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We wish that we could report that there have been signs of a recovery in hiring intentions in the engineering, manufacturing and technical industries in Australia. Unfortunately this is not the case. We are waiting for consumer confidence to rebound and for government infrastructure spending to take hold.
Interestingly, late last year we began to receive requests from Saudi Arabian companies for Australian engineering staff. In response, two of Australia Wide Personnel’s directors recently went to Saudi Arabia and visited a range of construction, infrastructure, manufacturing, petro-chemical and mining companies. The Saudi Arabian government has embarked upon an enormous program to build 6 economic cities, to complete large scale urban infrastructure upgrades in existing cities and to build new transport infrastructure (rail, airports, highways and ports). These projects are proceeding, regardless of the global economic crisis, funded by vast government surpluses built up over many years of high oil prices. In addition to constcruction firms, we met with companies which are embarking on major water treatment, sewage, mining and petroleum / petrochemical projects. Whilst Saudi Arabia has the vision and the funding, they do not have the required engineering expertise. Australian engineering talent is very highly regarded in Saudi Arabia and the opportunities for Australian engineers usually come as tax-free packages together with many other benefits. There are already in excess of 5,000 expatriate Australians living and working in the kingdom. To express your interest in current and upcoming roles in Saudi Arabia, please email Paul Stride pauls@australiawide.com.au
Following are our observations of the key recruitment markets we have been operating in since 1979
Construction, Engineering & Management
Construction activity over the last 3 months has been varied depending on the sector in question. The new building sector has seen one of its largest contractions in memory with only a few commercial developments propping up the activities of a smaller number of firms. There is some potential however with a major award valued in excess of $200 million to construct several new schools in. Other government funded projects including hospitals, prisons and defence related spending will provide welcome focus over coming months.
Overall, there are fewer new opportunities across the industry as a whole and an increasing number of qualified and experienced construction / building professionals available in this sector.
On a brighter note, civil engineering activity has been more consistent with several ongoing rail, road and water related projects. With commitment from State and Federal governments, there are more of these infrastructure projects with planned commencement dates for this year. However despite the positives we have noticed a marked slow-down in recruitment of new professionals within the civil engineering sector. It is evident from speaking with our clients that many civil engineering contractors are deferring major recruitment decisions for the time being, whilst redeploying resources internally and avoiding over commitments by awaiting for newly awarded contracts to be formally signed off.
We are still inviting applications from Project Engineers, Supervisors, Project Managers who have attained civil engineering qualifications or training and experience, who are keen to learn about new opportunities in Australia or Saudi Arabia. Also we are handling some mining sector recruitment assignments in Saudi Arabia and candidates who combine construction and mining skills are encouraged to contact us now.
All enquiries and updated resumes can be directed to Paul Stride at pauls@australiawide.com.au or 03 9847 6500
Consulting Engineering and Building Services
The first three months of 2009 have unfortunately seen many Engineering Consultancies making redundancies for permanent staff in an effort to reduce large overheads. The financial crisis has meant that funds are harder to appropriate and as a result, construction and infrastructure projects have been put on hold or cancelled.
During 2007-2008 the Engineering and Building Services Consultancies could confidently predict their workload up to 9 -12 months ahead. In most cases this is now down to a 3- 6 month window which has meant that as a General rule they are not in hiring mode.
Some pockets of opportunity exist for highly specialised consultants in areas such as acoustics, vertical transport and ICT but it is generally a flat market. Opportunities will always be available for consultants with a strong sales/ marketing success rate and proven business winners.
All enquiries and updated resumes can be directed to Simon Black at simonb@australiawide.com.au or 03 9847 6500.
Automotive Engineering
It goes without saying that job vacancies in the local automotive industry are few and far between. At the time of writing this commentary there were only 9 vacancies advertised on Seek in Melbourne.
Speculation about the future of car manufacturing in Australia has been rife. One industry specialist predicted the closure of at least one of the big three, yet the industry has rejected this as nonsense.
We are hopeful of an upturn in requirements for professional engineers but the question is when? In the meantime we continue to seek resumes from automotive engineers as we have had recent success in making placements outside of the industry.
All enquiries and updated resumes can be directed to Mercedes Toale at mercedest@australiawide.com.au or 03 9847 6500.
Drafting
The decline in requests for drafters in the last quarter of 2008 has continued through to the first quarter of 2009.
Having said that, there are still opportunities in the civil, structural, infrastructure and building services areas.
We have yet to see the upward shift in demand for contractors as the market remains fearful and there are still retrenchments occurring in the permanent sector.
A number of contractors are using this time to update their skills and retrain in new software packages to add another string to their bow when the market turns.
All enquiries and updated resumes can be directed to Gary Mullane at garym@australiawide.com.au or 03 9847 6500.
Electronics / Technology Engineering
We all know that the sector has been hit hard, and we cannot predict when it will start to improve. As a consequence, there is downward pressure on salaries and a perception that a buyer’s market allows employers to dictate what they will pay. In reality, it doesn’t necessarily work out this way. Recent redundancies have produced a temporary over-supply in particular areas eg Embedded Software Developers – normally so hard to find. The longer term effect on the Melbourne/Victorian electronics scene is unclear as there could be a drift away by employers and employees alike into new fields if the downturn is prolonged, say, into mid 2010. We hope not. We have always had such a lot of fun in recruiting top Electronic, Communication and Embedded Software Engineers that it would a great pity if the sector was severely weakened here. We all remain hopeful that the tide will turn (there are still a few bright spots) and that we will be able to talk to our loyal candidate base about stimulating, permanent jobs soon. Remain optimistic is our motto!
All enquiries and updated resumes can be directed to Roy Dickson at royd@australiawide.com.au or 03 9847 6500
Manufacturing Professionals
Manufacturing has been very heavily affected by the current economic downturn with numerous employers carrying out mass retrenchments, each of which has a flow on effect. In Victoria this has been especially so at the shop floor level.
Available Management positions have also declined, especially in the metals and automotive related sectors. FMCG such as food, and pharmaceuticals have been relatively stable.
Within the trades section there are still shortages of skilled labour in certain areas ie. refrigeration/air conditioning, and other key trades which will be exacerbated when the economy picks up and this labour will again be in short supply.
We have been advising clients that where practical, now is the perfect time to bring on high calibre key employees who may be a lot harder to locate when the upswing occurs in the economy.
All enquiries and updated resumes can be directed to Jim Hughan at jimh@australiawide.com.au or 03 9847 6500.
Regards
The Team at Australia Wide
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