What are your job prospects?
Despite the economic crisis, some skills are still in demand.
In November, the Australian Bureau of statistics found there were 2.2 million workers in Queensland, with an unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent in December. Back then, there were only 88,000 people out of work.
Now, with at least 3000 mining jobs slashed from the nation, those figures could slip even further. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute employment expectations survey of 1200 employers found optimism was at its lowest level since the 1982 recession.
The latest ABS statistics describe the Queensland labour market:
“There were 2,216,500 employed persons in Queensland in November 2008. The five major industries with the most number of employed persons were retail trade (336,600), property and business services (260,200), construction (246,000), health and community services (214,700) and manufacturing (201,000).
Those industries employing the least number of persons included electricity, gas and water (20,600), communication services (38,700) and mining (45,700).
“The five major industries with the most number of employed persons accounted for over half (57 per cent) of Queensland’s employed.”
Heavy lifting: mining, engineering, construction, resources
Mining’s employment crown has toppled, replaced by infrastructure. The thousands of miners made redundant are being courted by infrastructure projects across Australia, given a boost by the Federal Government’s economic packages and recent moves by the Bligh Government to fast-track regional building projects.
Constructive Recruitment director David Marriott said anyone with engineering qualifications was certain to find work. Mining retrenchments are expected to continue as China and India scale back their spending.
“There are still state-wide shortages in all areas of engineering, including civil, mining, mechanical, design and geotechnical, particularly in senior-level positions,” Marriott says.
“Mining engineers will remain a critical role, with specialist areas such as planning, scheduling, drill and blast and ventilation engineering all niche areas within the field. Geotechnical engineers are also difficult to source.”
Access Economics is predicting construction workers are to take a hit. Their business outlook says new work will be hampered by a lack of investors.
Hays Queensland director Darren Buchanan says to be on the lookout for emerging opportunities.
“Carbon crediting has burst on to the scene, rejuvenating the energy industry and drawing further attention to the renewable sector,” Buchanan says.
“More and more international companies are entering the local market, launching projects immediately and creating demand for strategic staff. Candidates in this sector will enjoy upward pressure on salaries as the energy industry’s lights stay on over 2009.”
Hays’ quarterly report says workers in demand include: Construction business development and bid management candidates; water industry engineers experienced in both construction and maintenance; project managers and electrical and mechanical designers; public sector development assessment planners; 12D drafters and candidates with civil design and drafting skills; landscape architects and planners; power infrastructure and substation design engineers; mechanical, electrical and design engineers; environment engineers, scientists and managers for infrastructure projects; design engineers with management experience; oil and gas senior-level exploration and production facilities engineers and subsurface and subsea candidates; and mining engineers.
On the tools: trades
The latest quarterly Clarius skills index says there are shortages in skilled tradies. While the information was compiled in December, and Clarius economists say the shortage has eased a little since the figures were released, underlying demand was still hampering some industries’ attempts at growth.
Chefs, metalworkers, hairdressers, automotive tradespeople, building and construction tradies and printing workers were all identified as being in demand.
However, a general reluctance to spend money on housing renovations and a downturn in the building industry may rob trade employers of their capacity to offer job security. Likewise, a shortage of investors willing to fund new major building projects may further depress the sector.
The main risk of the downturn is to the level of new workers taken into trades as apprentices and trainees. To counter this loss, the Bligh Government has promised a package designed to pay apprentices to go to TAFE, relieving the burden on employers.
Office bound: finance, accounting, office professionals, professional services
Hudson recruitment’s Dean Davidson: “The whole professional services sector is not going to see growth for five years. Pockets within professional services will do well, such as insolvency experts. I see a problem in maintaining the status quo in a lot of firms.”
Hays quarterly report says workers in demand are: accounts payable; temporary bookkeeping workers with accounting qualifications; taxation-experienced candidates; insolvency candidates; temp payroll clerks with experience in large companies; temp accounts payable and bookkeeping candidates; management accountants; bank branch managers; human resources workers; general administrators with experience; high-level executive assistants; project administrators; procurement planning and forecasting analysts and business change management specialists. Logistics workers are also in demand.
People people: sales, retail, marketing, PR
Retail workers are paying the price for a downturn in household spending. Major employers, such as David Jones, have indicated that they will have to scale back their workforce or reduce their intake of new staff.
However, other sales professionals – particularly the client-facing roles – can consider themselves relatively safe, as long as they perform.
RossJuliaRoss recruiter Julia Ross says: “We see that where redundancies have been made they have usually been back-of-house and most clients have not affected customer-facing positions and those that influence their sales line. In any market, workers who demonstrate a positive work ethic and are happy to put in extra effort and dedication . . . are the workers who are usually in greatest demand by employers.”
The Hays Quarterly Report says business development managers, internal sales staff, fundraising specialist and tender and bid writers are still needed.
Tech heads: information technology and telecommunications
It’s not good news for IT. Microsoft is scaling back its worldwide workforce by 5000 as spending on new technology slows. The Hudson employment expectations report says Aussie IT employment will follow:
“The hiring intentions of the Australian IT sector are largely driven by the local offices of US-based multinationals and many of these are downsizing in response to reduced US revenue. Hardware vendors are feeling the effects of both reduced demand from corporate customers and the increased cost of imported equipment and components due to the falling Australian dollar.”
However, Hays quarterly report says IT project managers are still in demand. In the public sector and system administration and server support candidates are needed.
The Hudson report suggests telecommunications jobs are more stable, as business considers that they do a vital operational activity.
The top end: executive appointments
Talent2 Queensland general manager Craig Sneesby:
“The executive marketplace will remain intact for broad managerial-based positions -these positions are usually mission critical roles that organisations require to function day-to-day. Non-essential executive appointments may be placed in a holding pattern.
“There is definitely an increase in executive talent searching for work, so generally in 2009 it will be a great time to acquire talent.
“The number one priority (for employers) is to have a stable leader who can manage the business through more turbulent times. Baby boomers are strongly favoured in tougher markets, based on their experience in the tighter economic cycle.”
