Over the past twelve months, our Business Engagement team have noticed a clear distinction in relation to demand for resources within different industry sectors. Whilst the strains on the European Financial Market continue to deepen, the larger banking organisations especially those with a significant international presence are sitting tight, reticent to commit to large projects in 2012 until the true impact of the current financial storm are realised. On the other hand, there are a number of local financial services companies especially those in the insurance, mortgages and commercial finance industries, who are optimistic and are pushing ahead with core system replacement projects and ecommerce transformations to catch up with their peers in the banking industry. For many the opportunity cost of not having strong online presence and the lack of investment in newer technology platforms far outweighs the initial outlay for modernisation projects which will ultimately result in increased efficiency and greater opportunity for revenue generation.

Our Commerce and Industry clients in contrast have seen clear spikes in recruitment over the past twelve months with further large scale projects scheduled for next year. The trends in this sector are still very much in the pattern of acquisition and consolidation as some of Australia’s largest players come together with the likes of the acquisition of Franklins by MetCash and a number of conglomerates looking to consolidate their IT environments. Mining, Engineering and Energy companies are still hiring at a senior level, alongside construction and property companies. All indicators are that it will be a big year within the Telco space for large scale transformational projects across customer service and life-cycle management with analytics. Again in this sector trends are around mergers such as VHA and 3 Mobile which is driving consolidation of their platforms, upgrades and migration projects, alongside the ongoing NBN programme of work which continues to suck up resources. Project sizes within this space are ranging from $20M to $400M and anticipate to get underway in Q1 2012.

What Next?

The predicted trend in Q1 for programme / project management and business analysis resources is likely to mirror the disparity within the industry sectors we are currently noticing. Demand for senior level candidates across the project/program/change management, service delivery management and business analysis functions within non-banking sectors is likely to be strong for most of next year. We do not expect much movement in salaries or contractor rates but companies will look to non-cash benefits to attract people using the appeal of large scale technology investment, flexible working conditions and job security especially for most senior candidates.

Your Comments

Do you agree with my comments or want to offer a different perspective to salaries and/or trends in IT Business Engagement? If so please feel free to add your comments here or email me directly at martha.churchill@ambition.com.au

My area of specialisation is Business Intelligence and Data Analytics in the Melbourne area. I have around 5 years’ experience working in this space.  I work on anything to do with Data  – this can be anything from building a Data Warehouse to Statistical Modellers who use SAS software to analyse large data sets.  My candidates can come from an IT background, but may also have Maths, Statistics, Physics or Business degrees.

The types of roles I work on are BI Developers, Data Warehouse Consultants, SAS Modellers, MI Analysts,Data Analysts, Marketing Analysts, Campaign Analysts, Credit Risk Modellers.  The types of technologies I look for are things like SAS, SQL, SPSS, Cognos, SQL Server BI – SSIS,SSRS,SSAS, Oracle BI.

I work  across all industries – Banking, Telco, Insurance, Marketing and more as these specialist candidates can work in area department in any industry.

A number of my clients in Banking and Telco are looking for SAS Analysts and I am ALWAYS interested in seeing any candidates with SAS experience who are looking in Melbourne from junior to senior level.  I am currently looking for a Head of Data Analytics who has experience looking after a team of SAS Statistical Modellers.  This role is paying a $250K package and will be based in Melbourne CBD.

Market Trends:

Data Analytics is a very niche and candidate-driven market and there is a growing demand for candidates with SAS/SQL skills who can use data to add value to a business.  I can see continual growth in this space, all major companies are investing in these teams and are even seeking candidates from abroad due to a shortage in the market. On the flip side, the trend does seem to be for people with 2-5 years experience and Senior Manager roles are extremely rare.

Business Intelligence: Although it is still a very niche area, there has been a flood of strong candidates from abroad which has made it much more competitive for candidates when they are applying for jobs.  I have noticed that some BI Consultants have been in the market for a while before finding the right job and have had to travel interstate to find the top end contracts.

What trends are you noticing?

Australia has one of the strongest economies in the world and with that comes some of the highest salaries in the world, particularly in the technology field.

