Hays Information Technology - April 2008

Hotspots

Candidates with skills in cutting-edge Microsoft related technologies such as .NET for development, and SQL for databases, are in demand. VoIP and Unified comms are also highly sought after.

Analytical skills from a business perspective are also required, as a lot of projects have been signed off, requiring business analysts to scope requirements.

Candidates with cross-platform experience in the networking space, such as Juniper, Nortel and Cisco skills, are also in high demand, while Java in the development space is increasingly sought after, as is Sharepoint. These skills are needed since many consulting and ICT companies are turning away from one platform or solution and are instead utilising or incorporating other platforms into the business that are more efficient in terms of costs and usability.

ERP skills are rare. There is a limit to the number of organisations that possess Tier 1 ERP systems, so consequently there is only a smaller pool of candidates with skills in this area. Many organisations are looking to implement, upgrade or expand their ERP systems and this is contributing to the demand for these skills.

Finally customer service orientated level 1 and 2 helpdesk and desktop support candidates are required. Experienced candidates typically upskill and move into more specialised technical areas, augmenting the shortage at this level.

The coming quarter

Employer hiring indications are very positive, and demonstrate that the job market over the coming months will be one of increased vacancy activity, both temporary and permanent. The IT market remains buoyant and there is a lot of money being spent on projects as many organisations are looking to enhance or replace their existing systems, either to meet new business requirements, or to address ongoing support issues.

Many of these projects are due for completion or initiation by the end of this financial year, which will ensure the demand for skills to assist with the completion of these projects will be high. Windows system upgrades (including Exchange) and WANs improvements are also lending strength to the current active market. We may see a shift towards temporary roles as budgets tighten before the end of the financial year.

Executive

Executive recruitment will continue to be an active area of the IT job market, with high-end program management, IT Managers and CIO candidates all in demand. Hands-on executives with technical knowledge, and the ability to speak the technical dialogue while still having a business focus, are also in demand.

The exceptions to the active executive market are NSW, which has seen several redundancies at the senior and executive level as companies lower costs, and the ACT, where executive vacancies are currently rare.Employers have indicated however, that towards the end of the quarter they will again have executive requirements.

Salaries

Permanent salaries will continue to increase in light of the ongoing shortage of experienced IT skills. There is some pressure on contract rates though, with the market generally seeking to reduce rates.

Candidate trends

There has been a noticeable decrease in candidate levels for particular specialist roles such as architects (specifically in the Enterprise space) and senior developers (specifically in the Java space), while in other areas such as project management there has been a good supply of suitable candidates.

There has also been a noticeable increase in the number of candidates wanting to work in the infrastructure support space since it remains the main entry point into the IT industry.

There has been a slight increase in systems and network administrators looking for work due to a number of redundancies in this area.