Job market softening - (but how soft is it really?)

[Newshound]

It seems some people in the press are determined to spread fear about the economy, with comments like "The Australian job market has become more hostile for jobseekers, new figures show. "

See Fairfax article here

The alarm is caused by the fact that the "bleak" Seek Employment Index is lower again this month. The doomsayers seem to ignore the fact that we are coming off an all time high market and the number of jobs advertised nationally on seek.com.au was still up 4.0% compared to a year ago. Which was up on the previous year, and the year before that.

I'm sure most employers who are trying to recruit professional staff don't think the job market is at all 'hostile' for job seekers. Nor do I believe that any loss in Seek's market share is necessarily an accurate indicator of what is actually happening in the market.

How do you find the market, either for job hunting or recruitment?
is it really "bleak" ?
.

[jeremysamuel]

In developing 2Vouch, we are speaking with a wide range of employers and recruiters. Our experience on the ground is that there is still very strong demand in the skilled technical space - IT, Engineering, Accounting, Legal, Medical.

While I can't argue with the general statistics, they don't seem to tell the whole story. Don't forget, we have massive numbers of baby boomers retiring, strong commodity demand and a strong IT sector.

One of the key challenges is that, since there are skills shortages in many of these technical and skilled areas, most of the great candidates are currently working. So companies need to use referrals and other methods to reach "passive" candidates.

Jeremy Samuel
General Manager
2Vouch