IT jobs getting harder to fill in Australia

The skills shortage in the Australian IT sector appears to be getting worse, with ICT recruiters taking nearly twice as long to fill vacancies in October compared to previous months.

The Information Technology Contract and Recruitment Association’s (ITCRA) latest ICT Job Market Report shows that recruiters took between 13 and 25 days to fill roles, compared to 5-10 days in previous months.

“October appears to have been a busy time for the industry and the market is becoming increasingly more competitive,” ITCRA CEO Julie Mills said.

“With Australia’s economy becoming increasingly service-oriented, and with the right people harder to find, this opens up questions of how we will source new or hidden talent where the demand exists. Currently Australia has an underutilisation rate of 14.4% compared to New Zealand’s 2.5%.”

The top advertised roles include Java software developer, systems engineer and solutions architect.

All states and territories were impacted, with South Australia having the biggest jump from a 9-day average to 25 days. ACT recruiters had the most trouble filling roles, with the average time taken moving from 35 to 40 days.

“Recruiters have always worked harder to source talented candidates in the ACT, with it now taking an average of 40 days to fill roles - up from 34 days in previous reports,” Mills said.

“Federal government departments underpin the demand for ACT’s ICT skills but unfortunately this is not matched by a strong local supply of available talent that is seeking work.”

The average time taken to fill an IT role in Victoria increased from 7 to 16 days, compared to a move from 7-13 days in WA and from 9-20 days in Queensland.

Image courtesy of photologue_np under CC