Diary of a Rec to Rec: Six months into the new visa regime, what have we actually witnessed in the Recruitment industry...?

So, it's been about six months since the world seemed like it was coming to an end, within the ex-pat recruitment community, at least.

But now that the dust has well and truly settled, exactly what changes have we seen?

I can only speak through my eyes, the eyes of a Rec-to-Rec, but this is my take on it all...

1. The novelty is starting to wear off for plenty of Recruiters who were gifted $90k basic salaries because that's what their employer had to pay them in accordance with the new visa stipulations. They thought all their Christmas's had come at once, but now they wish they could have been paid $75k + Super (just like in the good old days), as they now realise getting $90k + Super comes with greater expectations, greater pressure, and greater thresholds, and in some instances, greater deficits.
2. Recruiters are now imaginatively being called "Business Development Managers", Sales & Marketing Managers", "Sheep Farmers"... Anything that avoids calling them what they are... "Recruitment Consultants". Ironic really, because at dinner parties around the world for the past 30 years, we've been avoiding admitting that we're "Recruitment Consultants". We can now look people in the eye and confidently lie about not being a Recruitment Consultant without fear of being busted.
3. A lot of experienced UK Recruiters, who are genuinely worth the $90k salary, are left stranded in rainy Blighty. Why? Well, when you've got enough experience under your belt to command $90k salary, for a lot of people, you've also got kids. And not many people are prepared to move to Australia with kids, only to take them out of school to return to the UK after the nominal 2 + 2 years. Unless you're in the ballsy "Let's just get over there, and I'm sure everything will work itself out" camp... An oversight of the Government?
4. The "Let's just get over there, and I'm sure everything will work itself out" camp are now shitting themselves because their Plan B doesn't appear to be materialising up in Canberra. UK Recruiters all over Australia are reading "Sheep Farming for Dummies".
5. Rookies, Graduates, Trainees and "people from industry" are suddenly much more attractive to recruitment firms, and are getting hired by the bucket load. Much like MasterChef, or Survivor, or the World Cup, it remains to be seen how many will survive to the end, and how many will end up in real estate.
6. Recruitment Managers are dreading those salary review meetings, and having sleepless nights about the day when every single Recruiter in the office in sitting on a salary of $90k + Super.
7. Unhappy Recruiters, who are sitting on something in the region of $65k-75k + Super are sitting tight in their unhappy role, trying their best to make it work, because they know that if they go to market, they might not get the $90k that they need to remain visa'd. This can only be a good thing, as there's merit in sitting tight and pushing through bad times sometimes, and earning your stripes.
8. The intense lobbying that was carried out by the industry late last year, and early this year, seems to have died down. Or has it? Is there a secret movement going on in the shadows that we don't know about. The last I heard, was that there was a campaign to reduce the $90k salary threshold to a more manageable figure. Who knows if this will happen.
9. Australian Recruiters can be regularly spotted strutting down Pitt St and Collins St humming the tune of "Stayin' Alive", with the gait of Liam Gallagher, with their noses in the air, quite simply smelling the money.
10. Rec-to-Recs are having to work harder. The less said about that, the better...

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