It's all go for IT advancement

If there is a worldwide downturn in the information technology sector, it seems New Zealand employers haven't heard about it. The MIS Top 100, which profiles New Zealand's biggest IT users by screen count, shows that more than half our big IT users, and therefore IT employers, are struggling to find staff.

"Excuse me, but what tech sector downturn would that be?" says Andre Snoxall, general manager for health services organisation HIQ. "If there are some people out there looking for work, please send them our way."

And Alan Sainsbury, IT manager for the Department of Child, Youth and Family, says it continues to be difficult to attract the right staff in a buoyant labour market.

Kevin Adamson, IT director for the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, says: "Recruitment processes undertaken by us indicate there is certainly a shortage of skilled, experienced IT staff available, particularly in certain areas of IT operations."

This month, the twice-yearly, Hudson Report, which analyses the hiring expectations of employers, surveyed 1683 New Zealand employers across a range of industries and found hiring expectations at a six-year high - 43.5 per cent of the companies expect to increase their staffing levels during the next six months. Hudson says the industries with the strongest need for staff are information technology and government and financial services.

Marc Burrage, general manager for Hudson New Zealand, says: "Employers are operating on a reduced headcount and with growth predicted to continue, albeit at a reduced rate, they are still desperate to find the right people with the right skills to continue their business success."

Jim Doyle, chief operating officer for global positioning equipment and software specialists Navman, has first-hand experience of the problem created when a company grows rapidly and then runs out of local job candidates.

Navman employs 520 staff in its New Zealand office and has offered an average of 16 local positions a month over the past five years. Auckland staff alone increased by more than 400 during this time and last year Navman hired 145. Navman continues to expand but is struggling to find skilled New Zealand graduates to fill its positions. More than half its employees are from overseas. "It has been extremely difficult for us to find local technical IT resource in recent years," Doyle says. "There is an industry shortage of people with marine, GPS and engineering research skills."

Doyle says that marketing and sales careers have a better profile than information technology and engineering in New Zealand and the percentage of university graduates with IT skills is small compared with the total number of graduates New Zealand produces.

"The problem is that New Zealand employers want and need New Zealand candidates. It is less expensive to recruit them nationally and if we employ a high-level person from overseas we usually have to pay relocation costs." With the unemployment rate for New Zealand at 3.9 per cent - its lowest level since the mid 1980s - Hudson predicts limited scope for further downward movement.

And Burrage says: "In particular, we are continuing to see a strong demand for the knowledge worker, which should translate into wage pressure for this segment of the employment market."

So ignore the cynics - if employers say the New Zealand IT industry is strong, so are IT graduates job prospects.

Demand outstrips skilled workers

* There is a definite national shortage of skilled IT workers. Large employers and smaller, thriving IT development companies need these skills to keep growing.

* Although some IT employers stipulate work experience, many do not.

* The IT sector offers long-term employment or the opportunity to move between employers and industries without loss of career momentum.

* IT jobs are internationally transportable. This may matter to young people keen to make money and travel as well. Salaries are modest in New Zealand compared with other countries and skilled IT workers tend to migrate here more for lifestyle reasons than the pay.

* In New Zealand, a new IT graduate can expect to earn a salary of 45K to 55K depending on their skills and level of qualification.

* Many organisations offer on-the-job training and will finance further education for IT staff.