It Careers Are Pick Of The Crop

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday November 10, 2000

Toni O'Loughlin

Computing and IT professionals, automotive electricians, sales assistants and waiters are the jobs of the future, whereas employment prospects for parking inspectors, switchboard operators, filing clerks and housekeepers are likely to fade along with the 20th century, a new government report shows.

Already IT workers are the most hotly sought employees, earning as much as medical professionals and engineers, with salaries starting at about $851 a week, according to the Job Outlook report by the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business.

Despite the lucrative opportunities for the IT-savvy generation, maintaining their cutting edge in the labour market will not be easy.

Mr Steve Lawrence, the general manager of Work Ventures, a job placement agency, said work in the industry can be volatile. Workers needed to be able to pick the next programming language or latest trend to keep pace and to be able to carve out a career.

``It involves a bit of crystal ball gazing," Mr Lawrence said.

``One of the skills that people need to work in the industry is in managing their own career in sussing it and moving before it changes."

Already, many IT workers lack the skills to cope with the rapidly changing technological environment.

Dr Roger Clarke, a privacy and IT security consultant who uses personal networks to select new employees rather than advertise, said: ``We need more than just computer scientists, we need people who have a broad education."

Law, business, and arts graduates needed to be encouraged to take an interest in computer applications, he said.

``The most dangerous ones are the graphic artists who think that they are Web designers.

``That's why we've got a lot of Web sites that are totally non-functional."

But at the other end of the job market, employers needing to fill unskilled positions are experiencing the opposite problem.

Mr John Fahey, the managing director of Incident Training Services, which trains and supplies staff for emergency services, says he has given up trying to find an office junior.

``You can get kids who want to restructure your entire computer system and re-route it through your modem onto the Internet.

``But if you want someone who can sit and enter data and make sure everybody else can find the files, that's very difficult."

However, IT workers are not the only personnel in short supply in an economy with the lowest unemployment rate in 10 years. Bureau of Statistics figures, released yesterday, show the jobless rate held at 6.3 per cent for the second month in a row in October.

The Job Futures report shows medical staff are also in short supply, as are mechanics, carpenters, accountants and childcare workers.

At Incident Training, a nurse or paramedic can earn over $60,000 a year, well above the going market rate, Mr Fahey said.

But since the beginning of the year, nurses have been particularly difficult to attract, he said.

Many were being snapped up as sales staff by drug companies.

``There's a definite leakage of skilled personnel out of the medical profession into other opportunities that are out there at the moment," Mr Fahey said.

SKILL SHORTAGES  MAY 2000
SKILLS AFFECTED NATIONALLY      EFFECT IN NSW   SKILLS AFFECTED NATIONALLY
 EFFECT IN NSW
METAL TRADES                                    OTHER TRADES
Fitter                          Metropolitan    Hairdresser
State-wide
Metal Machinist                         Metropolitan    Upholsterer
        Metropolitan
Toolmaker                       State-wide      CHILD CARE OCCUPATIONS
Boilermaker                     Metropolitan    Child care co-ordinator
        State-wide
Welder                          Metropolitan    Child care worker
        State-wide
Sheetmetal worker                       Metropolitan    ENGINEERS
AUTOMOTIVE TRADES                               Electronics engineer
State-wide
Motor mechanic                  State-wide      BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS
Automotive electrician          State-wide      Accountant
State-wide
Panel Beater                    Metropolitan    REGISTERED NURSES
Vehicle painter                         Metropolitan    General
                State-wide
ELECTRICAL TRADES                               Operating theatre
        State-wide
Refrigeration/                                  Accident/emergency
State-wide
airconditioning mechanic                State-wide
CONSTRUCTION TRADES                             Cardiothoracic
State-wide
Carpenter and joiner            State-wide      Neurological
State-wide
Fibrous plasterer                       Metropolitan    Neo-natal intensive care
                State-wide
Bricklayer                      Metropolitan    Pediatric
        State-wide
Solid plasterer                         Metropolitan    Critical/intensive care
        State-wide
FOOD OCCUPATIONS                                Aged care
State-wide
Chef                            State-wide      Registered midwife
        Metropolitan
Pastrycook                      Metropolitan    Registered mental health
         State-wide
WOOD TRADES                                     HEALTH SPECIALISTS
Wood machinist                  State-wide      Pharmacist (hospital/retail)
Cabinet-maker                   State-wide      Diagnostic radiographer
        State-wide
                                                Radiation therapist
        State-wide
                                                Sonographer
State-wide