Job market healthy and growing
This year is looking good for growth — particularly in construction and allied professions, says Jason Walker, managing director of Hays, after the release of the Hays Jobs Report.
Skills that are in demand include: management accountants, internal auditors, architectural technicians, registered architects with ArchCAD experience, commercial site managers and project managers, civil engineers, registered valuers, machine operators DevOps experts, cloud engineers and cloud architects, net developers, insurance claims professionals, construction lawyers, commercial property lawyers, data analysts, social media experts, executive assistants, outbound telesales professionals and sales representatives with specific industry experience.
Walker says: “Anyone who has two to eight years of experience in a particular field around civil construction, construction, technology, support services such as legal finance practices, contact centre work, customer support, sales support . . . anyone within that sort of experience range is in the sweet spot that organisations are looking for.”
He says this is particularly true if they can bring relationships in with them and an understanding of the New Zealand landscape. “Then they’re in a really good position. The reason for understanding of the New Zealand landscape being in demand is not about excluding foreign nationals, but organisations are wanting people who already understand this country’s building legislation and policies.” Walker says as far as other sectors are concerned, they’re finding a lot of organisations are still waiting to see what happens after the 100-day policy process that the Labour Government have put into place.
“I think some of the news recently has been about what they’re doing with employment legislation, and of course there’s the review of anchor projects in Christchurch and they’re looking at whether they put the infrastructure money into the cities or if they redirect that to the provinces.
“So people are still a bit unsure about where they will be focusing their workforce in line with some of these major projects. But putting that aside, you’re still going to get a significant amount of growth this year — we’ve already seen that come through. There’s already demand around the civil construction sector, right through from diggers, drivers, foremen, supervisors — to anyone with roading, bridge building, and civil experience.
“New subdivisions have driven demand already. When we’re in the season they have to do the work. They need to do it before winter hits, so that’s why it’s up already.”
He says: “With so many construction projects getting under way in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and the provinces, which are also having issues with infrastructure, there is lots of opportunity. Here we’re talking about various jobs — such as property surveyors, project managers . . . anything in the trades with good New Zealand experience, there will be no problem getting a job.
Another field that’s projected to do well this year is data mining. This is about collecting data together, putting it through a channel where organisations can use it to drive revenue or to build relationships.
“That’s definitely going to be in demand this year. It’s a new skillset and one that does require a greater level of focus and experience. And that experience is very light in New Zealand.”
Walker says these people need to have a strong technical background — but there are no real qualifications for it. “Most people who are employed in this sector have experience of working in large organisations already.
“They often get into the field by building on experience they already have or working for big corporates and going through the transformation. They’re often a part of a very technical marketing team. You might have specialists coming out of the banking or insurance sector, you may have them coming from the tech sector.
“Usually companies that have a large amount of data to mine have individuals developing their experience in those fields.”
He says interestingly, in Malaysia there is official training. “That country is seeing this as filling a gap in the corporate world not only in that country, but globally.
“So it’s a real opportunity for those who are technically minded to branch into this career path. Because it’s so much in demand, there are those individuals who are setting up their own businesses and consulting for corporations.”
Architecture and design work is of course also sought after.
With the Government changing a lot of legislation, there will be policy work available as well.
Walker says that with all this going on — a lot of people will be asking, how do I get a better deal? And here we’ll see policy teams and procurement teams growing.
“Companies will be building their HR teams and they will need to look at training and development, especially as immigration tightens. Companies are going to have to look at training up their people.”
Conversely, Walker says there are industries, particularly manufacturing, that may be looking more at technology and robotics than employment. “This is particularly if hiring people gets more expensive with new policies. That’s a real risk.”