Is your organisation skilled to survive
      Australia’s economic downturn?



Is your organisation skilled to survive Australia’s economic downturn?

Jul-Aug 2008  Print

Several recruitment companies have released their annual employment reports during the last two months.

To help uncover some of the more interesting indications of the state of Australia’s IT skills, DDLS has developed a snapshot of current employment trends within the IT industry:

  • Permanent Project Managers and Business Analysts are hard to find, perhaps due to the numbers of candidates moving into contracting (Hays)

  • Due to demand for convergent technology, high-end network designers and engineers with proprietary technical skills are in demand (Hays)

  • Companies are recruiting on aptitude, as well as skills set, as they acknowledge that cultural fit is more important than technical skills which can be taught (Hays)

  • One area that has performed strongly throughout the year is Internet graphics and multimedia, which is undergoing somewhat of a renaissance after several years of inactivity (Olivier)

  • Companies expect to pay more for their staff by 5-8 per cent across IT jobs and up to 15 percent more for specialist skills sets due to the skills shortage and graduate enrolment crisis (Michael Page and Hudson)

Based on these trends and with a view to current technology trends in the market, the following are three key training priorities for organisations to consider to ensure their employees are skilled up during the next 12 months.

  • Business intelligence. Organisations are taking the next step towards aligning their IT with the business. With ever-increasing pressure to gain competitive advantages, organisations will ask even more of their data to make better business decisions. Skills such as business analysis will become an essential part of employee learning and development plans.

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008. According to IDC, there are about 14 million people worldwide that touch Microsoft software in some way, either as hardware distributors, services companies or software developers, for example. So when Microsoft moves, the market moves with it. Windows Server 2008 will continue to grow within the Australian market over the next few years and particularly with the recent announcement that SQL Server will ship to Australia, there will be an increase in demand for people with the updated Microsoft certifications. Train your staff and don’t be left behind.

  • Process skills: business analysis and project management. Based on their experiences with the dot com crash, organisations have learnt that good project management and business analysis skills cannot be substituted to achieve optimal ROI on projects. These business skills will branch out of IT and become an integral skill across HR, finance, sales and many other lines of business. This training provides a package of skills including negotiation, stakeholder management and project planning to facilitate better business processes.

According to David Gage, General Manager of DDLS, organisations should invest in training for their staff to improve retention, despite the current economic uncertainty.

“The risk is real. If you’re not training your staff, you’re increasing the chances of them moving on,” said Mr Gage.

“IT unemployment is currently running at 1.8 percent, which is almost full employment. If you’re creating an environment that doesn’t encourage professional growth, you’re not going to keep staff.”

For further information on the training courses listed in this article, please contact DDLS on 13 12 01.