As the world of IT continues to expand, the pressure and demand on IT recruiters only increases. While this demand means there are more quality candidates in the market space, the time it takes to place these contractors increases due to the competition between businesses.
This was one of the findings out of the Information Technology Contract and Recruitment Association’s (ITCRA) ICT Employment Trends Report. Taking data from the analysis of employment indicators in both the government and industry, ITCRA also used its own SkillsMatch and Burning Glass ICT recruitment data.
The latest report encompasses the period between October and December 2014. While this period is usually reduced due to the Christmas slowdown and the conclusion of many IT contractors, the statistics didn’t highlight this usual trend.
State by state
ITCRA CEO Julie Mills explained some of the findings.
“All states apart from South Australia saw an increase in the time it took to place ICT contractors,” she said in a media statement.
“The biggest increase was in Victoria up from 16 days to 33 days, making it now the second most competitive market for recruiters to find contractors. This means that in most of Australia, it is getting harder to find the right ICT contractor for each role.”
According to the report, the Australian Capital Territory continues to feature the longest wait (45 days up from 40 last quarter) to place an IT contractor. This was followed by Victoria (as mentioned above), New South Wales (28 days up from 17), Queensland (25 days up from 20) and Western Australia (20 days up from 13).
Ms Mills explained that this type of data is useful insight for contractor employment.
“The market is feeling confident, which is being reflected in strong job advertising growth, so it is not surprising that it is becoming more competitive to place ICT contractors,” she stated.
Trend towards contract over permanent
Ms Mills concluded by discussing how the industry is moving into contract workers rather than permanent employees.
“Traditionally ICT has had an 80/20 split of advertised contract to permanent roles. Our latest data shows this has shifted to an 87/13 split nationally, with Queensland and Western Australia reporting the lowest rate of advertised permanent roles (six per cent and five per cent respectively),” she went on to say.
“This data is reinforced by analysis from a national recruitment agency noting that the ICT is a driving force in the contracting market.”
For recruiters that are under pressure and under-resourced, talk to the expert team at Oncore Services to find out how we can alleviate these waiting times.