YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

WOULD YOU SAY IT’S AN EMPLOYER’S OR AN EMPLOYEE’S MARKET AT THE MOMENT?

DARREN BUCHANAN MANAGING DIRECTOR, HAYS QUEENSLAND

For those with skills in demand, it is an employee’s market. The key for employees is to ensure they remain employable by developing their technical and soft skills in line with the rapid technological change happening around us. Be adaptable, proficient in new technology relevant to your job, and pivot to a new skill, area of responsibility or even role as things change. Employers also want strong communicators; technology is driving more of our work tasks, but building relationships and collaborating to solve constantly evolving challenges remains essential.

SINEAD HOURIGAN BRISBANE DIRECTOR, ROBERT WALTERS

Candidate shortages are starting to appear in a number of sectors and employers are starting to move quickly to secure top talent where they can. This can sometimes lead to salary increases but candidates need to be careful about being too demanding on the remuneration front as this can cause issues down the track from an engagement and expectation perspective. Most people would agree everyone benefits from a job-rich market, as it usually indicates a really strong functioning economy, so we are all hopeful that we are about to see that happen again in Queensland.

JULIE FORD SENIOR EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT, McARTHUR

This is a broad question with no single answer to reflect the true measure of individual markets. The availability of both jobs and suitably skilled and experienced people to fill those jobs is affected by many factors including skills shortages, the economic indicators of particular markets, funding, skilled migration – the list goes on. Some employment sectors are typically always short of skilled workers, making it an employee’s market, while others have scarcity of jobs, allowing employers to pick and choose. The obvious thing to do is research markets with good opportunities and skill up.

NERIDA HILLBERG DIRECTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, FERRIS MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS

There is tremendous variability, depending on the job sector in which you are looking for work. Overall, the latest Australian Labour Market update shows in the past 12 months, the strongest employment growth, in trend terms, occurred in Queensland (4.6 per cent). This is good news for employees. When we break this down, over the past year, the largest increases in trend employment were in healthcare and social assistance, construction, retail trade, and education and training. The largest decreases occurred in public administration and safety.