July Job Market Update
Anton Roe ??
I solve problems by creating Talent Solutions | Podcast host @Tales from Tech Titans | Collaborating with companies to attract, hire and retain the best talent across Technology | Diversity, Equality & Inclusion champion
What’s happening in the job market?
As we move into the second half of the year, conversations about hiring are starting to warm up. The positive news is that we’re increasingly speaking to hiring managers with new budgets and plans to grow headcount over the next 6 months. Seek is yet to release the July data, however, in June they reported a relatively stable market, with job ads just 1.5% down on May. The data showed a big discrepancy by industry, with job ads in Hospitality down -8.1% and Healthcare down -9.1%. Surprisingly, Science and Technology job ads were up 14.8% on the previous month, albeit from a low base point, but positive news, nonetheless.
Seek reported a further increase in applications per role, up a further 3% month on month, and up an incredible 61.6% year on year. The increase in candidate applications is a sign that job seekers are feeling more confident about exploring the job market.
Interestingly, Seek also reported a 4.3% year-on-year increase in advertised salaries, which in conjunction with the recent tax cuts, will be welcome news to struggling households
Seek’s full reports can be found here:
For me, two main factors will define the job market for the remainder of 2024. Firstly, the RBA’s decisions around interest rates (more so whether they choose to increase the base rate to address the inflation plateau) and secondly, the outcome of the US election later this year. Every time we have a US election, global economies take a deep breath to see the impact of the world’s most influential economy. Something that always causes a ripple of uncertainty in the labour market.
Back to our local market in Australia, we are seeing increased movement across the C suite for Technology leaders. This movement usually precedes growth in jobs as new leaders develop their strategic roadmap and hiring plans.
In other news!
AI could create 200,000 jobs in Australia by 2030!
It was refreshing to hear a discussion about the upside for the job market from AI, as opposed to the doom and gloom predictions of job losses and robots taking over the world.
Analysis from the Tech Council Australia, Microsoft, Linkedin and Workday highlights the potential, including the jobs that will be created outside of Technology in the support areas.
This growth won’t be isolated to the tech sector or tech jobs. In addition to roles that are responsible for developing, designing and maintaining AI systems, we will need people with skills in areas such as human resources, sales and governance to successfully scale these systems and businesses to harness the potential in front of us,” said Damian Kassabgi CEO of the TCA.
The AI workforce report predicts a $115bn annual economic benefit for Australia, with the majority (70%) of this benefit to be realised through productivity gains.
Full article here:
Cyber jobs in decline?!
Yes….cybersecurity job ads have dropped in demand.
@LinkedIn reported a year-on-year decrease in job posting activity, with growth in Australian cybersecurity jobs cooling off to 1.07% vs May 2023 (in December year-on-year growth was at 2.6%). This mirrors a global trend, with cybersecurity job ads down 5.4% in the US.
My view on this is that we’re experiencing two drivers in the cybersecurity job market. Firstly, security skills are being absorbed into other tech roles across data & systems. Secondly, jobs may not be advertised but organisations are looking to their existing talent to migrate into newly created roles in security. I’ve heard of organisations looking to Business Analysts, Developers and Engineers to make this transition – a similar trend to when Data was the hot trend a decade or so ago.
?It was also interesting to read cybersecurity represents 0.86% of the Australian workforce, this compares to 1.3% in Singapore and 1.07% in the US, but stronger than the UK at 0.74%.
POLLS
The results from this poll were dominant towards the 2 weeks (38%) and 4 weeks (48%). This is pretty consistent with most Australian employers.
This vote was split across all four answers. The takeaway from this result is that there are a multitude of drivers for someone as a jobseeker. My advice to anyone searching for their next role is to be clear on your primary motivator. If it is about organisational purpose, then make sure you explore this through the interview process and don’t get overawed by the dollars on offer. Likewise, if you want an inspirational leader as your top priority, then spend time getting to know your new (potential) boss.
领英推荐
Again, the jury was split with the “No” vote coming out just on top (at 55%). My perspective is that a well-structured reference check can be really valuable. This requires a skilled approach from the person taking the reference (more often listening to what is not said, as opposed to what is said) and also a candid and unbiased referee.
The research shows past performance is only a predictor of future success if the person is working in the right team culture and environment. If you’re taking a reference, focus as much on what conditions were in place for the person’s previous achievements, not just what they achieved.
Interesting to see 42% of people looking to a mentor, coach or ex-boss for career advice - which intuitively makes sense. A trusted colleague coming in second at 34% is especially insightful. It shows the importance of workplace connection and relationships. Only 13% of you look to recruiters. I found this a little surprising, and also a disappointing reflection on the recruitment industry as a whole. It highlights a gap to bridge.
TALES FROM TECH TITANS
Our Tales from Tech Titans podcast continues to evolve, and this month we have had some phenomenal guests such as Leela Kalagara - GAICD Fi Slaven Ayten Ozenc Don McGowan Jennifer Rebeiro and Lisa Dowie, GAICD
We also launched the Terabytes miniseries, which are short extracts from the main podcast.
If you haven’t checked out the podcast, then I encourage you to take a look.
Every week we share the stories and lessons from some of Australia’s top tech leaders – essentially listening & viewing for any aspiring technologist!
Tales from Tech Titans is available on every major podcast channel, including Apple , Spotify , YouTube
Recommended Reads & Listens
I’ve been on a fiction focus for the last few months, but right now I’m reading Range by David Epstein . It’s definitely challenged my thinking! I’m a big advocate of the mantra “be famous for something” as the secret to success. I’m enjoying learning the scenarios where generalists have augmented the specialist thinking to get some innovate outcomes. No spoilers here! Numerous Titans have recommended this book, so I had to check it out.
I’m also excited to have Supercommunicators next up on my read list. I picked this book up after hearing the author, Charles Duhigg , explain his thinking behind the book on a podcast, and I couldn’t get my hands on it quickly enough. DM me if you’ve read it. I’d love to know what you think!
On the podcast front, I’m obsessed with the High Performance podcast. Whilst it is mostly guests from the world of sport, I really enjoyed the episode with the new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (recorded before he was PM). It was a different & insightful way to learn about the new PM, especially when I feel disconnected from the day-to-day back home in the UK.
?
IT Executive | Digital Transformation Expert | Technology Strategy and Architecture Thought Leader
3 个月Technology as a percentage of total Global GDP will double from 5% to 10% by 2030. The last 10 years were linear the next 10 is about disruption in almost every sector. As computing becomes embedded in every part of life, there will be no longer such thing as the tech sector by 2035. However there is a challenge. The cost of digital transformation is growing at a rapid pace. In reality, technology growth is exponential but business growth is linear hence finding a right intersection between technology adoption that contributes to business growth for each Industry will become a complex mathematics. 4 key areas for future growth 1- Biotechnology 2- Climate change mitigation technology 3- Applied AI ( current AI models are not sustainable and will be replaced in the next 4-5 years. ) 4- Adaptive Cybersecurity So how do we bring down the cost of technology adoption/ deployment and transfer incentives to people in terms of money and more jobs. That's a big question. :)
? CIO ? Senior technology executive with business acumen ?
3 个月Reading through the article Anton Roe ??, I found the following insight of yours particularly true: “The research shows past performance is only a predictor of future success if the person is working in the right team culture and environment. If you’re taking a reference, focus as much on what conditions were in place for the person’s previous achievements, not just what they achieved.”