The 20 Hardest To Fill Jobs In Australia

Most jobs advertised in Australia are filled within a month. Others are much harder to fill, with the listing remaining vacant after 60 days. Here are 20 occupations that Aussie employers are having limited luck with.

Analysis by Indeed, the global jobs site, shows that Australia, along with the UK, has a world leading rate of 70% of jobs being filled within one month.

In the US, only 56% of jobs are gone in the first 30 days. In Germany, it’s 51%.

In Australia, the jobs situation has been improving. Total employment now stands at 12.2971 million, the highest level on record. It has also increased in each of the past 13 months, the longest stretch of consecutive gains since July 1994.

The Reserve Bank of Australia last week made noises that falling unemployment is starting to create skilled worker shortages.

“Stronger conditions in the labour market should see some lift in wage growth over time,” it said.

These shortages are already visible in some key areas.

However, the employer still has the advantage in the jobs market, says Chris McDonald, managing director, Australia and New Zealand for Indeed.

But for some jobs, such environmental health officer, the market is skewed in favour of the job seeker, with more than 48% of jobs remaining unfilled after 60 days.

The majority of hard to fill roles belong to the healthcare sector from the likes of radiologists and dentists, to physios, home care nurses, care workers and medical receptionists.

GPs were not only number five on the hard to fill list but demand currently outstrips supply by more than 12 times, despite the job paying an average salary of $256,680.

Here are the 20 hardest roles to fill in Australia:

McDonald says Australia’s latest GDP figures show healthcare as one of the boom sectors for the Australian economy.

“It’s not surprising when you consider the increasing demand for health services by our ageing Baby Boomers which will require an ever-growing workforce to take care of them,” he says.

Food services has been another booming area of the economy and that, coupled with the recent crackdown on 457 visas, has resulted in chef roles being hard to fill.

Another on the hard to find list is recruitment consultant.

“At a time when countries are competing for top talent globally to drive innovation and economic growth, highly skilled recruiters who can deliver the right talent at the right time are in high demand,” says McDonald.

“Our data shows that employer demand for recruitment consultants, especially senior ones, outstrips job seeker supply by up to 11 times, the biggest skills gap in the Australian recruitment industry. As a result, 26.5% of these roles remain unfilled after 60 days.”

South Australia and ACT topped the list with 73% of roles being filled within 30 days, closely followed by Queensland at 72%, and WA, Victoria and Tasmania at 71%.

NSW (69%) and Northern Territory (68%) had the lowest rates of jobs filled within 30 days indicating that they are most favourable markets in Australia for job seekers.