Canberra they’ve definitely been feeling it. We wanted to put out this podcast to tell people like, Hey, you’re not crazy for feeling a bit nervous about this. This is definitely happening. And what can you do to armor yourself or stay ahead of whatever’s happening at the moment. So just for those who aren’t familiar with the ebbs and flows of work in Canberra, can you enlighten us, David, as to what the landscape of work is in relation to the federal government agencies because it’s an interesting cyclical nature of the federal government, like taking in work and then also releasing work. But right now it seems pretty dramatic.

[00:04:16] David Watson: Yeah, I think at the highest levels it stems from the government that is in charge at the time. Traditionally, the liberal government have outsourced a lot of contracts ,have reduced the headcount or put caps on public service administrators permanent employment capability. So they have, they have traditionally outsourced a lot and increased expenditure in private sector employment in Canberra.

In reverse, the labor government have always invested in the public service, invested in permanent employment and tried to develop the capability of, especially internal capability of the public service. So they have the capability to deliver their own for what they believe to be a more effective and efficient and cost-effective model.

Now with labor having been in power now for, what, 12 months, almost 12 months, they’re going through the second budget cycle. It’s a long-term strategy where they need to invest further in the internal public service, but recognize the need for external expertise in consulting on specialist activities, including ICT.

[00:05:22] Juvi Rivera: So what’s happening with I C T at the moment where they’re letting go of all these specialists in the government?

[00:05:29] David Watson: So what’s happening now is they’ve done a first cut because of programs natural ending. Budget constraints. Reduced funding for specific departments such as Services Australia, agriculture, and a few other departments where they’re tightening the belt, which is unfortunate to some extent, but also it’s a natural cyclical part of how government in Canberra operates. So we saw it coming and we prepared ourselves to be able to mitigate any risks for the Factor business. Based on what we knew, what we thought was coming from our personal experience.

[00:05:59] Neil Hathaway: I’ve been through these waves before and when budgets are constrained, it becomes a matter of prioritization and that that applies equally for the big tech companies as it does to the government still has to provide a range of services and they need to make choices about which ones they do and the extent that they provide them.

I think what they’re really looking for now is where private companies do still get the opportunity to work with them is to deliver real value and to deliver it efficiently. I think the tolerance for delays and overspend is way, way down as it as it should be. So that’s another one of the things that we’ve been preparing for here at Factor, is to be really efficient and deliver high value in all of our projects.

[00:06:44] Juvi Rivera: But what does that mean for IT workers as a whole, not just Factor when the government is constraining at the moment, these typically secure jobs and lucrative jobs are on the fritz, and it’s gotten a lot of people worried, especially in IT. What’s the landscape looking like for people with these IT roles? What should they be doing?

[00:07:10] Neil Hathaway: I think we will see a trend away from individual. Consulting work into more team-based work. And it might still be a team from different companies and public servants working together. But I think there’ll be a real emphasis on that.

And rather than just having contracting workforce coming in effectively performing a public servant role, that could be insourced. I think they’re the ones that will be in the spotlight up front.

[00:07:33] David Watson: Yeah. You touched an interesting point there, Neil. I think basic administration functions and more what you would refer to as standard public service roles.

So a policy officer or an administrative officer or an executive assistant, for example in my experience, should definitely be a in-source role. And then there is certainly a big shift in the market, more towards team-based consulting opportunities or outcome and deliverable based initiatives. The government outsources the risk component to a partner organization like Factor or someone else to deliver based on the contractor or outcome that is required. We’re seeing more of us. We’ve got, right now we’re responding to four different approaches to market. And we’re seeing an increase in some of the specific project team-based opportunities which does evidence what you are referring to Neil. Recruiters and individual based contractors will have to stay modern and current to be able to stay relevant in the market.

And they’re in a tighter market because supply is down, demand is higher so that it’s competitive. So to be able to beat out other people for specific roles, they’ll have to upskill themselves and learn themselves, because contractors at the end of the day, are their own business. They represent themselves right and the lucrative aspects of that means that it is on their responsibility to stay current and modern.

[00:08:51] Juvi Rivera: So piggybacking off of that, what would someone who is going back into this job market as a consultant or as a contractor, what benefit would they have in joining forces with an organization like Factor?

