The Bay of Plenty's recruitment agencies and economic development organisations are predicting tough times for those entering the region's labour market.

Many of the region's recruitment agencies are witnessing more people apply for a dwindling number of jobs that are only semi-permanent or temporary.
Recruitment company Excel Labour Hire is experiencing a ‘substantial' increase in the number of people seeking jobs and Allied Workforce is describing the number of job seekers as ‘significant'.
Harsh forecast
Priority One, one of the region's economic development organisations, is forecasting harsher conditions in the local job market moving towards winter.
Michelle Pierrepont, managing director at Excel Labour Hire, says the numbers have increased compared to six months ago.
'We have also noticed that there is a reluctance from businesses to employ permanent staff and there is more of a trend to employ people in temporary positions,” says Michelle.
Peter Mausch, Allied Workforce branch manager, is not only seeing an increase in the number of job seekers but the quality.
'Two years ago, trying to find a qualified carpenter, sparky or builder was like trying to find oil but now you have qualified builders with 15 years experience and structural engineers with worldwide experience seeking work,” says Peter.
Before Christmas, Tauranga's Allied Workforce branch placed a small advertisement on Trade Me for a Bay of Plenty based job in the construction industry and were flooded with applications from as far away as Gisborne, Auckland and Northland.
Employee selection
'Now people are quite prepared to work at the lower end of the pay scale and employers are becoming more selective about the type of people they hire,” says Peter.
Tauranga graduate Natalie Guest, who recently completed the Bachelor of Communication Studies at Waikato University, has applied for 15 jobs since the beginning of the year.
She majored in public relations and screen media but is now seeking work in industries such as retail.
'As time goes on, I'm getting less and less picky. Last year I was only applying for jobs I really wanted to do but now I'm looking for jobs that are less suitable,” says Natalie.