IT professionals across the Australian channel continue to be in high demand, with a strong focus on security and Cloud experts across the country.
Findings from the latest Hays Quarterly Report, states that certified security system architects and managers continue to be in short supply, with the growth of Cloud based technologies creating a need for Cloud specialists with SaaS and IaaS experience.
“We are seeing a spike in the number of organisations of all types leveraging technology to create or manage transformational change as well as more non-tech departments learning how to use the latest technology to help them perform tasks in new way,” Hays Australia Managing Director, Nick Deligiannis, said.
“There really is no sector or department not exposed to technological change these days.”
Deligiannis said Australian candidates in greatest demand have “solid technical skills and strong soft skills” that enable them to engage proactively and successfully with non-technical stakeholders.
However, candidates with this combination of skills are rare.
“In the public sector we are seeing considerable permanent hiring to build team capability but also to contain costs while the private sector is using a combination of permanent and temporary hiring to suit differing business needs,” Deligiannis observed.
Meanwhile, Deligiannis said small businesses are increasingly outsourcing service desk and storage needs to cut costs.
“We are starting to see some larger companies move their internal support offshore to save money and as a result we are seeing fewer lower to middle level IT support roles coming to market,” Deligiannis added.
Companies that do have in-house IT support teams however regard soft skills as equally important to technical skills when assessing candidates.
For Deligiannis, small to medium businesses across the country want to keep teams lean and are therefore looking for candidates with a broad technical skill set that enables them to be utilised across different projects.
“We have seen an increase in these employers hiring candidates on a fixed term basis giving them greater flexibility in managing their resources,” Deligiannis added.
“We predict continued demand for business-savvy candidates who possess strong communication skills as well as solid technical skills. In general, niche skill sets remain hard to come by with the majority of highly skilled candidates in full time employment.”
Skills in demand
According to Hays Quarterly Report for Australia, specific to ICT, there is a huge supply gap in the market for Dynamics CRM Developers, alongside .Net Developers for both web and desktop systems, capable of delivering customised solutions with strong SharePoint experience to work in integrated development environments.
Across the country, Agile Project Managers and Agile Business Analysts are also highly sought, while Application Project Managers with software implementation experience and Implementation Consultants equally in demand.
As Cloud based technologies grow, Deligiannis said candidates with Amazon Web Services (AWS) skills are in particularly short supply with vendor/supplier management skills needed to help companies moving towards AWS and other cloud providers.
Specific to Cloud, specialists with SaaS and IaaS experience are able to help realise cost efficiencies are a hiring priority for many employers.
Unsurprisingly, security skills remain in strong demand, as organisations sees Certified Information Systems Security Professionals (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Managers (CISM).
Furthermore, the report states that DevOps experience, particularly Chef/Puppet, is highly valued and on the rise to improve software releases.
“We strongly suggest candidates highlight any skills across Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS),” Deligiannis said. “Candidates who can straddle multiple IT requirements are also a hiring priority.”
In addition, SharePoint Developers, Mobile Developers and support roles for Mobile and Tablets are on the rise too, in line with increased use of these devices over laptop and PC's.
“We are also seeing an increase in requirements for Business Intelligence and Analytics candidates as well as Data Architects to help companies second guess the movements of their customers,” Deligiannis added.
Overall, Deligiannis said the market has “noted a shift” in the mindset of candidates with many seasoned contractors now starting to consider permanent jobs to transition into more secure, longer term roles.
“We are also seeing candidates actively using their LinkedIn profiles to promote when they are available,” he added.
“In the development space, candidates are looking for higher salaries while in the infrastructure space candidates are showing a preference for permanent roles with stability.”
According to Deligiannis, there has been a pick-up in interstate interest in the Canberra market, although the employment clearances remain a large barrier to entry.
“Candidates have also begun strongly pushing up salary levels,” he added.
