Adelaide IT&T Market Update: February 2010
While the Adelaide IT job market was tight in 2009 with permanent slow and contracting steady, we are forecasting month on month improvements in hiring confidence through 2010. The improvement will be driven primarily by increased expenditure in project work that has been put on hold due to the GFC in addition to growing candidate confidence as they start to look for new career opportunities.
Predicted In Demand Skills
We predict that demand will increase slowly right across the general market.
Skills in high demand now include .Net Developers, Unix professionals, DBA's and System Analysts.
As the year progresses we expect strong demand for Project Co-ordinators, Business Analysts, Project & Programme Managers, Change Managers and Testers.
Predicted Growth Sectors
We are forecasting a steady, longer term recovery across the general market (rather than an instant boom). We expect the strongest growth to be seen in Defence, Mining and Utilities.
We are also expecting growth in IT vendors, Agri-business and Banking.
2010 is an election year in SA, as a result the State Government will remain slow to steady with their recruitment spend.
On a national scale, NBN will drain lots of talent out of the Adelaide market, so employers need to be mindful of this and start carefully planning their 2010 and beyond talent attraction and retention strategy now.
Contract Rate Predictions
2009 equalised some of the contracting rate increases of the previous years, in some cases rates were over corrected.
We expect rates to steadily improve during 2010 with the greatest demand and improvement being felt for System Analysts, Business Analysts and Project Managers .
Permanent Salary Predictions
While the war for talent subsided over the past 12 months, in 2010 we are expecting and already seeing the smart, forward thinking savvy employers investing again in attracting talent. As a result we expect gradual improvements in permanent salaries through 2010.
Tips for contractors
Be flexible, try working in different industries or consider short term assignments. We are expecting the contracting market to improve in 2010, so be open to new opportunities, keep your skills up and you will play an active part in this recovery.
