IT continues its reign as a key growth industry and area of employment opportunity in New Zealand.
Since January, the number of IT jobs advertised on SEEK, New Zealand’s largest job source, have increased by 11% and applications for these roles are growing just as fast.
“With over 31,000 jobs in the Information & Communication Technology sector advertised on seek.co.nz this year alone, IT accounts for over 15% of the jobs on the site and boasts the highest number of job opportunities of any sector in NZ,” says Janet Faulding, General Manager of SEEK New Zealand.
Since January the number of IT listings on seek.co.nz has grown across the three main cities:
* Christchurch up 17%
* Auckland up 14%
* Wellington up 5%
Josh Comrie, Managing Director, Potentia says that there have been several market trends responsible for driving job growth across NZ this year, including the ‘Xero bandwagon’ and the ongoing force that is ‘big data’.
“The Xero bandwagon is a phenomenon, driven by widespread demand from organisations requiring supporting products for Xero accounting software.
"This means more product shops are popping up to create these products and there is a real demand for skills to build them. This is particularly strong in Auckland, New Zealand’s centre for technology entrepreneurship.
“The ‘big data’ revolution also continues to drive job growth in the sector, as organisations increasingly focus on using data to spot the business trends and insights that will drive key decisions.
"Research, analytics and reporting roles aligned to this trend are in real demand and will continue to be for some time to come.”
Applicant interest
Alongside jobs growth, candidate interest is on the climb, with applications on seek.co.nz up 13% since January and almost 30% year on year.
Grant Burley, Director AbsoluteIT observes that this interest has been driven by both the positive outlook forecast by key industry commentators, and changes in other markets.
“There’s a strong sense that the outlook is positive, our research suggests as many as 68% of sector employees are interested in exploring new opportunities," he says.
"Candidates are also looking from across the ditch; things have changed a lot in the Australian market in the past couple of years and both ex-pat Kiwis and Australians now look to NZ for new opportunities.”
“New Zealand’s IT employment market is increasingly diverse and that’s interesting for candidates, new roles created out of the Christchurch rebuild for example are attractive to specialists the world over.”Heidi Griffiths, Christchurch-based IT Consultant of Farrow Jameson, explains that post-quake Christchurch is thriving and demand for skilled candidates is high.
“Christchurch is well and truly back in business this year, employers are settled, work space is no longer a limitation and major new projects are underway.
"Entrepreneurial technology sector companies have also come together to create hubs and generate pathways for tech sector candidates to make their way into the city.
"We simply need more skilled people to meet the demand, and for Immigration to speed up processing for people on the skills shortage list.”
To view the IT jobs on offer now, visit www.seek.co.nz.
To vote for Seek as the Best Employment website at the NetGuide Web Awards click here
