Ace News For IT Pros: People Want To Hire You

A new survey says hiring intentions amongst Australian employers are remaining steady, suggesting that there won’t be lots of new employees in many industries. But there’s good news for IT pros: it’s the top-ranked profession when it comes to planning to hire more people.

IT workers picture from Shutterstock

A survey of 2782 Australian employers by talent solutions company Hudson fond that hiring intentions for information technology were higher than for any other profession. While it wasn’t the fastest-growing segment compared to the previous three months (that went to mining), IT remains a solid career choice, and is the top-ranking profession for the second consecutive quarter in the survey.

Overall, the survey found that 63.2 per cent of employers plan to maintain current staffing levels, 24.1 per cent intend to increase numbers and 12.6 per cent foresee a decrease. For ICT roles, 60.7 per cent intend to keep current numbers, 31.0 per cent expect an increase, and 8.3 per cent plan some sackings. Within IT industry companies, the figures are even healthier: 40.3 per cent are planning an increase.

What makes IT such a relatively stable prospect? “Technology is front and centre of the business now, and it’s seen as an area that’s worth investing in,” Hudson client services director Martin Retschko told Lifehacker. “Organisations have seen the negative aspects of not keeping up in the IT space. With competition high in a lot of industries, CEOs understand the impact of not investing in technology and that investing in the right way can lead to competitive advantage.”

The rapid rate of change in IT also helps. “Regardless of the economy, there’s ongoing evolution of technology and companies needs to keep up.”

The survey tracks state demand, but doesn’t directly correlate that to industry. However, client demand for IT roles was tracking higher in some locations, Retschko said. “We’re seeing improving demand in the NSW market and strong demand in WA and Victoria.”