[00:09:09] David Watson: Again, I think it’s interesting from a, a broader political perspective, there has been an uplift from a policy perspective, from labor to increase the SME. So Australian SME owned business participation in consulting or contracting and procurement with government to 20% from 10%, and they’re starting to move towards actually reporting against that requirement. That positions Factor in a very strong position to actually be able to contract more based on that government policy. But also Factors executives have been around for a long time. We understand the market, we have relationships with most of the major government departments, we understand what’s coming and what’s going what we see the workload being over the next 18 months. So I think we’re in a very privileged position, but furthermore, we also have what I believe a rather unique value proposition for both contractors, but more importantly permanent staff.

And Neil, I’d be keen to sort of get your thoughts being the most recent executive starter and your experience today even from our Factor Friday offsite where we have all our team together, sharing, participating, having laughs and learning from each other. It’s rare to have a company that can create such a positive environment and actually invest in its people. In reality is the cost of the top line, but what we see as a vast improvement to the bottom line of our business.

[00:10:26] Neil Hathaway: Yeah, that’s right David. And as we speak, we’re upstairs doing a podcast and we’ve got an open planned office room where we have the whole company and they’re working on various initiatives. Some of those are internal initiatives, some of them are trying to build new offerings that we can take out to our clients and others are upskilling on their professional certifications.

So all of that working together creates a fantastic cultural buzz. It’s to the benefit of all the people as well, because if you’re out there in a professional role and you’re doing the same job and not upskilling, eventually your skills and the value of those deteriorate. So by continually investing in the people there, we make sure everyone’s skills stay relevant, and that keeps us relevant for our clients as well.

[00:11:16] Juvi Rivera: So at Factor we have two arms. We have our permanent employees and then we also have our contractors. And there are pros and cons to working with us in both capacities. And I’d like to ask David to speak on Candice’s behalf, who is our hiring manager as to the pros and cons of coming and joining Factor as a permanent employee or as a contractor?

[00:11:46] David Watson: Yeah, so I think as a permanent employee or a consultant within Factor, we try and generate a real value proposition and differentiate ourselves through a really positive culture through various initiatives such as Factor Friday or as simple as Coffee Connect, which is a 15 minute check-in every day during the week. And if you can attend that, you get to talk to your colleagues and share stories. We have initiatives internally around consulting bonuses, helping with sales, helping with different aspects of business so you can learn not just what your role is, but you can learn and grow around how you can manage a business or support a business, or contribute to the culture more broadly and for me, I think that’s a really big differentiator for us.

On the flip side, being a contractor with Factor, I think in market, a personalized touch. And, without speaking out of school for Candice, her ability and personal touch to each individual contractor and onboarding is exceptional. The client feedback is great. The contractor feedback is great. If you looked on LinkedIn today, for example, there’s Candy B fan club T-shirt exercise going on. Which is brilliant. Right? So you go to our LinkedIn page, you can see that one of our other executives, Rob Harley, has initiated a CandyB fan club. And it was purely off the feedback of both our contractors and our clients, which is fantastic. And to do that, that’s time and effort and care and compassion that you don’t get from contracting or recruitment organizations. Our values span all our service towers or streams of activity of business.

And again, big differentiator. And we have contractors who now bring us business. Who say we have an opportunity that we want to contract with and they require a vehicle to do that, and they come to us to do that.

[00:13:26] Juvi Rivera: So it’s a give and take situation with our relationship with our contractors.

And so specifically with the people that are in the job market at the moment, who are contractors that aren’t represented by like an agency we help contractors who otherwise would be independent, get jobs within the government and getting jobs that they wouldn’t get normally on their own.

[00:13:47] David Watson: We panel access and the ability to have government procure our services in a competitive marketplace. So we have access to do that. So yeah. We have contractors who require our representation.

[00:14:00] Juvi Rivera: And now my next question is for Neil. Considering you’re our newest executive hire, how did you find the process for applying to Factor and why did you want to work for us?

[00:14:12] Neil Hathaway: Yeah, I think it’s been one of the smoothest onboarding processes that I’ve seen. I know we’ve put a lot of work into making sure that that whole experience from the first contact you have with factor to your first day is really smooth.

That you never feel forgotten during that time. You feel connected the company off in that first conversation. One of the things that really spoke to me about Factor was the culture and the teamwork that we put together. In the way that we try and undertake our projects for our clients, we try to do that as true teams. So one of the benefits of being in that permanent employee space is the projects that we have access to and the great teams that people can join as part of that.

