Hays Construction - July 2010

Hotspots

Quantity Surveyors with over three years experience are sought in response to increased tender activity over the past six to 12 months. Current Quantity Surveyors have generally worked longer hours over this period and companies are now more confident to employ additional staff to ease their workload. Candidates with large commercial project experience ($50mill+) and those with large project civil construction experience are in particular demand. The long-term skills shortage in this area and the reduction in the number of candidates changing roles is also a factor in this demand.

Given the demand for Quantity Surveyors, employers will consider temporary candidates for a particular tender and/or project. Contract-based project delivery and financial/commercial staff are also needed for regional (and often remotely located) major projects.

The coming quarter

We expect the number of temporary assignment to continue to rise, particularly for Quantity Surveyors and Site Managers. Towards the end of the quarter, and throughout the last quarter of the 2010 calendar year, we expect permanent needs to rise as the sector gains more momentum. Today however, while the market may be slowly bouncing back, and certain areas of demand are evident, hiring intentions overall do remain conservative.

During the past six months, some of Auckland's emerging medium-sized companies have increased their market share. A growing trend from these companies has been a greater acceptance of academically-qualified candidates for Site/Project Management vacancies, rather than the traditional trade-qualified staff.

Executive trends

There has been some movement within project management consultancies, and a premium is paid to good people managers and business developers.

Employer trends

Employers are more selective in their recruitment process, demanding a highly qualified candidate with project-specific experience and demonstrated loyalty to previous employers. There is also more emphasis on referencing and background-checking candidates. Employers are reverting to conditional offers to satisfactory candidates while they await bid wins.

Local experience is no longer such a crucial factor in most recruitment decisions, with employers now willing to hire overseas applicants, predominantly temporary staff on working holidays.

Salaries remain stagnant, with the exception of the hotspot areas listed above. Despite this, employers demand more capable candidates, with more focus on cultural fit. Recruitment timeframes have also generally increased.

Candidate trends

Candidate levels remain high, particularly for mid-level talent. Yet high calibre candidates with local experience are still in short supply.

There has been a decrease in highly skilled Quantity Surveyors, but an increase in the number of Site Managers and Project Managers. This is the result of increased tendering activity, yet a shortage of new projects/sites commencing.