Auckland’s IT organisations appear upbeat about future revenues according to IT recruitment company Potentia. The company conducted a survey of 450 senior ITC managers during March. The survey indicated the vast majority of respondents expect increased revenue over 2009 to 2010, with a significant proportion focusing on expansion – rather than survival
It covered aspects such as growth and change, staff acquisition and redundancies, salaries and morale. Potentia managing director Josh Comrie says the survey revealed a different picture from what was expected.
Only 12 per cent of organisations surveyed anticipate revenues dropping in 2009 to 2010, while 57 per cent expect to increase their revenue in the next financial year.
Thirty-three per cent are focused on expansion, while another 14 per cent have it as part of their strategy. Only 8 per cent are solely focused on survival.
More than 60 per cent of companies are expecting to hire in the next 12 months, with a fifth doing so already.
More than two-thirds have not undertaken any downsizing and only 2 per cent of organisations have asked staff to reduce hours and/or salaries.
The vast majority of those surveyed believe the calibre of job applications is higher or the same, prior to the onset of the recession.
According to Potentia’s recent applicant statistics, its figures show only a 5 percent increase in the total number of job applicants when compared to the same time last year.
However, Comrie says there is a difference in the behaviour of those applicants, which has changed dramatically.
“Where before most applicants were driven by interest or desire and often only applied for one role, many are now applying for multiple roles and appear to be more motivated by necessity,” says Comrie.
“Many of the applicants that are out there now, are definitely working harder to land a new role than was the case this time last year – many now need rather than just want a new job.”
He says this is reinforced by recent statistics released by recruitment website Seek in late March, which indicated the number of job advertisements in the website's IT section down by more than 50 per cent.
“The result of this is the current IT employment market is skewed – the same number of people are applying, but for roughly half the number of jobs. This is giving employers more luxury to pick and choose carefully.”
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