Recent reports have highlighted the continued competition among IT professionals in Australia for available jobs. The power of the dollar now seems to be in the hands of employers rather than candidates, with IT pros on the job hunt increasingly willing to take lower salaries to secure the right position.
The plain fact of the matter is that there are far more people available with the right skills than there are jobs available, argues Grant Montgomery, CEO at human resources consultancy E.L. Consult.
"Certainly the expectations have been lowered and most people are quite aware of that," Montgomery said.
Montgomery believes this is particularly the case with IT consultants, because just as their salaries increased dramatically during the boom period, so too did they drop just as savagely when the downturn bit.
"Having said that there's still [some IT professionals at the] CIO level commanding very good salaries," he said. Montgomery added that the amount for a CIO role could typically range anywhere from AU$150,000 to AU$300,000, depending upon the size of the organisation.
Montgomery said, however, he had seen a marked shift away from companies offering IT executives options as part of a salary package.
Likewise, Stan Relihan, managing partner, at recruitment consultancy Expert Executive Search and Placement, has found candidates to be a lot more flexible than they used to. Relihan said that this included increased concern about job security, long-term career opportunities and the quality of the company, rather than just the money.
Relihan said that one of the areas he had noticed a dramatic decline in salaries was in the Web design and interactive space. "Two years ago database engineers were getting AU$150,000 to AU$200,000," Relihan argued. He said this had now dropped to about AU$60,000 to AU$80,000.
IT professionals secure salaries based on their experience, education and responsibilities, according to Andrew Hennell, president of professional body Systems Administrators Guild of Australia (SAGE-AU).
Hennell said that, in broad dollar terms, the amount systems administrators get paid can vary greatly, depending on other factors such as the size of the network they are managing.
"Certainly pay in line with their roles and responsibilities is important for them, as is support in terms of things such as ongoing training," Hennell said.
Hennell cites conferences, and vendor or third-party training courses as examples of training systems administrators look for. Also, because they are were often on call, Hennell said systems administrators often looked for packages which included mobile phones, Internet access and laptops so they could dial in when away from the office.
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