While job ads nationally are yet to reach the level they were 12 months previously, the latest numbers show the gap is continuing to close – and some regions are recovering faster than others.
Compared to January last year, job ads in Auckland were down by 14%. Canterbury’s bounce back has been stronger with job ads down 8% year-on-year, while Wellington was inching closer, with a gap of 4% year-on-year.
Select a region from the drop-down menu below to find out which roles are growing fastest across the country.
| RANK | INDUSTRY | ROLE TYPE | JOB AD GROWTH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Information & Communication Technology | Networks & Systems Administration | 133% |
| 2 | Call Centre & Customer Service | Customer Service - Customer Facing | 112% |
| 3 | Design & Architecture | Architecture | 105% |
| 4 | Legal | Corporate & Commercial Law | 97% |
| 5 | Information & Communication Technology | Programme & Project Management | 84% |
| 6 | Sales | Sales Coordinators | 81% |
| 7 | Design & Architecture | Graphic Design | 76% |
| 8 | Information & Communication Technology | Other | 74% |
| 9 | Information & Communication Technology | Engineering - Network | 72% |
| 10 | Information & Communication Technology | Business/Systems Analysts | 70% |
| 11 | Legal | Generalists - Law Firm | 69% |
| 12 | Legal | Property Law | 59% |
| 13 | Information & Communication Technology | Testing & Quality Assurance | 56% |
| 14 | Accounting | Payroll | 56% |
| 15 | Hospitality & Tourism | Chefs/Cooks | 56% |
| 16 | Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics | Machine Operators | 50% |
| 17 | Retail & Consumer Products | Retail Assistants | 49% |
| 18 | Sales | Account & Relationship Management | 48% |
| 19 | Construction | Project Management | 47% |
| 20 | Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics | Freight/Cargo Forwarding | 46% |
Source: Percentage change in job ads listed on SEEK Sep-Nov 2020 compared to Jun-Aug 2020, SEEK Employment Report.
| RANK | INDUSTRY | ROLE TYPE | JOB AD GROWTH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engineering | Civil/Structural Engineering | 66% |
| 2 | Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics | Warehousing, Storage & Distribution | 63% |
| 3 | Sales | Sales Representatives/Consultants | 50% |
| 4 | Sales | Account & Relationship Management | 41% |
| 5 | Information & Communication Technology | Business/Systems Analysts | 37% |
| 6 | Administration & Office Support | Administrative Assistants | 28% |
| 7 | Information & Communication Technology | Developers/Programmers | 27% |
| 8 | Information & Communication Technology | Engineering - Software | 17% |
| 9 | Trades & Services | Automotive Trades | 16% |
| 10 | Construction | Project Management | 13% |
| 11 | Human Resources & Recruitment | Occupational Health & Safety | 12% |
| 12 | Sales | New Business Development | 7.8% |
| 13 | Hospitality & Tourism | Management | 5.2% |
Source: Percentage change in job ads listed on SEEK Sep-Nov 2020 compared to Jun-Aug 2020, SEEK Employment Report.
| RANK | INDUSTRY | ROLE TYPE | JOB AD GROWTH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engineering | Civil/Structural Engineering | 49% |
| 2 | Hospitality & Tourism | Management | 40% |
| 3 | Information & Communication Technology | Developers/Programmers | 27% |
| 4 | Trades & Services | Automotive Trades | 20% |
| 5 | Retail & Consumer Products | Management - Store | 15% |
| 6 | Construction | Project Management | 14% |
| 7 | Administration & Office Support | Administrative Assistants | 11% |
| 8 | Sales | Sales Representatives/Consultants | 4.5% |
Source: Percentage change in job ads listed on SEEK Sep-Nov 2020 compared to Jun-Aug 2020, SEEK Employment Report.
