Dear Readers,

In this issue, we continue sorting the ‘wheat from the chaff’ trying to understand the impact the global meltdown will have on the regional freelance employment market. The outlook is positive with the Australian economy tipped to stay in growth mode and generating a $5B surplus. In addition, the Gartner Group’s research indicates that the Asia Pacific IT sector; a good indicator of overall corporate health, is projected to grow at 8.3% over the next 12 months. We include some interesting research from the UK which shows that over the last decade there has been a 14% increase in individuals choosing to be self-employed as freelance contractors. We offer some useful business tips on free software provided by the ATO to help you effectively manage your business finances and provide an update on our marketing activities which is generating increased demand through buyer (client) awareness of AustraliaFreelanceMarket.com.au. We welcome an article from contractor 2864 outlining the human resource development services he provides and as always provide some interesting but totally useless facts and the obligatory bad joke. This next month, happy reading!

Despite the ‘doom and gloom’ scenarios painted in the media over the last few months the Australian professional employment sector has remained steady and stable. In fact, the October 08 employment figures just released confounded the ‘experts’ with 34,000 people finding new employment and the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3%. Australia and Canada are the only two OECD countries that have projected economic growth and budget surplus. Australia is projecting a 2% growth for the 08/09 year and a surplus of $5B. Further, the market intelligence group Gartner, is projecting an 8.3% growth in IT demand for the Asia Pacific Region. Globally, however they are projecting a worst case growth of 2.3%. So the APAC market is well and truly outperforming the global market which is not surprisingly given our very different fundamentals. All this growth; and in a market that is already starved of quality professionals! So what’s this mean to you? More demand! As the CBA’s chief economist Michael Blythe puts it 'employers are switching to more casual staff in the face of the economic downturn” Don’t get caught up in the wave of pessimism. The official statistics, the Treasurer, treasury and various academic experts agree; Australia is travelling very well. Yes there will be an impact, but freelance consultants will be part of the solution. There will be continued, across the board demand for quality professionals of all kinds. Some industries, like some in the financial sector, will have to rationalise to maintain their profitability whilst others are taking the opportunities to replenish their talent base by replacing the bottom 10-15% of their staff. They are doing this, not because they’re under economic pressure to do so, but because they have the opportunity to replace the poor performers with better calibre individuals. In the near future therefore, we expect that demand for freelance consultants will continue to stay high.

A recent study by UK’s Professional Contractors Group (PCG) has shown that there are 1.4 million freelance workers in the UK. This represents a 14 per cent rise in individuals leveraging the benefits of this alternative working lifestyle since 1998.

The study indicates that 62 per cent of contractors are male and 38 per cent are female. John Brazier, managing director of PCG, said the study provided a 'credible outline of the size and characteristics of our dynamic freelance workforce', something he claimed had not existed until now.

Referring to contracting in general, he added: 'The freelance community has grown over the last ten years and all the signs indicate that it will continue to grow'

Kerry Packer once told a parliamentary committee in 1991; “Now of course I am minimizing my tax and if anybody in this country doesn´t minimize their tax they want their heads read because as a government I can tell you you´re not spending it that well that we should be donating extra.” Truer words were never spoken! So how do we go about living up to this objective? The answer? Keep detailed records of expenditure!! Analysis shows that many self-employed workers are not maintaining their financial records in a manner designed to optimize their tax deductions and are potentially paying way too much tax.

The Australian Tax Department has made available free of charge a superb software product called e-record. This is an excellent spreadsheet driven record management facility providing cash book management, BAS processing, reconciliation of daily sales, cash flow management, tax invoicing, inventory management and many other very useful features. The system is easy to use and provides full backup facilities ensuring you never lose the data and has excellent on phone support.

We strongly recommend that you run through the tutorial provided. You can find e-record at http://www.kilbot.com.au/2011/10/18/download-e-record.

