Engineering & Technical Recruitment Market Commentary April 2012
As an engineering / technical recruitment consultancy, our experience of the past quarter has largely reflected the widely publicised two speed economy. Generally speaking, our clients which are operating in or exposed to manufacturing or non-resources construction are experiencing flat conditions. Salaries have not moved noticeably in the past few years and with some exceptions, new hiring remains very cautious. A sustained decrease in the value of the dollar, an uptick of consumer confidence and some significant infrastructure projects would be of assistance. Our clients which are operating in the resources sector (or supplying to the sector) are enjoying very buoyant trading conditions and are experiencing acute issues in recruiting staff. The salaries on offer for the right talent continue to amaze us and multiple offers for the same candidates are commonplace.
Following are our more specific observations of some of the key recruitment markets we have been operating in.
Automotive
Recruitment requirements for the automotive sector were relatively quiet last quarter. There are pockets of the labour market where skilled candidates continue to be in short supply. There remains opportunities, both permanent and contract, for experienced Designer Engineers, CAD Designers, Production Engineers, Project Engineers and Sales Engineers. In particular we have been busy recruiting in the automotive Tier 1 sector.
As we move into the next quarter it is evident from reviewing advertised vacancies on Seek that there are new automotive employment opportunities. Finding suitably skilled candidates will always be a concern for employers. There is pressure on the demand for and availability of skilled engineering candidates.
The Australian automotive industry started 2012 on a positive note. According to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries commercial vehicles sold in January 2012 were up 4.3 per cent or 3,199 vehicles compared to the same month in 2011. Hopefully increased car sales will result in more jobs.
Remember to do your interview preparation and use or join LinkedIn if you have not done so already.
Building Services
The commercial and retail construction sector is still experiencing the flow on effects of the global financial crisis. Whilst funding is available, it is more difficult to come by and the lenders are still being cautious about their exposure to large projects. The flow on effect is that projects are taking longer to gain approval, if at all. With this in mind the March quarter was more of the same for Building Services consultancies. As the pipeline of work shortened, consultancies consolidated their numbers and there were a small number of redundancies for the quarter.
There is still some demand with mechanical contractors and air-conditioning equipment manufacturers in project management, technical support and sales engineering roles.
With the impending introduction of the carbon tax we see opportunities for experienced Energy Auditors.
The trend towards cloud computing creates a constant interest in engineering candidates with experience in mission-critical facilities design and development, particularly Data Centres.
While showing some signs of recovery over the last few months, the Building Services industry in Queensland is still struggling due to the lack of new construction projects. Therefore there are limited opportunities for engineers in Brisbane, with a handful of opportunities available for candidates interested in central or northern Queensland. We are always interested in talking with experienced Drafters with REVIT experience. We would also like to hear from Senior Mechanical & Electrical Engineers who can ‘add value’ with previous business development experience in a consultancy environment.
Consulting Engineering
The Sydney Consulting Engineering market still presents opportunities for hard-to-find design engineers in Mechanical, Structural and Civil disciplines. Most of the roles that we are currently handling are in infrastructure and minerals processing for the mining and heavy materials handling industries. 90% of the heavy industry engineering roles for structural and mechanical are contract positions based in Sydney and the Hunter, again paying excellent rates to the right experience in heavy materials handling.
Civil design engineers for stormwater and road design have proven very hard to locate at the moment – we have a number of vacancies in this area for both contract and permanent positions across NSW, again paying excellent rates.
We are interested in hearing from design engineers of all disciplines and at all levels to discuss suitable roles we have available in NSW.
In Queensland, we would also like to hear from experienced materials handling engineers and drafters across Civil/Structural, Mechanical and Electrical/Controls disciplines.
Drafting
The demand for drafters in Victoria has remained low in the last quarter partially due to the continued subdued manufacturing sector. Victoria is also experiencing a quiet construction market with a decline in new building approvals, which has a flow on affect of diminished demand for drafting professionals.
There has however been some activity in automotive CAD Design, with various clients looking to fill contract roles with experienced CATIA or Unigraphics Designers.
Rates continue to be at similar levels as a couple of years ago, with little or no increase for either contract or permanent drafters.
Largely driven by the ongoing mining boom, the CAD marketplace in Sydney and Newcastle continues to see strong demand for contract Mechanical Draftspersons with experience in heavy industrial and mining applications – specific CAD skills in demand are mainly Solidworks, Inventor & AutoCAD.