| RANK | INDUSTRY | ROLE TYPE | JOB AD GROWTH |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Government & Defence | Various | 103% |
| 2 | Information & Communication Technology | Consultants | 91% |
| 3 | Accounting | Management Accounting & Budgeting | 75% |
| 4 | Engineering | Civil/Structural Engineering | 68% |
| 5 | Human Resources & Recruitment | Occupational Health & Safety | 66% |
| 6 | Construction | Project Management | 62% |
| 7 | Information & Communication Technology | Networks & Systems Administration | 60% |
| 8 | Information & Communication Technology | Product Management & Development | 57% |
| 9 | Information & Communication Technology | Database Development & Administration | 55% |
| 10 | Information & Communication Technology | Testing & Quality Assurance | 54% |
| 11 | Administration & Office Support | Various | 53% |
| 12 | Construction | Surveying | 45% |
| 13 | Human Resources & Recruitment | Consulting & Generalist HR | 44% |
| 14 | Retail & Consumer Products | Management - Store | 43% |
| 15 | Healthcare & Medical | Psychology, Counselling & Social Work | 41% |
| 16 | Consulting & Strategy | Strategy & Planning | 39% |
| 17 | Education & Training | Various | 38% |
| 18 | Information & Communication Technology | Security | 37% |
| 19 | Information & Communication Technology | Engineering - Software | 37% |
| 20 | Information & Communication Technology | Business/Systems Analysts | 36% |
Source: Percentage change in job ads listed on SEEK Sep-Nov 2020 compared to Jun-Aug 2020, SEEK Employment Report.
Snapshot of the major regions
Adam Shapley, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand, says a region’s recovery largely depends on its exposure to the crisis last year.
“Auckland locked down again in the latter part of last year, whereas Wellington and Canterbury were less exposed,” he says.
“On the whole, however, the regions are performing much better than we’d expected and, some industries, like Construction and IT, we’re actually ahead of where we were this time last year in terms recruitment demand. It’s not by a huge amount, but it’s certainly a good sign.”
ICT roles on the rise
ICT (Information & Communications Technology) roles are showing positive signs of growth compared to the lowest point last year. Auckland’s ICT market saw the fastest growth in roles such as Programme & Project Management (84%) and Network Engineering (72%).
In Wellington, Consultants (91%) and Product Management & Development (57%) showed strong growth. Meanwhile, the fastest growth in the Canterbury was for Business/Systems Analysts (37%) and Software Engineers (17%).
Shapley says growth in ICT roles across the regions may be due to businesses resuming projects they’d put on hold last year.
“The other factor is that organisations have changed the way they engage with their customers and their own staff and there is a greater focus on digital technologies,” he says. “We’re seeing a lot of project management work around tech transformation and upgrades.”
Construction looking up
Construction is on the rise across New Zealand and this is having a positive impact on the job market. Compared to the low point last year, there is rapid growth for Project Management roles, for example, in Wellington (62%), Auckland (47%), and Canterbury (13%).
“There is a healthy pipeline of construction work across residential, commercial and infrastructure, especially in the major centres,” says Shapley. “I don’t see the demand for construction talent slowing down any time soon.”
How to compete for talent
With job ad numbers progressing toward pre-COVID levels across the country, Shapely says competition for talent is on the rise.
“The main issue is the border closure,” he says. “Employers in industries like ICT and Construction may be used to having a bigger pool of talent because of international workers. I think we may start to see wage inflation in these areas and organisations may need to pay a premium to attract talent, particularly in the contractor space. Of course, this may be challenging as we come out of a tough year.”
Another way to attract the best talent is to offer genuine flexibility.
“Everyone expects flexibility now, but a lot of organisations haven’t created an actual policy around it,” says Shapely. “They are still trying to work it out, but it needs to be a priority now and it’s a policy that should be clearly promoted in the market, no matter which region you operate in.”
As the economy continues to recover from a turbulent year, job ad numbers are growing across the regions. Competition may also be on the rise, especially with fewer international candidates, so now is the time to work on your talent attraction tools.
