Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 17 November 2009 06:50
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.”