IT&T jobs growth stagnates over past year: report

Stan Beer
Monday, 07 April 2008 14:12

IT People - Enterprise

Recruiter Best International which publishes a monthly jobs report called Best IT Talent Index, in stark contrast to the Olivier report, found that the IT&T sector had risen by 14.44% in February. According to the Best report, permanent roles as of February had experienced a hefty 24.9% increase in the past 12 months, while contracting positions underwent a minimal rise of less than 0.5%.

According to Best International managing director, John McVicker, the discrepancy has arisen because it chooses to base its survey on only the two largest jobs boards Seek and MyCareer, while Olivier surveys a much wider range of boards. It is widely accepted that many of the job ads on the two largest boards – especially Seek - are duplicated on other boards.

Best International’s bullish findings for February were supported by executive search firm E.L Consult, which publishes a report on senior positions called the E.L Executive Demand Index. The report found that demand in February for senior IT&T roles soared by 56%. Senior roles in the IT&T sector especially are generally considered to be a lead indicator for lower level IT&T jobs.

The question now is whether Olivier Group will once again be found to be out of step with the other two recruiters when their reports are released. If so, then Olivier will have to seriously question its survey methodology.

The other side of the coin, however, a side that many will be hoping not to be the case, is that Olivier turns out to be the only recruiter that was right.