SA Director
Issue No. 9 - February/March 2003
Attracting Executives an Specialists to Adelaide
There has been a lot of discussion about the difficulty in attracting experienced executives to our city. Is it an impossible task? Not so, according to executive search expert Gabriele Kronberger, who owns Adelaide-based national and international search firm Kronberger & Associates.
“Adelaide is a wonderful place to live and each year there are many executive-level positions that are attractive to eastern-state or overseas candidates,” Ms Kronberger says.
“However, organisations looking to recruit interstate must also be aware that it is possibly not a city for every person at every state of his or her career development. Expectations should therefore be based on that awareness.”
Ms Kronberger says her experience has shown that people go through distinct stages in their lives and careers, and that Adelaide fits some stages better than others.
In her experience, young professionals looking to fast-forward their careers do not necessarily think of Adelaide and generally need a real incentive to persuade them to leave Melbourne or Sydney.
“Some of the things they are looking for are energy, action, bright lights and big cities,” she says. “They want to impress their friends and colleagues with their choice and it is sometimes difficult to convince them that Adelaide may be the right choice. They may see a posting to Adelaide as a move to a country town.”
“While Adelaide is seen as a great city to bring up children, that image seems to work more for the people who know the city and have reasons to ‘come back home’.
“Younger executives in Sydney or Melbourne are often not aware of the possibility of having a beachside mansion in Adelaide for $1 million, that the food here is great, the wine wonderful and that the schools are among the best in the country.”
Ms Kronberger says that for executives in their forties, there tends to be more incent...
