Tech workers are landing handsome contracts following sector lay-offs, says Charles Cameron
Australian tech workers are landing high-paying contracts and, in many cases, being rehired already, says recruitment boss Charles Cameron.
Amid a worsening ‘tech wreck’, Australian tech workers are landing high-paying contracts after being laid off, in some cases leaving them in a better financial position despite not having the security of a full-time role.
That’s the view of the chief executive of the Recruitment, Consulting and Staff Association Charles Cameron, who is adamant many of the recently laid-off workers are back on their feet and either working contract or full-time six months after being made redundant.
“I would argue that most of the laid off workers have been hired already. It may not be directly, of course, with the organisation that initially hired them but through contracting roles,” he said.
Mr Cameron’s comments after the Tech Council of Australia reported that tech roles had grown 9 per cent in the 12 months to November.
The number of roles had grown to 900,000, a figure up by almost 40,000 roles compared to the 861,000 roles recorded nine months earlier in February.
While the lay-offs have been notable and in many cases devastating, it wasn’t surprising to see in the tech sector, Mr Cameron said.
“Tech is an industry that we have found through our members to be more likely to react, both in terms of growth and also cutting back and topping out some of that talent fat,” he said.
Much of the lay-offs seen over the past few 12 months could be attributed to a mass over-hiring, resulting in a “talent fat”.
“Through our jobs report which analyses job vacancies across different sectors, we found most industries were over hiring,” Mr Cameron said.
“We saw scenarios last year where there would be a shortlist of five candidates presented to clients for a direct hire permanent position and rather than choosing one, they would choose three.”
Another trend occurring in the tech sector was an increasing number of contract roles which are often paying handsomely, Mr Cameron said.
“We’re seeing a lot of examples across many industries where individuals are leaving permanent employment, and they’re jumping straight back into contracting roles,” Mr Cameron said.
RCSA’s latest jobs report found a .9 per cent rise in job postings in the tech sector in the three months to December last year.
Tech Council of Australia chief executive Kate Pounder said while lay-offs were becoming common in tech companies, tech roles in other businesses were experiencing mass growth.
“Around sixty per cent of tech jobs are outside tech companies in Australia – and those industries are still hiring,” she told the National Press Club in an address.
“Over the last year to November 2022, despite all the issues Australia has faced, and despite lay-offs at tech firms, the number of tech jobs increased by 9 per cent to over 900,000.”
That’s a jump from previous reporting in February, which estimated there were 861,000 tech roles in the country.
Tech roles have grown at a pace of double the rate of jobs growth in the economy over the past decade, Ms Pounder said.
“The reason for this trend is that the economy and workforce are digitising across the board. This trend has withstood multiple downturns, such as the dotcom boom, the GFC, the pandemic and even now the recent tech contraction.”
While tech roles were growing, the industry wasn’t experiencing growth in universities, where the number of tertiary students studying IT undergraduate degrees hasn’t grown since 2002, according to TCA.
In the Australian start-up sector, some venture capital funds had sought to develop their internal talent pools, which have seen an increased number of sign-ups amid lay-offs.
From Blackbird came the Lilypad in 2021, which launched with around 2000 people looking for work.
The pool typically grew at a rate of between 20 and 25 sign-ups per week, and up to 35 per week when mass lay-offs occur, said Blackbird’s people lead Nell Hardie who handles recruitment for the Lilypad.
Ms Hardie said the platform had made about 500 introductions, set up a couple of hundred interviews and found roles for 50 people last year.
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