Hays Engineering - January 2010

Hotspots

Infrastructure is an ongoing focus of recruiting activity due to stimulus projects. Highways Engineers and Structural (bridges) Engineers and Drafters are needed for highway and rail projects. Civil Project and Civil Infrastructure Engineers are sought for large-scale roads projects, power transmission upgrades and changes to water and sewerage services. Traffic Engineers and Transport Modellers are needed. Land development projects will also require candidates as they come through planning.

Senior Structural Drafters and Senior Engineers will also be in demand. Provided they possess relevant residential or commercial experience and have realistic salary expectations they will have plenty of options.

Senior Electrical Engineers are needed in building services due to an increase in market activity from institutional projects such as schools and hospitals. A lot of transport infrastructure projects are planned for this year.

Mechanical Engineers with HVAC expertise and ESD specialists are needed to compliment environmental sustainable building services design. Design Drafters are also needed across both mechanical and electrical.

In fact any civil, structural or environmental candidate with a network of contacts they can take to another consultancy will be in high demand.

When skills are unavailable in the local market, employers are looking interstate to supplement their skill sets. They are also considering overseas candidates with 457 visas.

The coming quarter

Employers are focused on creating new vacancies this year. These will be both temporary and permanent, often for candidates with local project experience. Although there are many employers that prefer temporary recruiting as a safer option at present, strategic permanent appointments will still be made. 'Cautious optimism' is the term being used to describe 2010's engineering market.

There are instances of employers creating vacancies to secure quality candidates, particularly those with high-level skills and expertise in HVAC, electrical, hydraulics and ESD.

Executive

The executive recruiting market varies state to state. In Queensland, major public sector amalgamations and the creation of the centralised water boards has created a need to adjust a top heavy management structure. By contrast New South Wales and Victorian executives, particularly at the senior design level, are still in demand provided they are an exact match to the vacancy.

Employer trends

Employers are more confident than at any other time over the last 15 months. They are becoming flexible in their salary expectations and are prepared to offer a top market salary for exceptional candidates. For all other staff, non-monetary benefits have increased. This includes improved working culture and improved work/life balance.

However employers want candidates who are an exact match for their vacancy. As vacancies and the demand for skills rise, such strict expectations will become unrealistic and wane.

The recruiting and training of graduates decreased over the last six months of 2009. It is thought that if all projects currently on hold are recommenced, employers will need to invest in graduates and less experienced candidates to meet future workloads.

Candidate trends

In the last quarter of 2009 there was a definite decrease in the number of experienced candidates. Those quality candidates that found themselves back on the market due to the GFC were quickly absorbed into organisations that struggled to find such candidates in the past.

Consequently, areas of candidate shortages are again starting to emerge. Those candidates that have changed jobs often are not viewed highly and are considered a risk by employers looking for career longevity and commitment.

In response to improve market conditions, candidates have become more confident to enter the job market and search for opportunities.