Australia’s job market is, in a phrase, ‘going gangbusters’. Enormous demand for employees and document numbers of job vacancies have created the nice job growth.
With all this demand, we’re additionally seeing salaries on the rise in a number of industries – together with Info & Communication Expertise (ICT). In accordance with SEEK wage knowledge, common salaries for a number of ICT roles have grown by 20% or extra, in comparison with pre-pandemic instances.
However what does this imply for you? Whether or not you’re seeking to change jobs, or making an attempt to get extra out of your present position, now might be the proper time to discover your choices.
What’s driving wage development?
For Paul Dunn, Managing Director of recruiter Exclaim-it, there have been a whole lot of modifications in ICT over the past couple of years.
To start, Dunn says, there’s been a “new concentrate on digital streamlining [that has led to an] elevated demand for proficient ICT professionals.”
That is then coupled with the results of the pandemic – particularly border restrictions, which has seen a curb in expertise coming from abroad.
“It’s the outdated provide and demand factor,” Dunn says. That means extra demand alongside fewer expert employees has pushed salaries up.
The pandemic has additionally fuelled development inside Tech itself, as extra companies flip to the digital area to unravel issues like working from residence.
“Whereas many companies began to combine digital applied sciences into their operations earlier than 2020, the pandemic accelerated the necessity to remodel the best way we work and do enterprise,” Dunn says.
As well as, the final couple of years have seen an inflow of “competitors from well-funded corporations with bases in Australia,” Dunn says, together with tech heavyweights like Canva, Atlassian and Arkose Labs, who, in response to Dunn, “pays greater salaries [than] we usually see within the native market.”
The results of all of those elements is gigantic wage development throughout the business. Infrastructure Specialist roles, for instance, may pay 21% greater than previous to the pandemic, with a median marketed wage of $147,251.
What this implies for you
In accordance with Dunn, now greater than ever ICT corporations are realising how a lot they want expert employees in an effort to keep aggressive, which is resulting in higher alternatives for job seekers with in-demand expertise.
“In some instances, employers are keen to pay $10,000, $20,000 and even $30,000 extra for somebody in a everlasting position than they might have a number of years in the past.”
This all signifies that now is perhaps a good time so that you can transfer right into a higher-paying position.
When it comes to in search of new profession alternatives, Dunn recommends first checking the information. “Go onto SEEK and see what salaries are within the space that [you’re] in search of,” he says.
From right here, Dunn advises, you possibly can “draw a conclusion about what profession path [you] need and what the wage will increase can be over that profession path.”
Sticking along with your present position?
Now may also be a superb time to sit down down along with your present employer. “There are extra alternatives than ever earlier than to barter greater pay,” Dunn says.
In terms of negotiating in your present position, Dunn recommends doing some research first.
“Realizing your value is arguably an important step,” he says. “If you do not know how a lot your expertise and expertise are value in in the present day’s market, you will not be capable to successfully negotiate the next wage.”
This would possibly imply exploring different job alternatives first, though Dunn cautions towards giving your employer an ultimatum:
“Sit down with [your] supervisor and say, ‘I actually like working right here, nevertheless I’m seeing that the market has moved in my ability space and I would love to have the ability to realign to the place the market is at’, somewhat than saying, ‘I would like this or I’m leaving’.”
To arrange for a pay rise dialog, it’s additionally value figuring out some tangible achievements you should use to offer proof of the worth you deliver to a job, corresponding to enhancements to processes or sure outcomes.
The place issues are heading
Dunn expects that this jobs pattern could proceed for the subsequent six to 12 months.
“The large query is what is going to occur when the present demand begins to stage off, expert migration is again to earlier ranges, and we attain a pure plateau,” he says.
Both method, whereas ICT is an actively rising area, now is perhaps the proper time to discover your choices and see the place Australia’s Nice Job Growth may take you.
