Grant Montgomery, managing director of executive search company E.L.Consult, said the 12 October bombings had a "temporary effect" on the recruitment market, with information technology and finance the hardest hit sectors. "These industries have seen a recovery recently, but the Bali bombings have just been enough to discourage management hiring intentions, for the time being at least".
Executive demand in the already-battered information technology sector slumped by 37 percent in October, the latest E.L Consult Executive Demand Index revealed - significantly higher than the all-industries figure of 18 percent. However, Montgomery said the slide had not cost the sector all the gains it made in September, when it recorded a month-on-month increase of 52 percent.
"After the considerable losses made in 2000 and 2001, the IT index has clearly bottomed," Montgomery said.
"Despite the drop-off in demand, we believe this to be a temporary setback.
"The current decrease is due to external factors which will only serve to increase the magnitude of the eventual upturn in the coming year".
E.L.Consult said the decline in executive positions was particularly evident in Victoria and the ACT, with the private sector hit heavily there. However, NSW remained resilient with a fairly flat result, while Queensland recorded strong growth.
However, the Olivier Job Index, which measures job advertisements posted on the Internet, found that openings in the information technology and telecommunications sector had stabilized after a 11.17 per cent drop in September. Advertisements in the sector fell only 1.3 per cent in October relative to the previous month.
Among the hardest-hit sectors was the multimedia, Internet and graphic design category, which saw a 27.3 per cent slump.
Robert Olivier, director of Olivier Recruitment Group, has warned IT job-hunters they are in a do-or-die situation.
"Senior IT&T people who are still looking for work, will find November is their last chance to snap up permanent and contract work for the year," said Olivier. "If they don't have a job by then they're likely to face sitting on the beach until February."