Having recently arrived from the UK, what I have realised is that IT professionals are getting paid substantially more here for the same job.  Graduates are commanding salaries which even Senior IT professionals would struggle to get in some parts of Europe.  I appreciate there is a slightly higher cost of living here, but the difference outweighs that by far.

Taking that into account, I have been surprised at how demanding and inflexible some IT professionals are in terms of their salary requirements.

I can totally understand that we all want to get a pay rise and that we have mortgages and families to consider.  However, I have known some IT experts to refuse to move unless they get a $30K pay rise – irrespective of the job and career prospects on offer.  Others I know that have been out of work for months with and have turned down offers in fantastic companies and great working environments – because it means taking $5K less than they were on previously. When you are earning upwards of $140K and around $40K more than you would in any other country, I can’t quite believe $5K here or there would be a showstopper.

And what about getting up every day to go to work in a place that you love?  You can’t put a price on that.  Gaining that top-end package quickly loses its appeal when you dread going to work or when you have no job satisfaction.

In my opinion, sometimes you have to take a sideways step or even a salary cut in order to move forward in the career you really want.  Some companies may offer a slightly lower salary than market rate but they will provide exceptional training that you will not find anywhere else.

If you want to be trained in the latest technologies or work for your dream company then I urge you to consider being flexible on salary.  Think short term sacrifice for long term gain. And don’t forget, sometimes it’s the little things that can make all the difference –things like working close to home,  flexible hours,  work life balance, the chance to work with latest technologies, fast track to management , a fun and friendly working environment… money is an important factor, but it shouldn’t be the only factor.

With a 10% predicted increase from 2010 on IT spend globally there are a number of trends we are noticing specifically within the banking and financial services sectors.

Regulatory change, with tighter requirements for the likes of APRA is driving much of the current recruitment requirements around increasing the reporting capabilities for many of these organisations.

There is also an increasing number of large scale modernisation and transformation programs of work across large and small clients driven by the fact that most organisations haven’t made a significant investment on technology spend for the past 10 years. Mobile banking functionality is also a hot topic currently especially with the likes of Bankwest implementing a new website utilising an online shopping tool which provides a shopping basket type of functionality.

Cost reduction is still the big challenge for CIO’s and this in itself is driving the demand for consolidation and unification of global and regional technical operating platforms.

Ambition recently hosted our first user group at our head office in Sydney.

We were joined by the Silverlight Designer and Developer Network who meet once every month to discuss all things applications and Silverlight. However, the focus of the group is not just on developers, it’s for designers who don’t traditionally have the community and support that developers have.

The user group was attended by 15 people who relaxed and talked over pizza and beer. The meeting focused on promoting the development of ideas and best practices for anyone who works with Silverlight.

Chris Anderson, the founder of the Sydney chapter of the Silverlight Designer and Developer Network, commented that Silverlight is interesting for both developers and designers. “Due in part to Silverlight’s excellent separation of design and development concerns, we have new problems to solve around finding the best ways to work together. The user group intends on bringing the two groups together to explore this further”.

Chris Anderson originally started the user group to enable both experienced and new Silverlight designers and developers to network and share their knowledge around Silverlight (and its associated technologies, such as Windows Phone 7, Light Switch, etc.).  They get together, listen to a couple of talks, and hopefully go home with some new contacts and knowledge they can put to use in their own work.

Are you in a user group and what benefits do you see?

Contactors have been part of the IT landscape since the early 1980s. Large project teams were formed to rewrite or convert manual paper based legacy systems and processes to computerised/automated processes. Contractors came into their own as a highly skilled, mobile workforce whose expertise could be used for the duration of the project and then let go when no longer needed.

Despite their long history in our workforce landscape myths still abound around the perceived disadvantages of contracting.

MYTH 1.  YOUR SKILLS WILL BECOME OUTDATED

This is a common fear that, over time and without training, your skills will become redundant and it will be hard to find work. This can be a problem not only for contractors but also permanent employees who don’t invest time inself-training. You do need to work hard at keeping your skills updated and there are many courses and training materials out there to help you do it.

MYTH 2.  YOU GET ALL THE BORING WORK TO DO

There are contracts out there to do the donkey work no one else wants but there is nothing forcing you to take these types of contract. A lot of contract requirements are project based using new technologies, new designs that will certainly keep the grey matter ticking over.