We are now well into our client focused marketing campaign which we’re pleased to say is generating considerable demand across all geographic regions. The marketing program is multi-tiered and will be ongoing. The bottom tier consists of an aggressive adword campaign which aims at attracting suitably qualified ‘net’ users to the site, the next is a SOE program aimed at increasing our presence and placement through search engine optimisation. The next activity is a direct marketing campaign aimed at over 200,000 individuals in the Australian/NZ market place. Complementing these activities is a targeted program aimed at the big-end of town and includes many of the premier consultancy firms, system integrators, retailers and manufacturing sectors. Lastly, but most importantly, we’re constantly scanning the job boards and local media and directly notifying private advertisers seeking to fill positions that are consistent with the skill profiles of the candidates currently registered. We do not permit recruitment agents to use the service so all requests for introduction will come directly from the buyer.

I have over 15 years experience in human resource development. I provide leadership development, management training, change management, strategic planning, resource management, performance management, executive coaching and career development to a range of industries internationally.

With the current global downturn, I am providing extensive guidance and practical advice on 'Leading in a Recession'.

I am passionate about helping individuals and organisations improve their results, by implementing specific strategies that promote the development of leaders and their teams.

An innovative and strategic thinker, I am quick in identifying the core problems and providing the organisation with the guidance and direction to solve them. I have a keen interest in blended learning, combining traditional experiential learning practice with electronic simulations.

Specialties include:

* Leadership and Organisational Development
* Executive coaching
* Performance Management
* Strategic Planning
* Talent Management
* E-learning and Electronic Simulations, and
* Change Management

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: 'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon.'

General Motors addressed this comment by releasing the statement: 'Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?'

1. Only food that does not spoil: honey
2. Only bird that can fly backwards: Hummingbird
3. The youngest pope was 11 years old.
4. Your nose and ears never stop growing
5. Iceland consumes more Coca-cola per capita than any other nation.
6. Jupiter is bigger than all the other planets in our solar system combined.
7. Hot water is heavier than cold.
8. The parachute was invented by da Vinci in 1515.
9. Pluto is no longer a planet
10. Of the 44 presidents of the USA, 4 were assassinated with 8 failed attempts. “I wonder what Workcover would say about those occupational risks?”

Our clients have made requests for the following contractors:

Project Scheduler: Our client is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Project Scheduler to join their team on an initial 6 months contract basis. The role's responsibility is to update and manage a number of project schedules on a day to day basis as well as to gather all information required to create the master schedules. Additionally, they will be working closely with Project Managers to manage smaller project and initiatives end to end. The ideal candidate brings a very strong and proven background as Project Scheduler using MS Project. This is absolutely essential to be successful in this role.

Java Developer: Our client is in need someone with hands-on experience using JSF1.2 and Visual Web JSF (Woodstock) which incorporates NetBeans IDE6.1. The job involves building a web application using JSF and JBDC for an Advertising agency that will allow access to data and services for their clients. This will include making bookings that can be costed, supplying material, posting advertisments to job boards, retrieving PDF’s of invoices and other data.

www.australiafreelancemarket.com.au, Postal address: 49 Frenchs Forest Rd, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, Australia

Freelance-Market does not guarantee for the correctness of the statements or opinions stated in this newsletter. Please feel free to send us your comments or contributions to info@australiafreelancemarket.com.au.

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AustraliaFreelanceMarket.com.au is a on-line contractor marketing portal for professional freelancers facilitating direct contracts between the contractor and client. Skills available include management consultants, security advisors, IT professionals, business analysts, marketing consultants, graphic artists and administration personnel.

Benefits for clients and contractors:
• No agency involved; direct contracts between the contractor and client.
• Client costs are reduced in that they are not paying the 10-40% agent fee.
• Contractors optimize their billing as there is no agent cutting in to their hourly rate.
• Searches and Introductions are free to the client
• Registration and online marketing is free to contractor
• Contractors incur only a small fee per introduction based on their hourly rate
• High quality contractor database to choose from
• Contractors have improved utilization rate
• Client and contractor are free to work together as often as they like at no cost
• Immediate notification of introduction by e-mail and SMS.
• Broad range of free documentation, including contracts, NDA and general interest articles.