Blog

As we complete the final month of the financial year here is a quick summary of what we are currently seeing in the SAP market.

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Busy market with a shortage of SAP Skills

Over the pandemic Australia had a negative net migration for two years, which is the first time since the war that this has happened and the first time the IT market in Australia has experienced this. Even if Australia were to bring in 500,000 skilled migrants this year we would still be down on where population levels should be in “normal times”. This puncture in the workforce has driven up demand for skills which has shown no sign of slowing down to date. We are starting to see confidence for skilled migrants returning to Australia, however it does not seem that the numbers are currently having a significant effect on the skills gap. There is obviously some economic uncertainty at the moment, however for now we are still seeing strong demand from our clients with a large number of vacancies still coming through. We are interested to see where this goes over the start of the next financial year and feel there may be a drop in demand as the economy starts to slow.

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What does this mean for Clients

We are encouraging clients to look at their hiring processes and innovate these where possible. We are seeing that companies who have longer processes with multiple interviews are losing people to their competition. A question we get asked by almost every candidate is what sort of flexibility companies offer. We are often seeing companies offering low flexibility miss out on talent or loose staff to competitors. Certainly, in the technical areas there is definitely a trend for the more technical roles to WFH so we would encourage companies to have a model that works for you but allows for some flexibility. There has been an increase in rate recently so we are encouraging clients to consider this when making offers however alongside that we feel it is important for clients to focus on the non financial aspects of what they can offer – skills enhancements, exciting projects, culture and work flexibility are all things that can be a deciding factor when someone is choosing a new role. We are seeing clients that have flexibility in process, sell themselves well and offer slightly improved rates are the ones winning the war on talent.

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What does this mean for our Candidates

It is currently a good time to be an SAP professional in Australia. There has been a sharp demand for skills that has driven up rates so if you are a daily rate contractor then there is fantastic opportunity currently in the market. There are also fantastic opportunities to improve your work life balance with many companies offering workplaces / flexibility that offer a real improvement in this area. I do not want to be a panic monger however it is likely we are going to face an economic slowdown, so these very competitive times may not last forever. We encourage candidates to take in all factors when deciding a new role - flexibility, tenure, stability, market (not just rate) as these may become more valuable in future should the economy slow down. ​

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How are you finding the market? Let us know in the LinkedIn comments