Technical & Engineering Recruitment Market Commentary October 2013

From the moment the federal election was announced in February and through most of the year, employers have generally been hesitant to make investment and recruitment decisions. Having progressed past the election and the school holidays which followed shortly afterwards, we’re starting to see some very positive signs for the remainder of 2013 and 2014. We can see companies finally announcing projects which will lead to employment opportunities.

In the past quarter, Sydney has been the most buoyant of the Australian capital city markets. The lower Australian dollar has helped stabilise manufacturing and it was great to see the Australian Industry Group PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) record its first positive result since June 2011, with a score of 51.7 in September – a score of 50 or above indicates that manufacturing expanded during the period.

Following are more specific observations of some of the key technical and engineering recruitment markets we operate in.

Building Services

There appears to be a change in the landscape in the Building Services area as a result of the consolidation of companies, changes of senior personnel at others and relocation of resources at yet others.

For example, the Lend Lease purchase of Abigroup and Baulderstone will more than likely lead to a rationalisation of positions and the lack of work in hand for Air-conditioning Contractors, may lead to the growth of some and the demise of others.

Whilst generally there is greater optimism following the federal election, from one end of the country to the other the state of the industry is varied.

It appears that the workload in Perth is falling as resource projects come to an end, Queensland is still quiet with the industry there looking for work, Adelaide is absorbed with building their major hospital, Melbourne is best described as “choppy” and work in Sydney is about to increase significantly.

The best industry sectors to be looking for work in at this time are the health sector and tertiary sector where there is an emphasis on building research facilities.

If you’re looking for work in the industry, NSW appears to have the best prospects at this time.

Consulting Engineering

The last few months have been very slow in consulting engineering – we have not had any new projects from the large engineering consultancies and this will probably continue until after Christmas. We are experiencing some success with the smaller boutique consultancies that mainly focus in the retail, commercial and industrial sector. We are currently recruiting in this area for experienced civil design engineers and principle structural design engineers with a solid design background in Australia.

Drafting

Victoria
The market for CAD Drafters in Melbourne has continued to be suppressed. There any many candidates available for contract work but not many opportunities. At best we have filled short term contracts in areas such as mechanical services, plant layout, process plant and gas appliances. Most requirements have been for AutoCad 2D and Solidworks. There are some permanent possibilities on the back burner but these a too early to comment upon. Hopefully the market will turn in early 2014.

NSW & Queensland
Over the last few months we have seen an increase in the demand for drafters in the Sydney and Brisbane markets. Ranging from Solidworks, Inventor, AutoCAD and Microstation. This has mainly been with the small to medium size consultancies and in manufacturing. We are recruiting at the moment for contract structural and civil drafters as well as permanent electrical drafters in both Sydney and Brisbane. The last few weeks have been very encouraging in the drafting sector and we look forward to the next 3 months being busy for contract and permanent recruitment in this area.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector continues to gain some momentum – things are gradually getting busier and in general companies are showing an increasing requirement for permanent staff, contract and on-hired employees. The food industry continues to be the front runner with the pharmaceutical and equipment manufacturing a close second.

With respect to permanent professional engineering recruitment in manufacturing we have been busy recruiting Sales Engineers, After Sales Service Coordinators, Capital Project Managers, Production Supervisors, Electronics & Mechatronics Engineers, Quality Team Leaders and Quality Engineers.

Our labour hire division in Melbourne is receiving enquiries for future work in the printing, automotive, warehousing and food industry sectors. There are positive indications that hopefully 2014 will show a significant improvement in manufacturing. Manufacturing has generally been slow for the past couple of months. The exception is labour hire in the Electronics sector, which is showing signs of recovery. To date the usual high demand to recruit a seasonal casual workforce prior to Christmas, has not as yet eventuated.

Our Sydney labour hire division is continuing to experience a healthy increase in demand across a number of sectors. Specifically the requirement for trade and semi-skilled people in the automotive (bus and coach) sector is on the rise. A number of projects which have come to fruition have resulted in an increased requirement for casual Pipefitters, Trade Assistants and Instrumentation Technicians.

Candidates, remember to register with LinkedIn if you have not done so already. If you are currently looking for work, take the time to prepare for interview. Don’t waste the interview potential by failing to do some research and preparation in advance. Perspective employers are skilled at identifying those candidates who have taken the time to prepare and think favourably of those candidates who care enough to do some homework.

Technology

Electronics/Embedded Software
Demand for talented Design Engineers ranging from PCB and FPGA (hardware) to embedded C++ (software) continues, while demand for other categories remains sluggish. One example of the change in clients’ needs is that whereas embedded C software positions were previously frequent, now they are virtually non existent. The demand is now for embedded with C++ with all the trimmings – OO, UML, and the like. Similarly, the platform development environment in vogue is seemingly moving towards the mobile world, with iOS and Android increasingly sought, in addition to Linux, of whatever flavour. It has been a tough last quarter, and while signs of improvement are peeping through, it is slow and cautious. Companies more and more seek an exact fit, and the downward pressure on salaries and contract rates continues, presumably due to wider market and economic circumstances. Opportunities in electronic “ancillary” activities, such as production, test and quality engineering are really scarce now. Why is this? Offshore manufacturing is one reason, and yet it was amazing to see the number of local (or interstate) electronic sub contract manufacturers with a stand at the recent Electronex exhibition in Melbourne. So let’s not write off Australian electronic manufacturing, especially for high mix, high quality, precision manufacturing, just yet. Efficiency (cost saving basically) measures perhaps also partly explain the drop in demand for electronic support engineering (ie production/test/quality) roles, and it is questionable if we will ever see the regular demand for these Engineers that we used to enjoy. Which is a pity. Nevertheless, we aim to continue to speak to our candidates and clients as opportunity arises and to fly the flag for Aussie (and other) companies to get the best products into the market with the best Engineers that we can identify. We are sure that you, our faithful legion of candidates, are behind us in this desire. We soldier on (or is it “solder on”?).

IT
For the last quarter, the IT job sector has been quiet but stable. The flavour of the month would be SharePoint Developers and Business Analysts. There are some large projects on the way but employers are reluctant to pay top dollar. With a large number of candidates in the market, employers can afford to be selective. It is becoming incredibly competitive for job seekers as companies are scrutinising for strong academic credentials, intelligence and soft skills as well as good solid experience. For those of you who are unemployed, you might like to re-think your priorities. You may have to compromise with lesser pay for a better career move in the future.