2004: Hot job prospects?

IT executive jobs have been highlighted as one of the industry sectors benefiting from the higher Australian dollar, according to a recent job index.

Executive recruitment firm E.L Consult's executive demand index for February, 2004, showed a 33 percent overall increase in executive demand.

In IT the index rose 10 percent from the previous month. “Information technology demand is benefiting from the rising Australian dollar,” according to an E.L Consult statement. “With the cost of US dollar-dominated software and hardware falling, companies are taking the opportunity to re-tool their IT requirements. Executives are being recruited to oversee these re-tooling exercises.”

Grant Montgomery, managing director at E.L Consult, described the results of last month's index as “extraordinarily good”. “We are seeing the move towards a steadily strengthening market for Australian executives, and a final ending of the 'jobless recovery', which had the greatest effect here on middle management positions,” Montgomery said.

He pointed to the in principle acceptance of the Free Trade Agreement with the US and buoyant world commodity prices as being among the influencing factors.