Signs of IT jobs market recovery, but employers caution remains

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 17 November 2009 07:50

IT People - Recruitment

The IT industry in Australia is beginning to show signs of recovery, although many organisations remain cautious about permanent hiring as a result of budget constraints, according to a new IT labour market survey just released which also reveals that there was a modest increase in hiring of both permanent and contract job categories over the three months to September.

Recruitment firm, Kelly Executive in its latest IT market jobs survey, said that while there was an increase in hirings in the September quarter, this is set to slow slightly over the Christmas/New Year period and will likely gain pace approaching the second quarter of 2010.

For candidates Kelly says it’s good news, with a noticeable decrease in the overall number of applicants, signaling an increase in placements, but conversely Kelly cautions that it is not so good for employers who it says “will be nervous about a return to the debilitating skills shortages experienced before the global financial crisis.”

According to Kelly’s principal consultant, Kushal Wijesundera, the IT industry is currently seeing increases in project spending in the areas of systems development and maintenance, and he predicts that during the next quarter, business analysts will be in high demand “especially candidates with specific industry expertise - be it financial services, energy and utilities, or government policy - who have worked on large IT transformation projects.”

On the technical front, Wijesundera says that candidates with good database design and administrations skills, coupled with business intelligence product knowledge, will also be in high demand due to organisations investing in customer-oriented strategies, and an increase in demand for reporting and compliance.

And, according to Wijesundera, infrastructure project managers are currently the least in demand – a direct result of the downturn in major project spending over the past 12 months, and he says that despite the emerging recovery, businesses are cautious not to overspend and that this vigilance is flowing into the types of employment being offered to candidates.

“As a result of the economic slowdown and a drop of business activity, many organisations have been reluctant to offer permanent positions, instead, offering short-term contracts, heavily skewing the market towards contract employment. This should improve over the next quarter as confidence returns.”

On the remuneration front, Wijesundera says it has stabilised during the past quarter, and that most organisations are now willing to pay the market rate, and those with specialist skills or skills in high demand have “enhanced bargaining power.”