Read below to hear from Jochen de Jager, a senior research associate from executive search firm De Jager & Associates:

'Australia and New Zealand were no different when it came to being affected by the Global Financial Crisis - in the most part by a lack of business/consumer confidence, resulting in a "wait and see" approach to hiring for senior executive positions. Likewise executives were less willing to move or look at other executive opportunities because of the uncertainty of the market. It was a time many organisations re-evaluated their priorities and made staff cuts, becoming mean and lean in order to manage their cost base.

Australia was able to stay afloat largely due to China having a strong demand for our resources and the government's fiscal and monetary policies. After successfully navigating through the recession, business and consumer confidence are now returning to good levels. In fact, towards the end of 2009 confidence started to return and we saw activity increase across the board. For 2010 we are finding executive search activity picking up a lot and we expect this trend to increase into 2011. I know it has been very tough for Europe and will probably continue to be for some time.

This is not to say everything is perfect in Australia - our inflation is reaching undesirable levels so the government is increasing interest rates at a rapid rate in their response, hurting mortgage holders. However, overall executive job prospects for senior executives are increasingly positive and executive search activity is on the rise.'

Executive Jobs In Australia and the Asia Pacific Region

The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) has 29 member executive search firms operating across Australia and New Zealand, with most headquarters being located in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne. These firms employ almost 300 executive recruiters in Australia and New Zealand.

All AESC firms have access to BlueSteps, the candidate network of over 100,000 senior executives. Learn more about getting exposure to these executive search firms and a further 1700 executive recruiters across the Asia-Pacific region.

About de Jager & Associates – member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).

Located in Sydney and Melbourne, de Jager & Associates specialises in the recruitment of ‘C’ Level, Senior and General Management and in 18 years of operation has developed a select client list of high profile, ethical and prestigious industry leaders in Australia and internationally. de Jager & Associates is a member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).