[00:14:53] Juvi Rivera: Going back to the main topic of our conversation. Again, there’s a lot of people that are in the job market and are trying to navigate what’s going on. Some people might have gotten laid off recently, might have been at their job for years and years and years and this is their first time back into the job market.

What can these listeners do today that would greatly enhance their chances of finding or retaining work during these times?

[00:15:24] David Watson: I think to be fair, it is an unusual time for people to go through that level of shock. The first piece of advice that I would give is understand and process it. You need to take the understanding position of, well, okay, it’s a rough situation. I need to process and deal with that.

And then they need to start up in conversations. Conversations, research, look into the market and talk to people. I don’t think I’ve actually really applied for a job in 10 years. Now I think the opportunity is to give Candice call or shoot us an email, go to our website.

[00:15:56] Juvi Rivera: We do have this crazy cool portal.

[00:15:59] David Watson: Yeah. Now super fancy, super fancy , user friendly and and, and open conversations with people who understand the market network. Go to events and just be open to trying something different. You might have been used to delivering SAP, for example, as a project manager for the last five. Maybe it’s the opportunity to go and deliver a dynamics or a sales force or a service now, being in a business side project. So just think about what your core strengths are and reflect on those, upskill yourself and open a conversation.

[00:16:30] Neil Hathaway: Yeah, I think Dave makes really good point that redundancy is a first and foremost about the roles, not necessarily the individuals in those roles.

So it’s not a personal thing, it doesn’t diminish all the good work that you’ve done in recent years if you have gone through a redundancy. It does take time to process. And once you do get through that though , doing some research on the companies and the culture and the, the type of work that you want to join is really, really important.

And, and at that point, using those networks, building those networks, meeting those people is how you can start finding that next opportunity.

[00:17:02] Juvi Rivera: I know we mentioned Candice briefly and the rave reviews that people who have worked with her in the past have said about her. What was the name of the her fan Club?

Candy B. Candy. B so she has so graciously created a little cheat sheet for everyone that’ll help people update their cv. So again, if you’re in that camp where you’ve been in that role for ages and you’re back in the job market and you’re like how do I make myself more competitive?

She has created this cheat sheet, which you can download from our website. And the link to that will be in our show notes. So just a little peek into what that looks like. I will share some of the little golden nuggets of information from her many years as a talent officer that she has seen works best for applying to jobs that you really want to get.

So some tips that she includes in her checklist is making sure you put your contact details, including your security clearance and location at the top of your cv.

That is one of the first things that we look for when we review a CV and making sure that the format is simple and clear to read. Don’t try to make it too fancy.

In your first page, have it be a synopsis of who you are. But don’t make it too long . Just a paragraph hitting key points that would make you suitable for the role, your time in the industry, any relevant project or experiences. It would be very good to add as well as any education or qualifications that you have had recently.

What we love to see at Factor is making sure you’re keeping your skills relevant. When it comes to hiring and when it comes to applying, first impressions matter. So make sure you really hit the first page strong, clear and concise. So that’s your sneak peek into her guide to a Punchy cv.

If you want more information, you’re gonna have to go to our website and download the rest of that.

Is there anything you guys would like to add to this conversation ?

[00:19:23] David Watson: I think if people can keep their tune up and stay positive and if they put the effort in, they might not get exactly what they wanted whether that be the exact contract rate or the exact role, but be open to trying different things. Test yourself. And it’s the opportunity to recreate yourself to some extent. If you wanted to move from , being a BA to a PM, maybe now’s the time to do it. Or, if you wanted to do something just a bit different or become a permanent employee, I think now’s a good time to think about your future.

[00:19:53] Neil Hathaway: Yeah, I think that’s really a good point. And every change is an opportunity and there’s plenty of work still to be done.

[00:20:00] Juvi Rivera: And if there are any listeners out there that would like to apply for Factor and would like to get to know a bit about us, go to our website. We have a really intuitive and really easy application portal. We have a few jobs that we’re looking to hire at the moment, but even jobs that we’re not looking to hire, send us your CV and we will keep that in our bank of potential contractors, we can reach out into the future . So that is it for today’s podcast. I want to thank David and Neil for sitting down with me. Thank you listeners for taking the time to listen to this podcast and we’ll catch you next time.