The Australian newspaper's IT section today has a lead article Pay to continue rising as skill squeeze tightens. The article reports that the tech skills squeeze forced salaries in the IT industry up by 5 % last year.

The article draws on the just-released Ambition Technology Recruitment Market Trends and Salaries Report. That report says salaries overall had jumped 10% on a 12 month basis and contract developers remuneration was up more than 15%. You can get the 16 page execsum here.

This para from the intro (p 3) to the execsum jumped out at me:

"It has never been more apparent that the real cost of hiring resources is many times the annual salary or hourly rate - get it right and you reap the benefits, but get it wrong and you count the costs. In such an environment, the true value of partnering with a recruitment supplier has come into play....

"The big challenge for the industry over the next 12 months will be meeting the demands of a candidate short market, without an explosion in salaries."

So at least in the IT industry, the war for talent that I heard a lot about in listening to the interviews for the Big Biller audiobook I co-authored with Bill Vick is evidently here in the land "downunder" and warming up.

In another article I read somewhere the other day, I picked up that the Australian government has a huge and continuing demand for IT contractors, with several big projects in defence (or defense) and health, among others, to be managed. The demand is especially for those willing to spend time in the inland national capital Canberra. I've lived there and it is very congenial, but among Australians it still has a bit of a rep as the "bush capital" without a decent nightlife or other redeeming features that would make it a "real"city. Sure, it isn't a big city, but it is very well established and has its own charm. It's about 3 hour drive from Sydney and about 2 hours or less to the coastal beaches.

If anyone is interested or has candidates interested in knowing more, please let me know and I'll do the best I can to help with totally subjective but hopefully somewhat informed comments. And I know some good headhunters in Oz who might be interested in collaborating.