Hays Information Technology - July 2010
Hotspots
Development skills, primarily in the .Net space, Project Managers, Business Analysts and Architecture candidates are areas of demand given increased project spend and new project commencement.
The coming quarter
Permanent job numbers in New Zealand's information technology market are picking up. Employers are also creating temporary assignments based on project needs, rather than creating roles to secure people with niche skills.
We have also noticed a rise in IT Technical Sales vacancies, which is a strong indicator of an improving market and aggressive market expansion.
Primarily the majority of roles are in-house and/or vendor related positions, though the consultancies/managed services entities are targeting niche skills within the market where they see a strong return on investment.
Employer trends
There has been a discernable increase in business confidence and recruitment activity since the beginning of 2010, both contract and permanent. Employers continue to demand more senior and managerial level staff, which indicates expanding teams and strategic growth plans. The shortage of senior and managerial level staff noticed last quarter has seen employers aggressively attempt to attract suitable candidates from competitors and offering inducements to get them on board. A premium is being offered for relevant experience.
Candidate trends
Buoyed by a sense of confidence in the market, candidates are now seeking new employment opportunities. Those that bunkered down to weather the economic storm last year are now actively looking for new opportunities. Interestingly, there has been a slight but noticeable shift back to contracting from candidates that previously took a permanent role for security during the downturn.
