Sourced Quarterly Market Update – Spring 2020

Welcome to the latest Sourced Quarterly Market Update. We’re looking forward to now being able to share with you all of the trends that have been developing post Level 4 lockdown, with our last update just being a bit too early to tell. We are continuing to field a lot of questions about how the recruitment market is shaping up, so hopefully, this will go some way to answering that.

As always, we encourage you to contact us if you’re looking for any specific market intelligence, salary surveys, role positioning or similar. We’re in a unique position to watch the market as it evolves and are always happy to share these insights.

General Comments

As we mentioned in our last report, by and large, our customers transitioned swiftly and reasonably seamlessly to work from home arrangements as the country entered lockdown in Alert Level 4. The majority of our clients’ employees were able to remain engaged in full-time work and business continued, albeit remotely. We had a very small number of clients who either ramped up rapidly or scaled down at equal pace, but the biggest change we saw was simply a move to digital working with Zoom and Microsoft Teams becoming standard communication channels and a really unique seven weeks of work from home.

Fortunately, those of our clients who were able to scale up during and beyond the lockdowns have picked up many of those left unemployed by businesses forced to downsize, so as is always the case, we have seen a balance. We are now getting to the tail end of candidates being affected by redundancy with the majority redeployed. We have noted with interest that Software Developers appear to have been the slowest to be redeployed, with both contract and permanent positions only ‘average’ in volume. Conversely, Business Analysts and BI/SQL Specialists have been in high demand and snapped up quickly for both contract and permanent positions.

Market changes

Something that we will see a roll-on effect from is the number of candidates, who were disestablished during Level 4 lockdown, moving off into contract positions and fixed-term contracts (from permanent). As a result, we expect to see further bubbles of activity further downstream as these candidates return to market. We are finding that the local candidate supply is meeting demand and roles are being recruited quickly, with the average time to fill sitting at the four weeks and under mark.

As we talked about in the last update, we have been asked a lot about remote working and whether this will become the ‘new normal’, however, we are still seeing the majority of our clients returning to full-time office hours. There does appear to be a bit more flexibility around working from home ‘when needed’ but certainly not as a new norm.

The contractor market

While last quarter we saw the contractor market slow down quite dramatically both in Christchurch and Auckland, it is well and truly humming again. We are seeing projects that were shelved during Level 4 pick up again and new projects coming through (particularly within system implementation and business improvement), with lots of activity in the BA/Systems Analyst and Delivery areas.

On the whole, we can confirm that the market is very much back to where it was pre-lockdown, with all signs pointing to a quietly confident return.

Within Sourced Walls

We have had a very busy last quarter and are feeling really positive about the market as a whole. It has been an absolute pleasure to walk with our candidates through what have often been really tough times these last few months and watch them head off into great new roles. Many of these people have been return candidates of Sourced’s and occasionally past clients, and a number of them have branched out into quite different roles and responsibilities. Some have taken their first steps into the contract market while others have gotten back on the tools for the first time in years, and it’s been fantastic supporting these unique journeys. We look forward to watching them flourish!

Who’s in Demand

Our key demand areas right now remain across Business Analysis and BI/Data Engineering for contract roles, and Business and Systems Analysis and Software Development (mobile, cloud/open source and electronics) within permanent. Interestingly, Software Development roles have been almost entirely permanent in demand, with very little happening in the contracting space. Demand has been largely at a mid-early senior level with little at the Tech Lead/Architect level. We have also seen a small number of Team Lead roles come to market which have been quickly snapped up.

We are still seeing the shift from outsourced to in-house models, with internal teams of BA, PMs and delivery specialists growing and contract resources engaged for specifically targeted requirements. Our contractor base is quite aware of this and many are looking at longer-term options, however, again, there still seems to be enough work to go around and the general market feel is positive.

General Round-Up

As we’ve covered, we have seen a large number of candidates coming into the market, but the majority are now redeployed. We are confident that those still looking will find solid employment as recruitment activity picks up to full pace. Fortunately, a lot of our clients rely primarily on the domestic market and a lot of delivery of services, so they have needed to pick up and move again quickly. We do expect things to quieten slightly as we head into Christmas, but for now (despite what you may be hearing in the media) it’s a great time to hire and generally a perfectly safe time to be considering a move.

For further market insights or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

In Case You Missed It

Over the last quarter, we’ve written some new blogs. You can find them below:

How to Successfully Manage a Hybrid Team: 4 Questions to Consider
Many businesses have been forced to embrace remote working and a result of this, we will inevitably see a rise in the adoption of hybrid teams going forward. This will be a steep learning curve for companies as they find new ways to tackle employment issues and manage performance within this team structure. Here are four questions you should keep in mind to get the best results from your hybrid team.

An Unprecedented Opportunity: How to Hire the Best People in Today’s Market
In the current environment, forward-thinking businesses that are embracing the future of the employment market will find top talent more accessible than ever. Those who are strategic and prepared will be able to snap up professionals that will be valuable assets to their teams for years to come. Find out more about how to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to hire the best Technology & Digital talent on the market, here.