Several of our clients also report ongoing needs for experienced Civil Design Draftspersons with specific experience in roads, highways and subdivision design – Civil Design Draftspersons with specific experience with 12D and MX Road CAD packages being particularly sought after.
The market for Structural Draftspersons continues to be somewhat flat, mainly as a result of the continuing sluggishness of the buildings construction sector in NSW – reports from our clients in this area indicate that this situation is unlikely to improve in the short term.
Electronics, Software & Communications
The year started with confidence and a degree of optimism, then “something happened”. There seemed to be a spate of companies reducing numbers and whilst these were not large numbers, it certainly came as a surprise. Headcount reductions happened here and there, with no apparent common cause, but that may be for the economists to work out. What it did mean from a job hunting point of view is that employers who were prepared to hire became fewer, and job applicants in electronics, firmware and software were available in greater numbers. It was not exactly a tsunami but it was a noticeable splash. The downward pressure on salaries is still apparent as a general rule, but even more importantly, employers seek the elusive ‘perfect fit’ – is there such a thing as this any more than there is a perfect job? Most likely not. Firmware roles are becoming scarcer, in the same way that hardware openings began to dry up a year or so back, but not entirely, thankfully.
Mining
The Coal industry continues to go from strength to strength with multiple opportunities available for experienced Mining Engineers, Geologists (Exploration and Operations) and Surveyors. We also have opportunities available for experienced Reliability Engineers with previous materials handling, processing and/or port facility experience.
Hard rock mining has continued to develop at a very fast rate comparative to the economy as a whole. Several new projects are currently in construction across Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia prompting large scale recruitment drives for experienced Metalliferous Mining professionals. In addition to new projects across the country there have been strong production figures from base metals and gold mines despite some corrections in metals and gold prices internationally over the last quarter. It is safe to say that we are currently experiencing a severe shortage of engineers in Australia with current graduation rates of around 9,000 per year and the creation of in excess of 20,000 engineering related positions over the same time frame. At present there is a high level of demand for Mining Engineers, Geologists, Surveyors, Metallurgy Professionals, Geotechnical Engineers and Management professionals with experience in Metalliferous Mining. These opportunities are in Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory on both residential and FIFO out arrangements. The mining division is looking to continue development and currently have a high number of attractive prospects for the June quarter.
Oil & Gas
The March quarter across Queensland started off slowly however momentum is building and the June quarter is looking great for skilled Engineers, especially across the Oil & Gas sector. There are still too many jobs and not enough engineers. Our clients are always interested in meeting with professional engineers, especially those with local experience.
In terms of the hot spots nothing has really changed in Queensland. Gladstone is moving along nicely and we are very interested in hearing from local professionals in the general area. We are able to offer FIFO to Gladstone from Brisbane but it is our client’s preference that we target the local workforce first. Please do not let this discourage you as we are more than happy to have a chat with you about your career or future goals. Chances are we can help you find a great job that you would otherwise never know existed.
Manufacturing
Demand within the manufacturing sector continues to remain slow in most areas as companies appear hesitant to put on permanent employees and are instead looking to use casual labour to fill any available positions. Companies that are putting on process workers, assemblers, etc. tend look for multi-skilled employees able to be utilised over a wide variety of tasks and have the ability to problem-solve day to day issues.
CNC programmers/operators continue to remain in demand and there is still generally a shortage of skilled tradespeople and technicians.
Demand for staff within food manufacturing remains constant with a slight increase in demand for forklift drivers. The electronics and automotive industries are fairly steady although at historically low demand levels.
Invitation to join our LinkedIn Group, “Australian Engineering Career Network”
Are you an engineer or do you recruit engineers? If so, we’d like to invite you to join our LinkedIn Group, Australian Engineering Career Network by clicking here. Operating for 33 years, Australia Wide Personnel is one of the largest recruiters of engineers in Australia. We feel this places us well to host a LinkedIn Group which offers the following:
- Online participation in engineering careers discussions with fellow engineers and recruiters of engineers – share your experience and knowledge, ask questions of other engineering professionals and expand your network of professional engineering contacts.
- “Ask an Engineering Recruiter a Question”.
- Ability to post or access engineering jobs listed by group members.
- Access to regular engineering news feeds.
The Group is growing rapidly and already has over 1500 members since commencing in January last year. If you know of other engineers who may like to join this group, please forward this email to them. If you would like to join the Group but are not a member of LinkedIn, you will need to join LinkedIn first (free) by using the same link above.
