Here is our market update for July and August, showing you the latest stats and trends from the technology scene in Newcastle.

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Transcription

James MacDonald:

– Welcome to the Newy Tech Jobs update for July and August, 2021.

If this is the first time you’ve seen one of our episodes, just for a quick overview of what we do, we’re looking at the amount of jobs posted on Seek in the information and technology category in Newcastle. So we’re looking, to try to see any trends, what’s happening from an activity level in and around companies, posting jobs. It gives us a good indication on the amount of activity happening in the technology, scene, the amount of opportunities for technology professionals. Stats for the last couple of months, we had 151 jobs posted in July, and 142 jobs posted in August. August was down 6% month on month, but it was up 31% year on year. So if we have a look at that July/August period in comparison to the year before. We’re looking at round about 30% increase in jobs posted. Not obviously a surprise given last year, we were right in the middle of the pandemic. This year, we’re again, we’re in lockdown at the moment, but I feel like companies have adjusted, and understood the challenges that do take place with hiring remotely. But a lot further along that path have understood that, okay, this is gonna be something that lasts, and we’re going to have to continue with our technology plans. And a lot of that does involve hiring. So companies are still advertising, and there’s actually been no better time to be a technology professional in the market. What do I mean by that? There are opportunities aplenty for technology professionals at the moment.

There’s a couple of things that have, that have happened in and around borders and visas. So last year we were speaking last month with our Seek account manager, and he mentioned 750,000 skilled workers left the country last year. A reasonable percentage of those would have been in and around technology. So what that’s really done is limited the technology candidate pool across Australia has made a really candidate short market. At the moment, there are more opportunities for technology professionals than there are technology professionals to do those roles. So that’s definitely one factor. We’re looking at a candidate shortage, but then secondly, we’ve actually seen more companies investing in technology, technology becoming a bigger part of a lot of companies plans going forward. So more job openings and more job creation. So newly jobs created not just back-filling old roles, but new jobs being created. So opportunities are plenty. This ties in with us releasing our salary guide also. The past couple of weeks that gives people a really good indication on the salaries that are going around the Newcastle technology scene. We’ve seen mass increases over the last couple of years in the technology field in particular, in and around software engineering. Software engineering has been a candidate short market for us in Newcastle. Since we started looking at these statistics back in 2018, it’s been a trend that’s been ongoing. There’s been little peaks and troughs where maybe less roles are being posted, but overall candidates in that software engineering space will be abreast with opportunities month on month.

If you’re not absolutely stoked in your role, and you’re in the software engineering space, definitely reach out to our team here NewyTechPeople. We’ll have two, three companies that would be open to having a look at you or an interview with you guaranteed nearly. So software engineers in general, but again, technology professionals right now opportunities are plenty. We’re seeing a nice rise in job flow and job activity, even with being in lockdown. And if you have a look at our statistics in the graph, probably bottomed out in April, 2020, I think our jobs are at the minimum. It was around that 55 mark. I believe the number was, and then we’ve just grown and grown and grown had some little dips throughout in around December, January. We always dip from a job flow perspective just because companies aren’t advertising as much in December. But if you have a look at the overarching trend, definite increase. The market’s looking positive. Companies looking to advertise to try to attract some really strong talent to their teams. Again, if we’re looking at statistics over a period of time, so back from July, 2018, right through to today. Our highest peak was in February, 2020. We had 194 jobs posted that month. So we’re back up to that 140 mark. So about 70% of the way there, I would actually say right now, there’s more opportunities now than when all those jobs were being advertised back then.

What we’re seeing is the application numbers through Seek are going down pretty significantly, and Seek have changed their pricing structure over the past 18 months. So we’re seeing less companies advertise on Seek from a return on investment perspective. So I would say that, although we’re not at the absolute peak numbers that we experienced at the start of 2020, there would be more job opportunity now for candidates than there ever has been in the past three years of us looking at these statistics. Each month, we obviously look at those total numbers, but we also look at the type of roles being advertised and no surprises, software engineers are still in demand. We’ll skip that, cause it happens every month, but what’s most interesting we’re seeing an increase in roles being advertising around the data space. So data analysts and data engineers, as well as the project space. So project managers, product managers, business analysts, good opportunities at the moment for people in that space. So nice uptick for the project space, which is always really interesting and a good indication on the activity levels and the spend that’s been happening across the Newcastle technology scene. Whenever projects are going well, it’s a really good indication that the total spend is increasing the activity in and around technology is increasing.

So very good indicator on the strength of the market at the moment. So in conclusion, the last couple of months, we’ve looked at 293 roles being advertised across July and August. A really good indication that this market is candidate short, that the opportunities are aplenty for people in the technology field. Unfortunately for companies it’s a difficult time hiring right now. Definitely the most difficult time I’ve ever experienced in seven years recruiting in the Newcastle technology scene. It’s challenging to hire good quality talent. It’s hard to get people to move to Newcastle at the moment just because people are in lockdown. So hopefully once lockdown ends for us all.

We will see some more activity with people moving and people potentially being open to opportunities, moving to Newcastle for those roles locally. So fingers crossed for that. I’ll provide another update next month on how we went in September. Hope you’re staying safe, hope you’re keeping well in lockdown. It’s a challenge for us all. So making sure you’re taking care of yourself. I’ll be back early October to provide an update for the month of September.

Cheers.