A significant proportion of Kiwi IT vendors plan to expand in a buoyant market, with employers paying more for candidates of an increasingly strong calibre, recruitment firm Potentia finds in its recent sixth annual Inside IT survey.
In the survey of 140 vendors nationally, 71 percent planned to expand their business this year, while 88 percent expected revenue would increase.
Among those firms surveyed, 77 percent planned to increase staff numbers, but the approach seems to be to proceed with caution, with restructure and redundancy activity also up from 15 percent last year to 22 percent his year.
Potentia attributes this to right sizing, market alignment, previously unsuccessful recruiting and growing business focus.
“The trend of diversifying is long gone and growth into completely new territories is challenging. In our experience this year, business leaders have opted to put their energies into the areas that are more likely to make them successful; this means removing those that are a diversion and energy thief,” the company says.
A strong market has meant a jump in salaries – 38 percent are paying more than when they previously hired, up from 25 percent last year. The perceived calibre of candidates is growing, Potentia says, with 15 percent of employers saying candidates were growing in quality last year, with 25 percent saying the same this year.
In 2013 and this year, most roles were filled within four weeks, but this year 38 percent of roles took four to eight weeks to fill, compared with 30 percent for such roles last year. the growth in remuneration levels show greater need to secure the right person for a role.
Forty-two percent of those surveyed said finding the right people was their second biggest business issue. Fifty one percent said new business development was their biggest challenge.
“This means that organisations still see finding new business as more of an issue than finding staff, but some are perhaps starting to see that having key people in your team can be the building blocks to help win new business,” says Potentia.