In Australia, both the private and public sectors have begun increasing permanent ICT staff, spurred by the resources boom in Western Australia and Australia’s stable economy. According to Candle Australia’s 2007 market analysis report, demand for permanent staff in New South Wales has increased 25% compared to the same period last year, and an ongoing resources boom in Western Australia has led to a stable hiring field for ICT employers.
The report says during the financial year ending June 30, 2006, permanent demand nationwide increased 13% compared to previous financial year. New South Wales saw permanent demand increase by 25% and demand for ICT professionals in Canberra was the highest ever.
Jane Bianchini, Candle Australia ICT national manager, says the recruitment market in Australia for techology professionals is mirroring the Australian economy, with a strong resources and project boom instigating a number of key projects nationwide.
“Australia is the place to employ at the moment,” Bianchini says.
“As we see more regional hubs located to Australia and New Zealand, Australia is seen as a place potential employers can gain good experience on innovative projects which are on a serious large scale and not small projects by international standards.
According to the report, the five top jobs in demand nationally are project managers and administrators, business analysts, application developers with C#, .Net, Java and J2EE skills, as well as enterprise architects and test engineers.
VoIP, Oracle and Oracle’s Siebel, security, compliance (in particular Sarbanes-Oxley), ITIL and storage skills are currently in high demand nationally. The banking, finance, insurance, professional services and communications industries are the largest hirers of ICT talent currently in Australia, followed closely by state and federal government.