MYTH 3.  YOU DO NOT GET BENEFITS such as sick pay, holiday pay.

This is certainly true and usually there is no “overtime” for weekend work. However these benefits are built into the increased daily rate a contractor receives over permanent staff and more than compensate for this.

MYTH 4. IT’S A HASSLE TO SET UP A COMPANY AND DO ALL THE ACCOUNTS

Yes it can be and will require the services of an accountant. However a company structure is not the only way to go contracting. You can also join a management company or simply go PAYG with the agency covering you for all your insurances and deduct tax and super for you.

If you’re thinking about going contracting but not sure what’s involved why not call for a confidential chat?

Whilst attending the FST (Financial Services in Technology) event last Friday, I listened to Greg McAweeney, the GM of RaboDirect, speaking about using Social Media to enhance customers experience.  Rabobank Direct is a specialist online-only savings and investment bank and the only bank that publishes a blog on its website.  They feel this demonstrates their openness and transparency and I was surprised to learn they are not afraid to showcase the good and the bad on their site for all to see.  The brainwave idea is that we must relinquish control, as Greg says, we never had it anyway!  We must embrace the opportunity to show ourselves “warts and all” to redress some of the crowning issues that have recently dogged the banking industry and, on reflection are the same complaints that have, over the years, been leveraged against the recruitment sector.  The banking industry has taken a hammering post GFC with little trust and much anger from the general public, as with the recruitment industry key concerns predominately focus around openness, transparency and honesty.

With many unscrupulous and unethical agents and agencies around it is my experience that consultants with an honest, ethical and assiduous approach will always shine out from the pack.  In addition using social media is a fantastic way to create communities and become a “trusted advisor”, a specialist in your chosen field and with something of more value to give than your average “common or garden” variety recruiter.  It is a wonderful opportunity to create an open forum for feedback and ultimately lead to innovation as posts both positive and negative can be analysed and addressed.

Obviously you need to have a clear policy around your social media strategy and to ensure staff members are trained and contribute to the development of it. More and more companies are implementing social media guidelines for their staff which outline how they are expected to behave when representing the company, with social media becoming mainstream these guidelines around their use are essential.  There are many celebrated cases of staff who have uploaded damaging videos online which go viral and can cause huge reputational damage.

In a recent interview conducted by FST, Greg McAweeney, General Manager, RaboDirect Australia commented that it is important to ensure your organisation has a clear social media strategy. Rather than just jumping in because you feel you ‘need to be doing something’ which is probably the wrong approach.  A coherent strategy which outlines your objectives, the implementation plan, resourcing needs and reporting tools will put some structure around your social media activities.

Ambition Technology is keen to create a strong interactive presence on our website (blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook and a newsletter).  We feel it is important to be active in the social media space so we can provide relevant and interesting information for our clients and candidates alike and we can interact with them in channels they prefer to use.

Business and Social Media – Your Thoughts??

The hottest topic in IT at the moment is undoubtedly Cloud Computing. It received a lot of attention at last week’s vForum and is due to be one of the areas of focus at this week’s FST event. However, being a recruiter specialising in the IT Infrastructure space, I am very keen to find out how the move towards cloud computing could impact the size of IT departments and whether cloud arrangements with providers around the globe could mean a decrease in IT vacancies in Australia.

I have read a number of articles on this topic and opinion seems to be divided. In 2009, Richard Marcello, President of Technology, Consulting, and Integration Solutions at Unisys, speaking at the Cloud Computing Conference and Expo in Santa Clara, California, said that “We were able to eliminate a whole bunch of actually U.S.-based jobs and kind of replace them with two folks out of India to serve a 1,200-person engineering organization,”. Although this statement may be true, a number of industry writers and specialists have argued that although in-house IT jobs may decrease long-term, in the short-term the need for cloud computing specialists will increase numbers of staff required, and moving forward there will still be a requirement for IT staff in data centres, working for cloud providers and in-house managing the relationship between the two. In addition, other writers have said that although there have been advancements in technology in the past, this hasn’t led to mass redundancies and has often had the opposite effect.

What are your thoughts as an IT Professional? Is the emergence of this technology causing you to worry about your job security?

