Hays Architecture - January 2009

Hotspots

Across the sector, government projects are pushing demand for architectural candidates with experience in areas such as healthcare and education. The public sector has been less affected by the prevailing market conditions and as a result, work is ongoing.

In Queensland, project and design architects with experience in healthcare and other institutional work are in high demand. In addition, experienced Revit and AutoCAD drafters with solid construction knowledge, ideally experienced in institutional projects, are still in demand as number of projects move into the documentation phase. In planning and landscape, a number of key roles for experienced planners and landscape architects exist in the market due to planned future project loads.

In Victoria, clients with institutional projects are just as busy as ever and candidates with experience in large-scale public hospitals, especially within the stages of master planning and feasibility studies, can still name their price.

The coming quarter

Notwithstanding the pressure of the current economic climate on architecture, pockets of the industry are still pushing demand for skilled candidates. Candidates can expect more contract roles to become available as firms look to fill short-term needs while maintaining a degree of flexibility for the future. In the permanent recruitment space, senior roles are still on the market, with employers preferring candidates with local contacts who can attract new business.

While redundancies have occurred within the sector, firms whose major clients are self-funded developers have experienced no slowdown and are engineered to flourish within the current economic climate. Large firms with substantial overheads and limited diversification will find it difficult to compete under these conditions.

Salaries

Salaries are expected to remain at current levels with little increase this quarter as upward pressure subsides.

Candidate trends

Candidates are shifting their focus away from salaries and towards job security and opportunities for career progression. Solid project loads have become more desirable and firms who can offer this will find they have high quality candidates knocking on their door. Despite a reduction in projects moving past town planning approval candidates who are really serious about finding work, will.