转贴 The Australian IT Infrastructure Job Market 2010 & 2011

edifact

In the office my colleagues call me the Christmas Grinch, Bah Humbug and The Scrooge so to make sure I live up to my reputation I will not mention a thing about that C word!

The Year 2010 in Review

January 2010 – This was a crazy period of time for me, recruiting in the infrastructure space during January was like opening the flood gates. Budget had finally been allocated for extra head count after the GFC and managers didn’t hold back. They wanted to make sure they gave some relief to their teams before upper management changed their minds. This is traditionally the quietest month of recruitment in the year but definitely not for me in 2010. This was a good sign of things to come for 2010.

February > May 2010 – Things incrementally picked up from here as more and more uncertainty was waivered and good financial results gave companies across various sectors more budget for both permanent and contract positions. Although there were additional requirements and companies were performing well there was still the hangover of the recent GFC on everyone’s minds and threats of a double dip recession kept salaries and over hiring down. Overall, steady increases in hiring and vacancies for Infrastructure professionals continued throughout the first two quarters of 2010.

June > August 2010 – The Infrastructure recruitment market plateau happened during these months but projects started to kickoff and the business information team were very busy throughout these months employing PM’s, Business Analysts and various project leads / designers. This would impact the infrastructure market later on down the track in 2010 and 2011. Throughout the year to date companies had been cautious not over doing salary increases and were being very selective with who they brought on board to their teams. With the steady increases in staff hires throughout the year the first signs of real skilled staff shortages started to peep through the cracks and recruiters were starting to find it harder to deliver on client requirements. Honest and Smart Recruitment Consultants indicated these changes in the job market and set realistic expectations with their clients.

October > December 2010 – Things really ramped up, the GFC was now deep in the back of the minds of everyone, business confidence hit three year peaks, company financial results remained strong and Australia had its largest ever increase of new fulltime roles in a calendar year (across all industries). There was a healthy statistic of 40% more vacancies open in November/December 2010 than 2009. Companies turned to permanent recruitment over contract generally speaking and due to candidate shortages a large percentage of my clients increased salaries to attract the right candidates to their vacant positions. This quarter has been the real start of the candidate short market, salary increases and staff retention incentives. Cloud computing has been the real buzz word in the IT industry throughout the year and this quarter I have been to no less than 5 seminars on it, it definitely has a large push going on right now.

The year 2011 - What to expect for the IT infrastructure job market?

My prediction if no unexpected market disturbances occur is a continued increase of staffing demands across IT Infrastructure resulting in extensive candidate shortages by the end of 2011 and rate increases reminiscing of 2007. Although we are starting to head to candidate shortages and the NBN will contribute to this I don’t believe it will get to the levels of 2007. I believe this will be offset by current trends in the IT Infrastructure market of outsourcing, off shoring and cloud computing. These all seem to be happening at an increasing rate but I still believe organic growth will keep infrastructure specialist needs in Australia incrementally high.

I have heard of a number of infrastructure managers showing real concern of the effect cloud computing could have on their team and individual careers. Personally I don’t think they have too much to worry about as when a new technology is supposed to save man power, requirements generally in the past have actually increased in other areas of IT. All new roles are produced and people slide their careers in those directions. Also companies absorb new technology at differing rates so there will always be a need for an abundance of skilled infrastructure specialists for our generation.

2011 will be a year to cement your career in a role that is future proof and rewarding you financially well for the skills you have developed. Let’s hope I am right and 2011 can be a great win year for most like 2010 was.

These are my individual opinions formed through experiences and conversations throughout 2010. Does anyone have anything to add or challenge?

edifact

真是这样吗？今年的IT市场现在怎么样呢？

hetty1006

The market is very good.
In my area, I know several companies are eager for people but can find nobody.

jay550

should've learned IT,Gee.