While the IT jobs market continues to run hot, 2007 has seen the corporate and government sectors wait for good staff, and then pay to retain them, rather than gamble with unknowns, according to IT recruitment specialists.
December 2007 capped off a bumper year, with Internet-based IT job ads growing by five percent on 2006 figures, bringing the national average to 34 percent for the year, according to the Olivier Internet Job Index. Growth in demand for IT staff was strong but lumpy, with states like Western Australia recording an 86 percent jump in Internet-based IT job ads, while the ACT fell seven percent as government departments went into a holding pattern in the run-up to the federal election. NSW came in a touch below the national average at 31 percent growth, Victoria a touch above with 35 percent growth, while Tasmania leaped more than 200 percent as demand exploded out from a very small base.
"The overall growth in the number of ads reflects the fact that it's taking people longer to find staff, so the job ad will be renewed, or posted interstate after the initial 30 days," offered seasoned recruitment watcher Bob Olivier. "People who are hanging out for the right skills mix are either going to have to relax their criteria, or pay more if they need the position filled, it's particular hard for employers without a strong brand, or for those who are in an unusual location."
In a similar vein, Peter Noblet, Australia New Zealand information technology regional director for recruitment company Hays, said 2007 was characterised by strong demand for experienced staff, with an understanding of both business and technology.
"Finding the right combination of skills can be difficult, what employers are looking for is to get that return on investment quickly, rather than to take the time to train someone," Noblet says. "The weird thing is that the demand hasn't resulted on wage pressure, like it did in the dot-com era, but there's now a lot more focus on the way people are employed."
Noblet expects the tight labour market to continue throughout 2008, coupled with a trend towards the creation of permanent positions, and better working conditions rather than higher wages.
According to Patrick March, IT professionals looking for a career fillip would do well to complement technical skills by improving written communication and presentation skills, or undertaking business studies and formal certification in project management techniques like Prince 2.
"We're still seeing strong demand for project management and project lifecycle management skills," March commented. "Communication skills are a very highly sort after attribute, as is the ability to understand and interact with the business you are working in, which is why actual experience in a specific sector is always highly regarded."
At the same time employers are also increasingly likely to respond to a letter of resignation with a counteroffer, in an attempt to hold onto good staff, according to general manager for Link Recruitment in Melbourne, Ben Cass.
"In a number of areas we're seeing employers are doing as much as they can to hold onto staff, and we're advising candidates to consider how to respond to a counteroffer early in the recruitment process," said Cass, although he believes the trend is largely misguided. "What we typically see is that even if employees accept the counteroffer, they end up leaving within about six months, so it only really buys the employer a bit of extra time, rather than actually solving the problem."
In my experience most IT professionals with technical skills are being grossly mis-managed. I am lucky if I am able to work at 10% capacity. Consultants and incompetant senior management are multiplying the cost, risk and time for IT tasks by factor of 5 to 50 times.