Hot demand for these hard-to-find workers

Struggling to recruit professionals in these fields? You're not alone

BY Adelle Chua 11 Oct 2017

There is high demand for professionals in IT, construction, engineering and marketing but there is short supply of them, according to the latest Hays Quarterly Report released Tuesday.

“We’re seeing more employers recruiting, but the number of people applying for each vacancy is falling,” said Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

“The labour market remains tight, despite record population growth resulting from immigration.”

This observation is supported by the rise in the All Vacancies Index of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The index increased 10 percent over the year to August 2017.

Walker added that New Zealand’s economy is growing, boosted by a surge in dairy exports and tourism, and that the MBIE sees employment growth of 1.9 percent annually over the next 10 years.

“Add rapid technological change across almost all sectors and industries, and the jobs market for highly-skilled professionals will remain tight over the next few years,” he said.

The following professionals will continue to be in high demand, according to the report:

- Agribusiness/farm accountants who have a lighter level of experience;

- Intermediate accountants to fill vacancies in accounting firms since staff here move into the commercial sector or go abroad;

- Senior accountants to use advisory and strong technical skills in partnering with a client in a proactive and innovative way;

- Forepersons, project managers and quantity surveyors, with seismic strengthening experience, to fill positions in large-scale commercial projects;

- Telesales specialists to use their specific skill sets and who are KPI-driven, self-motivated and resilient;

- Inbound sales consultants to retain customers and convert a sale over the phone;

- Structural engineers;

- Transport engineers and planners to upgrade and expand infrastructure;

- Geotechnical engineers to respond to the increase in roads, highways and new development projects;

- Project managers to use their NZ consultancy experience;

- Development managers to use their local subdivision and land development experience;
- Learning & development advisors to address changes in LMS software;
- Cloud engineers and architects so support employers’ migration to the cloud;
- Security professionals to be employed in-house;
- Agile project managers to manage digital transformations;
- Commercial solicitors/lawyers to use their experience and develop it further;
- Solicitors to respond to demand for those with four and six years PQE in immigration, commercial, building and construction;
- Customer analytics experts to install sophisticated data science and analytics solutions;
- Personal assistants to use their experience in professional service companies;
- Executive assistants to support multiple executives up to board level;
- Facilities managers to use body corporate exposure;
- Property managers to manage CAPEX spend and run new development projects;
- Business development Managers to use their large multinational or FMCG experience;
- Machine operators like excavators, diggers and drivers to work on land development and subdivision work; and
- Carpenters to work on residential and commercial building projects.