Free Resume Advice For Job Seekers

Following is a link that provides valuable information on current market conditions across various industries supplied by Hays Recruitment:

http://www.hays.com.au/forecast/

Cheers,

Annie Cerone

Research has shown that despite the weaker job market, confidence among recruiters has risen slightly. Some 44% expected an increase in business in the coming quarter. Recruitment companies in some areas were still seeing strong trading conditions, particularly in healthcare and education. However, over the past two years demand has changed markedly in some sectors.

The volatile job market has brought about some big changes in the top 10 occupational skills shortages, with healthcare workers knocking engineers out of the long-held top spot. The top 10 skills-short occupations are:

1)   Health professionals

2)   Nurses

3)   Non-building professional engineers

4)   Medical technicians

5)   School teachers

6)   Non-building engineering associates and technicians

7)   Non-building electrical/electronic trades

8)   Electrical trades (building)

9)   Rail drivers

10) Social professionals

Cheers,

Annie Cerone

Latest statistics (from the Australian Bureau of Statistics) for the December quarter 2008 reveal that full-time employment has risen, part-time work has decreased, overall employment was up, and the participation rate has increased 0.1 percentage points to 65.1%. During December quarter 99,000 jobs went unfilled. Despite the growing economic downturn, there were still 39,000 unfilled professional jobs and 60,000 unfilled trades jobs during the December quarter. Demand for skilled labour exceeded supply by 110,000; however, this was down from a supply gap of 120,000 in the September quarter.

The latest Clarius Skills Index indicated that skilled jobs in media, marketing, medical research, hospitality and tourism, and science would be those hardest hit. The index measures labour supply and demand, where a score of 100 equals a balance between. Anything above that figure indicates a skills shortage, and anything below represents an oversupply. The index is currently at 103.1 suggesting that Australia is still suffering from a talent shortage despite the worsening economic climate. The Skills Index also noted that despite the gloom in the economy, this figure is currently still higher than a year ago.

Although overall unemployment is rising, the skills shortage is still severe in some sectors. The Skills Index for building and engineering professionals had risen 0.4 points to 104.5 during the December quarter, and the index for accountants and auditors was also up 0.2 points to 101.4. The index for tradespeople in the metal sector had also increased by 0.3 points to 107.9.
 

Cheers,

Annie Cerone

The latest Robert Walters Salary Survey (conducted across five states including NSW, QLD, WA, SA and VIC) based on actual placements made during 2008, found that demand still existed for candidates in a number of areas including highly experienced sales talent; project management and change management candidates; and HR professionals specialising in OHS or industrial relations. Other sought after candidates included: compliance and risk management staff; treasury, tax and audit accountants; and business support staff with experience in the mining, construction and engineering sectors.

Cheers,

Annie Cerone