Skills shortage remains an issue for many ICT employers
by Esther
By David Watson, Computerworld, Auckland | Thursday, November 19 2009
Despite the recession putting more candidates into the IT recruitment scene, hiring issues continue to plague many IT companies, a joint survey by NZICT and the Ministry of Economic Development has found.
The survey consists of responses to an online questionnaire that closed in late September, plus responses to an earlier survey of members and potential members of NZICT. The online questionnaire yielded 101 responses, with 77 completed questionnaires. It was compiled by Chirs Mitchell of the Axcel Institute.
In total, 83 percent of respondents said that recruitment difficulties have had either a major or medium impact on their business. However, only 18 companies responded to the question about whether such difficulties were being experienced.
Another framing of the question, asking whether respondents had experienced difficulty recruiting for technical roles in the past six months, showed that 39 respondents said yes, and 51 said no. For companies with more than 100 staff, nearly half the responses yielded an affirmative result, with 12 respondents saying yes and 13 saying no.
One respondent made this comment in relation to extra candidates being on the market due to the recession: “More applicants now than last year where four to five might apply for a position, now 60 apply, but this does not mean that there are people of quality applying.”
The most in-demand skill sets identified by respondents were project managers, network and systems engineers, software engineers, business analysts, business development managers and account managers.
Respondents were asked what measures they are taking to address the recruitment issues they face. The two most common sources of staff were recruitment firms and online job sites. While student internships and graduate recruitment were identified by some respondents as important parts of the hiring process, others said they didn’t have the time or resources to carry out such programmes, and that they are seeking experienced staff.
Of those companies that do run graduate programmes, most were positive about them.
Among the positive comments were: “Until this year, we ran a graduate recruitment programme to hire the new bright talent into our organisation. This has not been run formally this year, due to the current view of not needing sufficient numbers to justify costs given the current downturn” and “We take on two to four graduates each year as junior network administrators. They attended a wide range of tertiary institutions.”
Negative comments on graduate programmes included: “Ramp up time until new graduates become productive is very high” and “Finding many younger peoples’ opinion of their skills and worth far exceeds reality”.
Hiring from overseas is also a common way of addressing staffing issues, with almost a third of all hires made by survey respondents being from outside New Zealand.
Respondents to the survey varied in size from 500-plus employees (11 respondents), 100 to 499 employees (15 respondents), 50 to 99 employees (eight respondents), 20 to 49 employees (14 respondents), six to nine employees (10 respondents) and one to five employees (16 respondents).
Most were based in Auckland, with 41 having their headquarters there, while 14 were Wellington-based. Christchurch was home to four respondents, while six others were located elsewhere in New Zealand and 14 had head offices overseas.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:43 am
When you use the phrase “labor shortage” or “skills shortage” you’re speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually mean to say is: “There is a labor shortage at the salary level I’m willing to pay.” That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence and the intellectually honest statement.
Some people speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussion.
If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you’ll solve your shortage and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
Re: Shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
Okay, fine. Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.
There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices — and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.
Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the “going price” has been held below the market-clearing price.