Hays Information Technology - October 2007

Hotspots

Steady and consistent demand across the industry from employers, vendors and consultancies is ensuring vacancy activity remains high. In particular demand are functional and technical business analysts due to continued business growth. Candidates who can analyse business requirements, make informed decisions on future directions and capitalise on opportunities are a highly sort after commodity.

Software developers with a strong background in not only legacy technologies such as Delphi but also the latest technologies such as .Net 3.0 and J2EE are also hotspots while development candidates in both Microsoft and non-Microsoft areas continue to be extremely limited. Finally level 1 and 2 support is a hotspot across most infrastructure areas, with candidates with a strong background in ITIL required.

The coming quarter

Hiring intentions will remain positive over the quarter since employers indicate new jobs will continue to be created, particularly in the hotspot areas, across both the temporary and permanent sector. Ongoing project requirements are also heating demand.

Executive recruitment

With the demand for IT skills existing across the range of technologies and levels, the executive market is not immune from the current market's buoyancy. Given current growth and project levels, project managers are a particular hotspot for the executive recruitment market.

Salaries

Overall salaries have increased over the past 12 months. While salaries have not risen to unprecedented levels, they have increased strongly. With candidates in demand, employers are doing more to limit attrition and many are offering higher salaries to attract those currently employed to their vacancy.

The Hays Salary Survey is a comprehensive guide to IT salaries and can be viewed at www.hays.com.au/salary

Candidate trends

Project management and business analyst roles are attracting a great deal of candidate interest at present. Meanwhile the screening process for infrastructure candidates needs to be incredibly rigorous; while there is a good flow of candidates, there is a great difference in the quality of skills of these candidates.