High-end IT jobs demand spike

Stan Beer
Monday, 04 September 2006 09:13

IT People - Enterprise

Increased demand for Information Technology executives is emerging as industry cranks up for the next cycle of replacements and upgrades, according to a new report.

IT Jobs

We specialise in IT and telecommunications positions Overall executive demand rose 5% in August compared with the previous month, underlining the considerable strength of the market, according to the E.L Executive Demand Index, released by executive search firm E.L Consult.  It is the third consecutive increase.

The gains come despite the Reserve Bank lifting official interest rates for the fifth time to 6.0% last month, citing inflationary pressures in the economy.

"We are seeing increases in executive demand across the board, in all states and in all market sectors. I have not seen such a purple patch in the market for a number of years," said Grant Montgomery, Managing Director of the executive search firm E.L Consult that researches and publishes the E.L Index.

"Finance, marketing, information technology, engineering, management - not all of these sectors go up every month, but they seem to be jumping over each other in an upward trajectory."

The Information Technology sector was the best performing sector in August compared with the previous month, surging 39% off a relatively low base.

"This is a huge rise for a sector that has never really recovered from the tech wreck.

"While IT can be volatile, anecdotal evidence suggests some of this demand stems from the return of projects from international low cost centres.  India in particular is losing some of its gloss as costing on smaller innovative applications is easier to control and cheaper if completed locally.

"Consumer backlash is also bringing many call centres back home and with it the demand for local programming of those centres' applications.

"A cycle for corporate hardware replacement also seems to be developing.  Since there was significant replacement in 1999 and again in 2003 the current boom could be the beginning of a 2007 cycle. This would drive executive demand in IT as well," Mr Montgomery said.

The E.L. Executive Demand Index has risen by 27% since the same month last year. All states and territories except for Queensland moved forward in August, led by Tasmania, then the ACT, then the largest states of New South Wales and Victoria.