I can already feel the thoughts of apprehension from readers as they scan the title of this blog. DO NOT BE ALARMED! It will not be as provocative or suggestive as the title’s potential allows it to be.

When youngsters are asked what they want to be when they grow up… You are likely to hear aspirations of being a lawyer, glamorised in movies portraying unrealistic courtroom dramas… “You can’t handle the truth!” You are also more likely to hear about dreams of becoming a doctor, in the hope to one day emulate the drama that unfolds on ‘ER’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’

Unfortunately, you are not likely to find a member of Generation Y fantasising about becoming a .Net programmer. IT jobs have not been romanticised in the media as a dramatic and exhilarating professions. This is in complete contrast to the slick-talking, supercilious lawyer who by day acts as an upholder of justice, and by night lives the playboy life of a movie-star. Moreover, you are unlikely to find television programmes with George Clooney, the handsome Old age pensioner, playing the part of a data analyst. Instead, you will find him working in a hospital struggling with his own personal complexities, maintaining a saucy relationship with a nurse, while at the same time saving patients seconds before they flat-line.

From an arguably exaggerated viewpoint, a decline in student’s participation in Information Technology studies could spell a nation’s (or world’s!) economic decline. This may seem quite radical, but it is no secret that students in the modern day class-room are becoming more and more disengaged with education as a result of social pressures and the entertainment media. Students are now tempted to follow career paths that seem more aesthetically pleasing instead of commercially practical pursuits, such as IT and computer science. This in turn, could lead a large portion of the next generation of professionals away from careers in business and industry. Is this an exaggeration? Or are we heading into a society which struggles to cope with the shortage of skilled individuals, and eventually a devastating halt to technological advancement.

Maybe it is time education gave something back to Technology. After all, IT has poured its heart and soul into education, especially subjects relating to different industries. Teachers are now armed with a vast array of software applications to make the subject matter more ‘interesting’ and accessible. Students are now able to access a massive bank of information from the internet to assist them with essays and assignments. I should personally thank Wikipedia for getting me through university… and I am sure I am not the only one. Students are able to interact with each other more freely with the ability to discuss ideas and transfer knowledge. Information Technology itself has created a solution to the suggested pandemic of technological illiteracy, by offering students a more engaging and accessible way to learn.

If all else fails, someone could produce a new television program, maybe…‘The Bold and the Business Analyst.’

2010 has so far been a year of recovery for the Australian economy. The vast majority of us have breathed a collective sigh of relief as the unemployment rate reduced with consumers and businesses sharing a more positive outlook on the market. Balance, however, is a difficult state to obtain and Australia is now faced with another challenge…

As businesses boost their ranks to meet increased consumer demands, the market of skilled-candidates is fast tightening. This is particularly true of the IT industry. September’s Clarius Skills Index, released this week, reported that there is currently a shortage of 2,800 IT professionals across Australia.

The effects of a labour-tight market are of obvious benefit to candidates with the decrease in supply artificially inflating prices. Candidates are thus able to demand a lot more in terms of salary package and hourly rate. This is something that companies are having to face, with many increasing their offerings by up to 30% to secure the right candidate.

The quick recovery of the economy, however, has left many companies spinning. There is a certain amount of uncertainty and distrust in the stability of the current market, especially as the European and US economies continue to struggle. As a result, many firms are reluctant to pay higher salaries for quality candidates, for fear of accumulating high fixed-costs.

In an attempt to circumvent this risk, organisations have resorted to growing their workforce through the employment of contractors. This can be considered to have a “band-aid effect” in terms of the firms’ perspective, as it is more efficient to terminate a contractor than retrench an employee. The problem here is that what is a solution to the employer is a deterrent to potential employees. When faced with a choice between a permanent opportunity and a contract position, most candidates will choose what they see as the most secure option, particularly given recent instability in the economy.

What does this all mean? In the coming months we can expect to see continuing increases in salary expectations from candidates, as they become a shrinking resource in the market. Companies will be forced to re-assess their strategies for attracting and retaining candidates, in order to remain competitive in their respective markets.

Employees are what provide firms’ with their distinctive competencies. Once a candidate is hired by one company, they are off the market. They are unique and inimitable. Is it worth the company increasing their pay packets?