Christmas Job shopping
Despite the interest rate hike November proved a strong month for internet job ads and experts say even December is not too late for job shopping.
According to the Olivier Job Internet Index internet job advertising was up by 41.57 percent when compared to the same time last year and up 1.58 per cent compared to October this year.
Director of Olivier Group, Robert Olivier, said: "The job market usually takes a breather after an interest rate rise, but business had already taken the [interest rate] rise into account."
He said job ads had been on the rise for eleven consecutive months. IT and telecommunications led the field chalking up a growth rate in jobs of 4.15 per cent in November compared to October and a 51 per cent increase when compared to the same time last year.
According to Graham Doyle, senior regional director of Hays recruitment, the strength of the job market means that there was no slowing down for many employers who need to find employees for the start of January.
"A lot of businesses want pre-holiday peace of mind, knowing they have the skills they require for the next year in place before Christmas arrives," he said.
Mr Olivier said that continuing push to find new recruits mean it was also a good time to look for jobs particularly if you're not up for a bonus or pay review.
"Why wait until January to job hunt?" Mr Olivier said. "In December job ads go down, but response levels [from job applicants] often go down further, so smart candidates are going to the market now rather than following the crowd in January and February."
It's a different story for legal candidates. Legal sector job ads actually dropped in November by 5.22 per cent nationally. Over the year to November 2006, legal job ads grew by only 3.08 per cent.
Accounting also suffered a dip with experts speculating that the release of a report by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) forecasting that Australia's economy would slow in 2007.
Mr Olivier believes the employment market could remain solid even if the economy slows.
"We have to take a long term perspective," he said adding that the number of jobs currently advertised within each industry is an indicator of what was to come in the next six months.
"It is the skills shortage that is driving the recruitment market. As a recruiter, if there is a bit more of a balanced market in favour of the employer it's not a bad thing ...," he said.
The Olivier Internet Job Index surveyed 260,171 "Positions Vacant" ads on commercial job sites in November and analysed them by state and industry sector.
By Zsa-Zsa Bowie Wilson, careerone.com.au
