At the executive level across transport, rail and logistics in Australia and New Zealand, I think the picture is more nuanced.
The market is certainly more cautious and more selective. Organisations are taking longer to approve senior appointments, scrutinising remuneration and expecting more from every leadership hire.
But the demand for genuinely strong executives hasn’t disappeared. If anything, I’m seeing a flight to quality.
Businesses are looking for leaders who can do more than simply run their function. They want executives who can lead transformation while maintaining operational performance, improve asset reliability and productivity, navigate complex safety and regulatory environments, lead large dispersed workforces and bring strong commercial judgement to operational businesses.
And while there may be more people open to conversations, the pool of executives with the right combination of sector knowledge, leadership capability, commercial judgement and a demonstrated record of transformation remains relatively tight.
For organisations recruiting at this level, that creates an interesting dynamic:
You can afford to be selective — but you can’t afford to be slow.
The strongest executives are rarely sitting in the active candidate market waiting for an advertisement. They need to be identified, approached and given a compelling reason to consider moving.
It’s also an interesting time for me personally.
Having recently relocated to Melbourne, I’m looking forward to building on the relationships I already have across Victoria while continuing to work with clients and executives throughout Australia and New Zealand.
I’m particularly keen to connect with more CEOs, C-Suite executives, GMs and senior leaders across rail, transport, logistics and infrastructure here in Melbourne.
So, if we’ve been connected on LinkedIn for years but have never actually met — or if you’re in the sector and our paths haven’t crossed yet — I’d be very happy to grab a coffee and change that.
From the conversations I’m having across the market, I’d describe conditions right now as: Cautious. Selective. Competitive. But still very active for the right leadership talent.
Interested to hear what others across the sector are seeing.
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